Content Isn’t a One-Woman Show

Whose job is it to produce content? Although your marketing team might pioneer content marketing initiatives, that doesn’t let other departments off the hook.

The Influence & Co. approach to content reflects that same idea. Although I manage our editorial calendar and develop ideas for our internal blog and guest contributions, I rely on the insights and resources of my team to make each post unique and fresh. 

For instance, our account strategists and sales team interact with clients at different touchpoints and have unique day-to-day experiences. Conversations with clients, industry research, insights from networking events and common objections from potential leads are all valuable pieces of information that would make quality content. But without probing for their ideas and experiences, this potentially thought-provoking insight gets lost in the shuffle.

In fact, 45 percent of marketers say they struggle with producing enough content. So use what you’ve got because what you’ve got is good.

Leveraging your employees' expertise through content humanizes your brand on a more personal level. Let these 8 steps be your roadmap.

Here are a few reasons every team member should take part in content creation and distribution:

1. Every employee reads different content. 

Regardless of job title, you read something new every day. Whether it’s an article, an industry trend, a headline from a newscast, or anything else, this information provides endless inspiration for article ideas.

Rather than relying solely on the news you consume, have your team members share what they’ve read and help brainstorm potential blog topics. Or, even better, encourage them to write an article based on content that’s related to your industry and explain how your company fits into the mix.

They may see this as a daunting task, but reassuring them that your editors will polish it into a cohesive and digestible article will ease their fears. (This is another reason to hire editorial support.)

2. Life experiences vary from person to person — and that’s a wonderful thing.

Everyone on your team has individual life experiences — both personal and professional — that could give them valuable insights. That’s why showcasing the importance of employee contributions to the company blog or external publications is crucial to getting employees on board, diversifying your content, and maximizing your overall efforts.

At Influence & Co., we work with clients to not only extract their knowledge, but to also help them consider other potential experts in their companies who could provide new perspectives. That’s because we understand that creating great content is time-consuming and that it’s easy to get burnt out if the responsibility rests on one person’s shoulders. 

Encouraging the rest of the team to play an active role in producing content will fuel your team’s efforts. Kelsey Meyer, CEO and cofounder of Influence & Co., wrote a post on the multi-person approach to content marketing and how to choose leaders in your company to write content. She offers key insights on why you shouldn't just choose the best writer and positioning content creation as a mutual benefit rather than another task on their to-do list.

3. The combined power of your networks will expand your content’s reach. 

After your article is written and perfected, you want to make sure the time and money you put in pays off. Without exposure, your content can’t make an impact, and the efforts go to waste.

Embark on a social media mission to spread the word together, and you’ll command the conversation.

I work with my team to develop between five and 10 pieces of content each week. How do I ensure each piece gets in front of the right audience and receives solid engagement? No, I don’t knock on strangers’ doors and ask them to read it.

Instead, I send each article to our team after it’s published. Although we don’t require anyone to share it, employees are eager to because they know it’s going to provide value to someone in their network. Plus, they understand our process and how much time it takes to create content — from ideation to writing to editing — so they want to make it count.

Here are a few ways I encourage our team to share:

• Give them a reason to be excited. If a blog post solves a common objection that more than 80 percent of your clients have, encourage them to share it with their networks so they can provide real value. Or, if you have a whitepaper that includes an example of a client who found success with his thought leadership strategy, that’s a piece of information that could solve a prospective client’s problem. Whatever the subject matter, emphasize that their contributions matter.

• Make it easy to share. It’s easy to send your team a message and ask them to share your content. But I’ve recently gone an extra step to minimize my team members’ workloads and created sample tweets our employees can simply upload to Buffer or schedule on TweetDeck. This simple step has produced a huge surge in social engagement.

• Show them the value. After one of our contributed posts got a serious amount of engagement, leads started coming in like crazy. I shared that with the team to reiterate how every small contribution on their end can make a major impact on the company’s overall success.

From creation to distribution, the content marketing burden should never rest on one person alone. Sharing the love is not just a smart move for your company; it also gives you unique perspectives and life experiences that could touch an audience and spark unparalleled engagement.

Leverage your employees’ insights and expertise. Give them solid reasons to contribute content and share it with their networks, and they will. Once you have a process in place, you’ll see employee engagement translate into meaningful audience interactions.

What other tactics do you use to get your team members involved in your content efforts? I’d love to hear your ideas in the comments below!