Start by recognising your agency’s content maturity level to know how you can progress and improve.
Below is an outline of content maturity levels with suggestions to improve outputs and efficiencies.
Contents
Uncoordinated approach
There is a lack of in-house content skills or a coordinated use of content skills. Content writing depends on the individual’s ability. There is little or no opportunity to understand user needs. Usually sign offs take place without checking for content quality. Publishing teams are not empowered to improve content.
Opportunities to progress
Assign a content manager to create quality standards and connect your content community. Your community can include subject experts, policy writers or expert content providers. Use your content community to raise the profile of the content lifecycle and quality standards.
Not yet strategic but making a start
A single manager coordinates individuals across wider teams. This can result in an unplanned and inconsistent approach to content. This impacts on quality checks and currency of content.
Opportunities to progress
Ask senior executives to endorse and communicate content practices for all content providers. For example, use your intranet to promote content guidelines and templates. You could also create a timeline and workflow for the content production and approval process.
Strategically led approach
An agency at this level has agreed content strategy goals. In general they:
- encourage teams to focus on the accuracy, relevance and lifespan of content
- use endorsed guides and standards and check content regularly
- take part in communities of best practice
- test the usability of high-profile content.
Opportunities to progress
Ensure content champions and leads check content for quality. Checking takes place before sign off and before sending to be published. Content champions support and mentor content providers. They write for user needs and respond to user research.
Maturing level
Content strategy goals align with those of the agency. Content leaders
- empower team members with clear accountability and ownership.
- rely on user research.
- have an agreed workflow among content communities of best practice.
- support the regular improvement or removal of content.
Opportunities to progress
Senior executives to define a content strategy that meets agency and government requirements. These executives to promote and enable capability building for content providers. A content lead to monitor and report to senior executive on quality improvements over time.
Mature level
Agency leaders endorse the content strategy goals. These content leaders:
- base high quality content on user needs analysis
- use web analytics to inform measures of success
- build teams that connect user and customer insights to reduce costs and increase efficiencies
- help teams to build capability.
Opportunities to progress
Senior executives could commit to resourcing agile, user-centred, best practice. They monitor measures of success, efficiency and productivity.