5 Necessities for Establishing a Culture of Content Creation

Does your organization place the onus of content creation on your marketing department? Or is there one lucky individual who gets that task?

If you answered yes to either of those questions, you’re probably in pretty good company. While marketers can be excellent content creators, they represent a single function within any business, and therefore, only have a fraction of the perspective required to fully capitalize on all opportunities for content creation.

The goal for any organization involved in content, digital or social marketing should be to create a culture of content creation by which everyone is responsible for contributing strategically relevant, compelling, and meaningful content.

Following are 5 necessities for cultivating a culture of content creation:

PROVIDE TRAINING

If everyone will be expected to contribute content, everyone will need to be trained on your content strategy, identifying opportunities to create or capture content, how to create meaningful content for various uses and platforms, and on the various technologies and software required for production.

TOP-DOWN LEADERSHIP

To assure buy-in from your entire organization, senior leadership needs to lead by example and be strong proponents of your culture of content creation. What this will mean is that they will need the same extensive training as everyone else, and will need to be among your best content creators for others to get excited and involved, and for content creation to truly become part of your organization’s culture.

REWARD CONTRIBUTIONS

I’m not talking cash, cars and trips here, but if you can reward your content creators with fame, increased responsibility, greater autonomy, or positive reinforcement, it will go a long way to encouraging content creation, maintaining initial enthusiasm for your content plan, or overcoming the initial skepticism and resistance to change that people may exhibit.

SET CLEAR EXPECTATIONS

People generally want to be productive and feel as though their work is making an impact and meaningful contribution. For anyone to know what to do, you’ll need to set clear expectations. Depending on your organizational structure and existing culture, you might even want to write content creation into job descriptions or work measurable deliverables into performance reviews. Without clearly stated expectations, buy-in will be met with greater resistance due to increased confusion and a perceived lack of organization.

PROVIDE PROPER SUPPORT, MANAGEMENT AND DIRECTION

Every great team is led by a great coach. Similarly, you will need someone to lead your culture of content creation by providing necessary technical and production support, manage the publication and dissemination of content, and direct the organization from a high-level strategic perspective to ensure opportunities are being capitalized on, among other duties.

How is content created in your organization?

Are there other ways that you foster a culture of content creation?

What are some challenges you’ve faced regarding content creation, and how have you overcome them?

It would be great to hear from you in the comments, or on Twitter @RGBSocial

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