Ensuring your brand stays consistent across all types of content is easier said than done. This is even more apparent when you're in the thick of rebranding or refresh. The trick? It all boils down to solid content governance.
If you find yourself wrestling to keep your team's output in sync with your brand's essence or are trying to refine your content approach, then this blog is for you. We’ll explore how to master the art of content governance in three quick steps and how you can apply them with Foleon.
The essentials of content governance
Essentially, content governance is a set of company-wide rules that set you up for efficient content management. It covers all stages of the content creation process, such as planning, creation, editing, and distribution, and guides each stakeholder involved in content.
Discover more: What Is Content Governance?
To help empower your team to create content confidently, here are three steps to help you master content governance.
Step 1: Establish clear, easy-to-follow guidelines
The foundation of solid content governance lies in clear and comprehensive brand guidelines. These are your first line of defense, outlining your brand's visual and verbal identity—from the writing style and color palette to logos, their variations, and font choices that apply to all of your marketing collateral.
Building a Brand Guide or creating a Brand Kit is instrumental in keeping your brand guidelines accessible. Tools like Brand Kits play a huge role in maintaining these guidelines across your content.
Using multiple Brand Kits enables a seamless transition of assets to align with your evolving brand identity. If you ever decide to refresh your brand, Brand Kits are essential for quickly updating your brand assets, ensuring a consistent look and feel across all platforms.
Read Jerry’s Tips for Spotless Content Governance.
Step 2: Clearly define roles and responsibilities
"Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is a success." — Henry Ford.
Many people are involved in content, from drafting and reviewing copy to making design tweaks to giving the final approval. We know that, when it comes to content, the more the merrier, but only when clearly defined roles and responsibilities exist.
Within Foleon, we divide user roles into three types — which you can filter:
- Premium users — Admin and Designer roles.
- Standard users — Editor and Publisher roles.
- Free — Reviewer role.
Assigning specific roles ensures that team members know what's expected, and user permissions ensure these people can only access the functions they need. Whether an admin, editor, publisher, or reviewer, this clarity prevents confusion and provides a smooth content creation workflow.
Read: Why Process Determines Your Content Success.
Step 3: Implement a rigorous review and approval process
The final piece of the content governance puzzle is establishing and sticking to a strict review and approval process. Developing a structured framework for content review, incorporating feedback, and securing final sign-offs before going live is essential.
Review Mode allows you to collaborate with stakeholders directly in Foleon. Simply assign them a Reviewer role, and they can leave comments on specific items in the Doc, providing much-needed contextual feedback.
This way, there’s no messy feedback in Slack messages or email. The review stage becomes interactive, and all content is thoroughly vetted before it goes live. This step is critical in maintaining the integrity of your content and, by extension, your brand.
Read: How to streamline your content review process.
Final thoughts
Well, there you have it. It's worth remembering that effective content governance is not a one-and-done task—it's an ongoing process that requires constant attention, adaptation, and alignment with your brand's evolution. But with these three strategic steps, you're well-equipped to master the art of content governance.
Establishing clear guidelines, defining roles and responsibilities, and setting up a rigorous review process ensures that your content reflects your brand's identity and resonates with your audience.
So, marketers, embrace these steps and watch your brand's content strategy transform into a coherent, impactful narrative that stands the test of time.
