A walk-through of what content operations is, why it matters for organisations, some elements of ContentOps and advice, examples and data to tell the story of ContentOps for real-life organisations.

1. ContentOps
Connecting strategy and delivery
Robert Mills

2. Robert Mills
Head of Content
GatherContent

3. But enough about me, what
about you?

4. We’ll be covering…
Defining ContentOps1

5. We’ll be covering…
Three pillars of
ContentOps
2
Defining ContentOps1

6. We’ll be covering…
Elements of ContentOps3
Three pillars of ContentOps2
Defining ContentOps1

7. How would you define content
operations (ContentOps)?

8. Defining ContentOps
Deane Barker
Chief Strategy Officer, Blend Interactive
Content operations is concerned with everything between
content strategy and content management, and therefore is
the “glue” between the (1) plan for content, and (2) the content
management system in which it’s managed and delivered.

9. Defining ContentOps
Colleen Jones
Author of The Content Advantage
Content operations is the behind-the-scenes work for
managing content activities as effectively and efficiently as
possible. Today, content operations often require a mix of
elements related to people, process, and technology.

10. Defining ContentOps
Rahel Bailie
Chief Knowledge Officer, Scroll
ContentOps is a set of principles that results in methodologies
intended to optimise production of content, and allow organisations
to scale their operations, whilst ensuring high quality in a
continuous delivery pipeline, to allow for the leveraging of content
as business assets to meet intended goals.

11. Three pillars of
ContentOps
2

12. Three pillars of ContentOps
People Process Technology

13. Strategy, operations
and delivery
Strategy Delivery
CONTENT
OPERATIONS
PROCESS TECHNOLOGY
PEOPLE

14. Who here is dealing with …
Multi-source
Everyone is now a
content producer
Multi-channel
Everyone is now a
multi-channel
publisher
Speed of delivery
The need to reactively
create content at
speed
Scale
The need to systemise
content in order to
automate and scale
Content governance
Regulations and
compliance workflows
Quality & consistency
High audience
expectations in a
competitive world

15. CMI 2019 Content Management and Strategy Survey
Subscribers to CMI who are organisations with 50+ employees

16. CMI 2019 Content Management and Strategy Survey
Subscribers to CMI who are organisations with 50+ employees

17. CMI 2019 Content Management and Strategy Survey
Subscribers to CMI who are organisations with 50+ employees

18. CMI 2019 Content Management and Strategy Survey
Subscribers to CMI who are organisations with 50+ employees

19. Content is considered a
business asset but requires lots
of manual effort, using ill-fitting
technology, that isn’t repeatable
or scalable.

20. Audiences expect content
84% of people expect
brands to create content
Havas Group’s 2017
Meaningful Brands study84%

21. Consuming content
The average person
consumes 11.4 pieces of
content before making
a purchase decision
Forrester
11.4

22. Annual content budget
53% of organisations
don’t know their annual
budget for content
Content Science Review:
Content Operations
Benchmark Study
53%

24. How much does your content
cost?

25. Producing content is expensive.

26. Imagine spending lots of money
on poor quality content.

27. The challenge is operational.

28. This puts pressure on
production.

29. Elements of ContentOps3

30. Elements of ContentOps
Clearly
defined
roles
Production
workflow
Content types
and templates
Content
style
guides

31. Clearly defined roles

32. Why clear roles are important for …
Multi-source
Accountability across
all requirements: no
gaps or overlap
Multi-channel
Bring in experts if
needed, leave no
stone unturned
Speed of delivery
Dedicated people so
content isn’t shoe-
horned or de-
prioritised
Scale
The right amount and
kind of people to
deliver at scale
Content governance
Avoid different teams
creating the same
content
Quality & consistency
Roles for checking
against different
criteria to ensure
high-quality

33. Are roles at your organization
clearly defined?

34. Dedicated roles
At GOV.UK they created
a Guidance Manager
role to improve their
ContentOps

35. Clearly defined roles
Identify gaps and over laps
No longer a swim lane mentality
Can’t afford to waste time or effort
Remove ambiguity, increase accountability

36. Production workflow

37. Why workflow is important for …
Multi-source
Workflow to connect
silos and bring teams
together
Multi-channel
One workflow, or
many, to deliver to
different channels
Speed of delivery
Make it clear how
content gets
produced
Scale
Define a workflow so
it is easier to scale up
(and back) content
production
Content governance
Stops review and
approval loops taking
too long
Quality & consistency
Ensures best practice
in QA, review and
approval and progress
is maintained

38. Approval
At GOV.UK, one
department had a 27-
step approval process
for content.
This wasn’t good!
27step approval

39. Production workflow
Connects silos and disciplines
Facilitates scalable and repeatable processes
Keeps content moving
Helps identify bottlenecks, who is overloaded
and where more resource is needed

40. Learning from Cornell University
Redesign of alumni.cornell.edu and
giving.cornell.edu
Successful cross-department
collaboration via a bespoke workflow
All content production and approval
achieved in 3 - 4 weeks
30 - 40 people involved in producing
and approving content

41. Learning from Cornell University
Five workflow stages:
Draft
Approval
Review
Publish
Push to CMS

42. Learning from Cornell University

43. Content types & templates

44. Why content templates are important for …
Multi-source
Every working from
the same template
Multi-channel
Clear and agreed
structure for delivery
to specific channels
Speed of delivery
Quicker to create
content within an
agreed structure and
formats
Scale
Easier to deliver
content across
different platforms
and devices
Content governance
Prepare content for
future formats and
allows content to be
reused
Quality & consistency
Consistency in
structure of different
content types and
remove duplication

45. Subscribers to CMI who are organisations with 50+ employees
CMI 2019 Content Management and Strategy Survey

46. Do you use content templates
to structure your content?

47. Padma Gillen
Author of Lead with Content
We need to stop seeing content as blocks of text and start seeing it as
components of data that can be used, reused and combined in
different ways to benefit users based on the channel. This makes it
easier to maintain websites and allows a higher level of quality and a
more efficient way of managing content on a site. It also means the
same content can be pushed out on different channels.
Content led digital transformation

48. The inefficient way

49. The efficient way

50. Content types and templates
Brings together content, design and development
Consideration given to the content experience
Technology decisions pro-active, not last minute

51. Content style guide

52. Why style guides are important for …
Multi-source
One source of truth
for many sources of
production
Multi-channel
Set rules and
guidelines for content
across various
channels
Speed of delivery
Guidelines make it
easier (and quicker)
for authors
Scale
Produce content at
scale with confidence
in style
Content governance
Part of a bigger
governance system
Quality & consistency
Consistency in style
and format of content

53. Content style guides
Provide a shared understanding of
language, style and rules
Empowers content creators
Facilitates successful cross-discipline
collaboration
Helps achieve consistency in content
quality, style, and format (so also saves
time!)

54. Does your organization have a
content style guide?

55. How do people actually use it?

56. Example 1- Mailchimp

57. Example 1- Mailchimp
A resource for non-content
teams
Has become a tool to scale as
the company has grown
Avoids subjective
interpretation with examples.
Tell, then show!
Written in the style it is
getting others to use
Written with different
internal and external
audiences in mind
Effective dissemination
through suitable techniques
Part of a bigger design
system
A tool for alignment

58. Example 2 - Dundee University

59. Example 2 - Dundee University
Catalyst: silos, different
styles, inconsistency
Negative impact on the
University’s brand!
Organizational restructure
and brand refresh were
opportunities for change
Informed by research, but not
dictated by it
Statement of intent and
vision for the future
Considers non-linear user
journeys, multi-device
behaviours and expectations
of immediacy
Improvement in content
quality

60. ContentOps maturity3

61. What level is your organization at?
Defined by Colleen Jones

62. CMI 2019 Content Management and Strategy Survey
Subscribers to CMI who are organisations with 50+ employees

63. The need to deliver effective
content isn’t going to go away.

64. It’s probably going to get more
challenging and complicated.

65. Three pillars of ContentOps
People Process Technology

66. ContentOps requires
organizational transformation
and cultural change.

67. An investment in ContentOps
can have an impact on the pace
at which organizations can
deliver value and innovate.

68. The focus must be on
establishing operational
processes, roles, and
technology required to achieve
efficient ContentOps.

69. Any final questions?
rob@gathercontent.com
@RobertMills