On September 10th the New England Patriots will kick off the 2015 NFL season. Though we might not see any touchdowns or red flags until then, the real work of the season actually starts on April 10th when owners and coaches start to build their teams at the annual draft.
On draft day, each team will be trying to fill their roster with a right mix of quarterbacks, tight ends and running backs. Between then and the start of the season, each team will whittle down their selections to 53 players.
The Patriots can’t draft 20 quarterbacks and expect to make it to Super Bowl 50. They are also going to need plenty of offensive players and some special teams if they want to win games.
Just like the Patriots, your content strategy team needs to have the right players in order to produce winning results. Together, this team will establish content priorities, identify your target audience, decide on distribution methods, and create content. But, each individual has his or her own role within the team. They can’t all run the ball down field.
Team Leader
This is your Robert Kraft. A content team leader is the person with the greatest understanding of the big picture. In addition to providing high-level oversight to the rest of the process, the team leader is essential to defining the content strategy. They will also drive the budget, set goals and measure results. However, they will take a hands-off approach to actual content creation and delivery.
In your company the content management team leader might have the snazzy title of Chief Content Officer. Or, they might be head of your marketing department, the content team manager or your social media manager. No matter what title they hold, the content strategy team leader should be the highest-level person that will be involved in the process. If they are not an executive they will, ideally, be able to speak directly to and for the executive team.
Content Manager
In your content strategy team, the content manager is Bill Belichick. They are the whistle-blowing coach on the sidelines and the person who knows the playbook backwards and forwards. While the team leader sees the big picture, this person deals with the day-to-day. The content manager is the holder of the voice, style and tone of the organization. They will also call the plays by distributing specific assignments and managing the content schedule.
Within your organization, the person responsible for the content manager role may be an editor or a content coordinator. Whoever they are, they need the organization skills to keep all the moving parts going. They also need the skills to effectively translate the big picture, given by the team leader, into the actionable items needed by the content creators.
Content Creators
The content creators are Gronk, Brady and Butler. They are the players on the field, creating content as described by their coach, the content manager. While your content strategy team may have just one team leader and a few content managers, you will need a roster of content creators. Depending on your strategy, you will need videographers, photographers, graphic designers and writers. You’ll also need content creators spread out over a variety of niche areas, including industry-specific content, social media specialists, product description writers and bloggers.
Though content creators focus on running the plays established by the rest of the team, they are also valuable sources of creativity, inspiration and information. Just as quarterbacks call a play from the field once in a while, it’s worthwhile to involve content creators in the strategy planning.
Michelle S lives with a lifelong Dallas Cowboys fan, which is unfortunate. She spends Sunday afternoons between September and January in her office with the door shut, writing.
