Containing the Chaos

If you don’t have any symptoms of content chaos in your franchise library, you need to thank the person responsible for maintaining it for wrangling all the pieces. Every system has some chaos, whether it’s actual content or getting leadership to not make changes at the 11th hour. We’ve put together some Best Practices for both beginners and experienced strategists.

Philosophy

Create, Publish, Manage

Content is king, and as any search engine optimizer will tell you – distribution is queen (and she wears the pants). If you create information that is hard to find – hard to search, or buried within other info that isn’t relevant to me at this moment – then it might was well not exist.

Likewise, if the information is out of date, or conflicts with similar info elsewhere, you’ve lost credibility or created confusion. How you manage information is determined by how it is created. Your publishing format and search capabilities are limited by format. 

All three areas – Create, Publish, and Manage – should be considered at the outset of every document.

Strategy, Technology, Process

Technology is a double-edged sword. It can streamline processes and workflows, enable mass distribution, and publish in several different channels at once. But your tech is only as good as your processes. Sending information out faster and to a larger audience isn’t a good thing if the information is incorrect, or incomplete. 

Technology can make a good strategy better, and a bad strategy worse. Single-source topics, write once and publish everywhere, and re-usable content are the cornerstones of good content management. And with smart governance – archiving, naming, approvals – you can ensure franchises get the accurate, relevant information in the right channels at the right time.

Static content is never static. Change and growth are built into your business plan, and you should build them into your documentation, too. Content is a process, not a task.

Create, Publish, Manage

 

Create

  • Write topics, not subjects
  • Assemble the topics within different subject groups to create a playbook

Publish

  • Set an editorial calendar; too many updates in a short period of time create confusion
  • Determine use-cases for each channel; LMS, PDF, POS, Job Aids – all have different purposes
  • Use metadata to improve search results

Manage

  • Archive, archive, archive
  • Designate a Librarian – someone who knows the ins and outs of every playbook, and also technological best practices

Content Management is a process, not a task. Planning for change requires a holistic approach.

Strategy, Technology, Process

 

Strategy

  • Single-source of truth – each topic has an authoritative source that informs all other sources
  • Re-use copy and assets

Technology

  • Best in Class vs using Existing Technology – should you use a franchise management system to host your documentation? 
  • Strategy and process come first; without them, tech is often a bad fit

Process

  • Document your documentation
  • Streamline workflow by approving the single-source info, not each piece

People read to DO, not to KNOW. Design content to be easily found by the right people at the right time in the right channel.

Read More…

What is Content Chaos, and how do I contain it?

Tips and best practices to manage your franchise library

What your franchise library needs at every stage

Have questions? Always happy to have a conversation. Use our Get Started page to schedule some time for us to get to know you a little better, tailor the conversation a little.