Lately, you’ve been thinking more about posting content on your brand’s social media channels. You envision people flocking to read your blog posts and laughing at your Instagram reels. So, you ask your content team to create something great.

And they deliver—some of the best content you’ve ever seen. But then days pass, weeks go by, and before you know it, months have slipped away.

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Did you forget to publish it? 😅 It’s easy to let things slip when you’ve got a lot on your plate. 

But there’s another reason your posts might be gathering dust: you don’t have a content operations department.

Content operations is all about streamlining the content lifecycle and ensuring everything gets published on time.

Lucky for you, that’s exactly what we’re diving into today. Let’s explore the ins and outs of content operations and how to set it up effectively.

What are content operations?

Think of content operations (or content ops for short) as a well-crafted cocktail with just the right mix of ingredients. In essence, it’s a strategy made up of three key elements: people, processes, and technologies. These components work together to help content and marketing teams manage and create various types of effective content.

To put it simply, content ops is the technical backbone of your content strategy, making sure your content team has all the tools and processes in place to start creating the pieces of content. 

⚠️ It’s important to note that content ops doesn’t focus on the actual creation of content but rather on how to distribute it most effectively.

So, what makes this cocktail of content ops so successful? It’s the three essential ingredients we’ve mentioned. Let’s dive deeper into each of these components to see why they’re crucial.

What are the primary components of content operations?

People, processes, and technology — 

These were the ingredients chosen

To create the perfect content ops strategy 

Just like the Powerpuff Girls had their secret ingredient, our perfect content ops strategy also needs three components to work perfectly. Let’s talk a bit about them. 

People

Even if you’re a — 

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— type of person or a —

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— a primary component of a good content ops strategy are people. Whether that’s good or bad news for you, content operations are all about the team (not customers) and their role when it comes to content delivery. 

So, this refers to assigning and defining responsibilities and roles for your content strategists, creators, and other team members. Moreover, you can go even further and create specialized roles like graphic designers, editors, and content writers. 

In some cases, roles might overlap. Think of content writers and editors, who have the same-ish tasks. While editors don’t write the content itself, writers sometimes edit their own content after feedback. 

While it’s best to avoid this overlap, it might be unavoidable. So, make sure the responsibilities are clear and the content writer and editor don’t do the same job twice. 

Processes

Next up on our ingredient list is processes, aka how you get from point A to point B. Or, better yet, it’s the roadmap for your content strategy, where you determine who’s responsible for what, when’s the deadline, or what’s the schedule. 

You can have the following content production processes: 

• Selecting content types — Alright, think hard: what kind of content do you want to produce? Is it daily LinkedIn posts? YouTube videos? Or do you want to be an Instagram influencer? Select one or more and start creating! 
• Determining production workflows — This step highly depends on the type of content you’ve chosen. A video will take significantly more steps than writing a blog, right? This workflow can include anything from brainstorming ideas to approval and feedback process. 
• Writing style guidelines — It’s how you keep your team members on the same page when it comes to writing the content. Otherwise, you might end up with different styles of writing and tones that’ll only hinder your customer experience. 

Aside from keeping a unified voice and assuring the content is high quality, you can also think of content governance, a model that dictates how to manage and create content (as well as keep it cost-friendly).  

Plenty of processes to think about. You just have to find the ones that resonate with your content needs the most and start from there. You can do it!

Technology

Oh, technology, what would we do without it? We certainly wouldn’t be able to order our favorite items anymore, that’s for sure, or chat with our loved ones. 

And without technology, there’s no content operations. 

Technology is the last piece in the content ops puzzle. After all, a designer is nothing without a design tool like Adobe Creative Cloud. 

In a nutshell, this ingredient involves the necessary tools each team member needs to accomplish tasks and be as effective and successful as possible. 

But…

What tools are commonly used in content operations?

A good question, one we definitely plan to answer, don’t worry. We came up with this list of the tools most commonly used in content ops. Here goes: 

• Task management: You need tools like Asana or Monday to take care of content operations-related tasks and follow them easily. As a result, you don’t get lost in the myriad of tasks you need to do and have them all organized.  
• Project management: Scheduling is haaaaaaaaard. 🙄 Especially if you have hundreds of pieces of content to publish in a month; it’s hard to keep track of every little thing if you do it manually. With the right PM tool, like Hootsuite, it’s easier to track the where and when of publishing in an editorial content calendar.
• Content execution: Okay, how does your team execute the task? Can writers use Google Docs or do designers have access to Adobe? Without these tools, your team can’t do their jobs — which can get frustrating pretty quickly. So, ensure they have access to all they need to perform the tasks you want them to do. 

We have the perfect solution for this! Ceros! 🥳 Through Studio, Ceros can help marketing teams create interactive designs of all kinds, one that drives more engagement and makes your brand sparkle! ✨

• Analytics and reporting: The last type of technology we want to chat about is analytics and reporting tools, a vital stage in any creative content marketing strategy. These platforms help you measure content performance and how well it drives traffic and conversions. 

And guess what? You can geek out over real-time analytics with Ceros! Together, you can watch your metrics soar to greater heights and see how well your content performs, empowering you to extract valuable insights and make more data-driven decisions.  

Watch this useful video to discover more about Ceros analytics! 

Phew, that’s all we want to say about the three ingredients necessary for any good content operation. 

But is it really worth putting all that effort into it? Maybe going through the benefits will finally convince you you’re making the right choice. 

What are the benefits of content ops?

Like any good thing in life, content ops come with lots of benefits that will make you feel giddy. What are the advantages? 

Well, we don’t wanna keep you waiting — here are the benefits: 

• Improve content quality: Your content will be so good that your customers will be addicted to reading it daily. By having the right processes, technologies, and people, you make sure you produce high-quality content that’s structured, consistent, and meaningful. 
• Increase productivity: Without a content ops strategy, you’ll struggle to keep up with the demands. Plus, since people have no clue what to do, they won’t do anything. With a content operations strategy, people know what to do and pump out content faster since they respect the schedule. 
• Promote team accountability and structure: Content ops turn your team’s frowns ☹️ upside down 🙃. By removing people’s doubts about their roles and responsibilities, they can work more efficiently and be more productive. Confidence is the key to productivity, as we say. 
• Streamline processes: A good content operations solution will make your workflows more organized. For example, designers will always know when a graphic is approved or if it actually performs according to standards. 
• Save time and money: Ah yes, money and time. Two of our most important currencies and ones we need to take extra care of. So, your business can’t really afford to waste them. Luckily, content ops ensure you reduce the time needed to create, approve, and publish content. It helps you do more with fewer resources. 

You: Alright, I’m convinced. How can I create my own content operations strategy? 

Us: We gotcha, boo. 

Let’s see the steps you need to take to create your own content ops strategy. 

How do you set up a content operations strategy and framework?

We’re proud of you for taking this big step forward. 🤗 Before getting into the meat of the article, this graph will better show you which steps you need to take:

1. Define the purpose of your content

Without a purpose, there’s no content operations. It’s like a pirate without a treasure map; you’re just drifting at sea without a real goal. 

Before you do anything else, find your raison d’etre (how poetic!). What do you want your team to do better when it comes to content? Why do you want to implement automation in your business, for example? And how do you want them to proceed in the future? 

A goal will act as a guide, helping you produce on-target content each time. 

2. Determine your content mission and purpose

Yaaay, you know the purpose of your content now. 🥳 No more feeling like The Weeknd at the Super Bowl.

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But you have another job to do now, before everything is set in motion. Or rather, you need to become Bosley and give your Charlie’s Angels the details about the mission. Basically, what are you trying to achieve with this content operations strategy?

Do you want to drive more traffic to your site? How about increasing brand awareness? Or do you want to strengthen your relationship with customers? 

What you need to do is create a clear unique value proposition (UVP), one that aligns with your brand’s mission, goals, and values. 

3. Identify your core objectives and key results

Let’s do a little bit of roleplay. You’re Bosley and your team are your Angels. 

Here’s what you should tell your team after finding your mission purpose: 

“Alright, agents, pay attention! It’s time to brief you on the objective of this mission and what we’re trying to achieve here.

First of all, we need to set out OKRs (objectives and key results). During this mission, we want to drive more traffic to our website, let’s say. As a result, we need to identify some key quantifiable and measurable outcomes, such as conversion or engagement rate. 

Second, let’s establish some checkpoints for each of our milestones. We want to make sure we’ve completed everything on our list to reach the end result before moving forward. 

Only this way will we be successful and achieve all our goals. Good luck, Angels!”

Now wasn’t that fun? 🤭

In a nutshell, try to find the objectives of your content operations, determine which are the key results, and what steps you need to take to achieve them. 

4. Designate your content operations team

If you’re a Marvel fan, then you know what’s coming. So, say it with me, loud and proud: AVENGERS, ASSEMBLE! Because this is what this step is all about, gathering your co-workers and assigning roles and responsibilities. 

Think of stuff like who reports to whom or what the structure of the team looks like. Does your content writer report to the project manager or the editor, for instance? And make sure everyone knows what the process is, if the content needs to get through multiple approvals before reaching the last boss or just skip it entirely.  

5. Set up a governance structure

Nothing is possible without a structure. Or as we call it, a governance model. Basically, it’s a framework where you can include people responsible for the project and how they interact with each other. 

Why is this important? Since you and everyone in your team will be aware of who’s responsible for what, they can follow more easily how to reach goals and objectives. 

So, assign someone to be at the top, the person responsible for the budget and providing the necessary tools. Then get your content writers, editors, and whoever else that will take care of the actual content. 

6. Specify your processes and workflows

After setting your goals, people responsible, and whatnot, it’s time to create your workflows. Easy, right?

Well, maybe. There are different types of content marketing so, at the end of the day, it all depends on that. 

For example, the creation of a video involves other steps than a simple blog post or infographic. You need to write a script first, use a production team to do the video, and then approve it. A blog post is more straightforward: you come up with an idea, write the article, and edit it.

Just make sure everyone is on the same page with the process, like who is involved, how you track the progress, who approves it, and who publishes it. After establishing that, voila! That’s your workflow! 

7. Deploy your tech stack

The last step of any content operations process involves the tools you will work with. Without them, everything’s gonna be waaaay harder. So, it’s time to start hunting. 

Think of the tools you need, such as content management systems (CMS) or marketing automation platforms. After identifying which technologies you want, then you should start evaluating your options. 

Compare your rivals, make a pros and cons list, and read some reviews; these are the best ways to determine if a solution fits your requirements or not. 

But you know which tool will truly simplify your content process? Ceros! 

Yep, that’s right. Editor’s simple drag-and-drop interface allows you to edit any type of content easily; and you don’t need any special skills to use it. It’s like building Lego: you can easily place all the elements you like, wherever you like to create amazing designs. 

Besides, if you’re drawing a blank, Cero has templates you can use to startup your inspiration and create in-depth content that converts. 

***

Good job! You’re now a pro at crafting your own content operations. There’s one more thing we want to ask…

Over to you!

Ready to jumpstart your content operations strategy? 

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And you want to do it with Ceros, right? 😊 Yes, you do. 

It’s the best solution when it comes to crafting interactive content at scale and publishing it on time. With our intuitive interface and drag-and-drop editor, making new content is a breeze.

If you’re curious about it, then schedule a demo now.