Every content person has a topic they’re particularly passionate about, and mine happens to be evangelizing the content function inside your organization. First, I’ll tell you why this is important, and second, I’ll tell you why I’m so <jazz hands> to talk about it.
Why it’s important to make a big deal about your content
Cultivating an appreciation for content inside your company is a good move for a few reasons:
- Job security
- Amplifies your distribution without you having to do very much
- Makes your job easier
Don’t all of those sound good? The truth is that doing this is so easy I almost feel guilty talking about it. But I think a lot of content marketers operate under the assumption that of course everyone in the company knows where to find content or follows the social media channels or subscribes to blog updates. However, I think we’ve all been on the receiving end of messages like “Hi Sarah! Could you share the URL of the company blog?”
Maybe I’m exaggerating, or maybe I’m not. But if this sounds even a little bit familiar to you, go to your calendar right now and block off one hour each week to think about how you’re going to start selling your colleagues on content.
Why I loooooove talking about this
I like talking about this topic because, as marketers, we often get waved off as having the “fun job” that “makes things pretty.” And we do have fun, and we do make things look good.
But marketing is a data-driven profession, and that data is often disjointed and fragmented and difficult to interpret. So we work very hard to make sense of it and do the best work possible in the pursuit of getting leads in the door and customers to stick around.
And people should know this!
Another reason: marketing department structures and roles vary a lot from company to company. Someone with the title “content marketing manager” at one company might be fairly junior with a very narrowly defined set of duties. At another organization, that person might head a team of writers and SEO specialists, with wide-ranging duties encompassing other facets of growth marketing or communications. So you can hardly blame Marnie in sales or Jack in finance for not knowing what the hell it is Sarah does all day.
So tell them! And tell them in a way that matters to them and helps them do their jobs. Obviously, this is going to be more relevant to a highly engaged sales person with a personal brand on LinkedIn and lots of prospects in their email. And that’s the person you want to think about when you’re figuring out the best way to spread the good news about your content.
How to evangelize content at your company
First, have a think about your company’s culture, and what that culture prioritizes. Is it efficiency, collaboration, entertainment? Next, what kind of organizational capital do you have? Can you just say – I’m doing this, deal with it? Or do you need to present your ideas to your manager and discuss them with the broader team? Put another way: what can you get away with?
If you need to get approval for your plans, be prepared to say something like: I think we’d benefit from more employee engagement with our content, and here’s why. Here are the benefits we’ll see, and here’s how much time I’ll spend doing [whatever]. Your manager and your team will want to know these things, and they can explain your motivations in turn to anyone else who asks questions.
Okay, here are some ideas:
- Make a short Loom video every week and post it somewhere – intranet, Slack, in an email. This associates your face with the concept of “content marketing” and makes people aware that YOU are the internal go-to person for content. Make the video 30-90 seconds. You can showcase a new asset, give them a tip on how to find content more easily, or ask them to share something specific.
- Send an email. I do this bi-weekly and note any new content I want people to distribute. I also give them copy to cut and paste. The general idea is: what can they do in five seconds that will help my content reach more people? I also throw in a funny gif and a little joke or two. People are welcome to delete it! I literally don’t care. I’m most interested in the people who look forward to the email.
- Start a Slack (or Teams or whatever) channel. This has more immediacy and less staying power, but in some companies it will be the best way to spread the word.
- Have office hours. Book 20 minutes every week where you’ll be available in a Zoom. Tell people you’ll be available to answer questions, listen to ideas, or to talk about something new and exciting in the world of content. Yes, some days you’ll be sitting there and nobody will show up. That’s why it’s 20 minutes. But in some organizations, this will take off like wildfire.
- Ask for time in an all-hands call or regular go-to-market meeting. Sometimes, three to five minutes is all you need.
Finally, think of how you’ll track the results of your efforts. It will be interesting to see how you can move the needle.
You can listen to me talk about this stuff on the B2B Content Show podcast.
SARAH SHEEHAN 