As much as we’d love it to, great content doesn’t just magically appear out of thin air. But, equally, your content marketing strategy shouldn’t consume all of your time.
The M-word (meetings) has faced some considerable backlash in the last couple of years. In fact, research from Radisson Blu UK found that nearly half (43%) of UK employees believe the majority of work meetings are pointless.
Editorial meetings, however, are a vital part of successful content marketing. And there’s likely to be plenty of individuals within your company who can bring something to the table, so to speak; each with a Liam Neeson-esque ‘particular set of skills’ who can offer real and valuable insights.
Ensure your editorial meetings are jam-packed with productivity by following these top tips:
Work out how often to hold them
There’s nothing worse than going to a meeting that could have been resolved by a quick email. It just wastes everybody’s already precious time and tarnishes meetings with a bad name.
How frequently you need to hold these meetings will depend on just how much content you’re writing – if you publish multiple articles in one day then you’ll undoubtedly need to meet more often than if you write one every couple of days.
Only invite relevant team members
Meetings should only involve those who are working on the content you wish to discuss. This might sound like it goes without saying, but I’m sure we have all experienced sitting in on a meeting that had absolutely nothing to do with us.
There might be other people who need to be kept in the loop but, if they don’t need to be in the meeting, keep them up to date with a quick email summarising what was established and agreed in the catch up. No-one’s going to be offended that they didn’t get invited.
Keep it short and sweet
One thing that’s worse than sitting in on a meeting you don’t need to be in is being in an unnecessarily long meeting. Not only does this waste people’s time, you can almost guarantee that people will stop listening.
The occasional meeting might need to be longer but a maximum time of 30 minutes should be all you need to cover the essentials.
Stick to a plan
It’s easy to go off topic in meetings… especially if it’s nearly lunchtime and someone walks in with a box of doughnuts.
Writing a list of the points you’d like to discuss before you start the meeting will help make sure you don’t forget any key areas, stick to what is relevant, and will also help keep the meeting to an acceptable time.
Review performance
Has someone’s blog received a lot of engagement? Let them know and congratulate them on their hard work. A little acknowledgement can go a long way.
It can also be handy to schedule in regular tips for improvement into your editorial meetings – just be careful not to cross the line into being patronising.
Check in with current assignments
As well as discussing the overall content marketing strategy, editorial meetings are a great way to check in with the progress of any outstanding assignments.
Not only does this give you a good idea of how well people are managing their time, it also gives the other members of the content team the opportunity to ask questions or make suggestions.
Brainstorm
Nothing helps get the creative juices flowing more than sitting down together and firing ideas at each other – it’s always surprising how many suggestions you come up with after the first idea.
Every so often, turn your meeting into a brainstorming session for future content ideas. Let attendees know beforehand so they can come prepared — just don’t send the email five minutes before the meeting.
Have a training session
There are always ways in which we can improve, and editorial meetings can provide the perfect time to address this. Whether you ask a member of the team to discuss their individual expertise you or get someone else to come in, holding a training session in place of your usual meeting can help the content team learn new skills or boost their existing ones.
Just make sure the session is on a topic that will benefit everyone present.
Address any issues or concerns
Is your content team feeling overwhelmed by their workload? Does everyone believe the content reflects your brand?
You won’t know the answer to any of these questions if your team doesn’t feel like they can discuss their concerns, so make sure every meeting feels open and non-judgemental so people can express any issues, and then be as helpful as you can to address them.
Send an email summarising the meeting
If the attendees are busy trying to scribble down notes then there’s a good chance they might miss something important.
Save your team members the distraction and send an email summarising the key points discussed after every meeting. This will also help make sure that everyone is on the same page.
Sure, some meetings can be replaced with a quick email exchange, but editorial meetings are still an essential part of an effective content marketing plan. They allow everyone in the team to share ideas, concerns and feedback.
Struggling to find the time to schedule editorial meetings? Let us organise them! We can help with other areas of your content marketing too. Why not give us a call to find out?