Content Creation Checklist

When creating content, it’s a good idea to know who you’re creating it for (who’s going to read it). The content should be well-structured, visually pleasing to look at and must have a purpose.

What do we want to achieve?

Brand awareness?
Shares, likes & tweets?
Subscription to newsletter?
Sales?

Who are we targetting?

Who is our target audience?
What do we think they need / want to read?
What are they searching for and why are they searching for it?
Create some personas to summarise above answers (fictional characters that represent different types of customer)

What type of content are we creating?

Video
Blog Post
Press Release
Case Study
White Paper
Newsletter
Infographic
Social media design post
Competition
Website / Page

Branding / Consistency

Tone of content – All fun? All serious? Sarcasm? Mostly serious with humour only people in industry would get?
Images – use stock photography? custom designs? watermarks?
Are we sticking to a style guide?

Content Idea Generation

Tell / show people how to solve a problem
Share interesting or useful data you may have
Create FAQ’s
Create product walk-through / review videos
Compare your offering to competitors – tell people why they should pick you
Ask customers for reviews / testimonials
Staff biographies / personalities / photos
Share and comment on relevant breaking news in industry
Turn private presentations in to a public slideshare
Top 10 lists (i.e. if you’re a flower shop, ‘top 10 most romantic flowers’)
Take & share photos & video of events / tradeshows / product launches

Quality Control

Spelling, punctuation & grammar check
Appropriate use of tags / categories
All hyperlinks working
Easily digestible – format subheadings, lists, quotes etc…
Clear call to action
SEO friendly title & description

Sharing & Distribution

Where do we promote this content?
Is it easy for people to share?
Have we given people a reason to share it?
Can we encourage people to interact with it through polls, comments, hashtags etc..?