Creating content material takes a whole lot of planning, manufacturing, and publishing exercise. From the folks creating it to the instruments they use and the processes they observe, manufacturing schedules can go from manageable to chaos in a matter of days.
Content material operations templates and methods allow you to outline processes, decide schedules forward of time, handle duties, and finally make it simpler to scale.
Listed here are the perfect free templates that received’t really feel like a waste of time.
monday.com: Inventive processes template
monday.com is a versatile relational database instrument for work administration and group collaboration. As soon as you determine fundamental content material operations, you need to use it to handle your full content material manufacturing cycle.
Whether or not it’s weblog posts, customized pictures, podcasts, movies, or a combo of all of them, you’ll haven’t any drawback managing manufacturing schedules with monday.com.
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monday.com’s artistic processes template is a superb choice as a result of it acts as a single supply of fact for each operations and manufacturing.
Due to built-in challenge administration options, you’ll get Kanban boards, Gantt charts, calendar views, timelines, and extra. This provides everybody in your group the chance to see all the pieces in a manner that makes essentially the most sense for them.
This template additionally features a full digital asset administration (DAM) part that makes it simple to connect directions and specs to every merchandise.
Other than the template itself, monday.com provides a variety of configurable automations so you’ll be able to simply streamline each step of the method. For instance, you’ll be able to mechanically connect related directions and course of documentation to a activity based mostly on its content material sort.
ClickUp: Content material operations template for SOPs
Whether or not you’re working with a couple of folks or a number of dozen, normal working procedures (SOPs) are a significant piece of your content material manufacturing machine. With out them, chances are you’ll sacrifice high quality, effectivity, price, or the entire above.
This content material creation SOP template from ClickUp comes with all you should create and retailer your documentation.
Extra on ClickUp: ClickUp evaluation | Asana vs ClickUp | ClickUp vs monday.com
Not like different SOP templates, this one is constructed particularly for content material. You received’t need to make many modifications earlier than including your content material operations framework and documentation.
It permits you to outline the aim of your processes, the scope of your tasks, and step-by-step directions for all the pieces you’re producing.
The template works very well for explaining learn how to do issues inside a specific instrument, like Canva or WordPress, in addition to tips, stylesheet data, and finest practices. There’s additionally a spot so that you can hyperlink to different sources as wanted.
Wrike: Full content material operations system
In case you handle a number of tasks concurrently, Wrike makes it simple to plan and execute these plans throughout the similar platform. It’s notably helpful for challenge portfolio administration and tying challenge particulars into higher-level enterprise targets.
Though Wrike’s free plan is proscribed in comparison with different platforms, groups utilizing it are seemingly in a position to justify paying for it.
That mentioned, a lot of its templates can be found on the free plan, together with its content material operations template.
Extra on Wrike: Wrike evaluation | Wrike vs monday.com | Wrike vs Asana
Not like different templates, this one’s an entire system with a number of modules that will help you streamline operations.
To start out, you’ll be able to add your group and set roles, making it clear who’s accountable for what.
There’s additionally a piece request type others can fill out after they want one thing from the content material group. It’s totally customizable to match your workflow and helps management how requests are added to your backlog.
Other than that, you need to use the system to create content material briefs, distribute them, and handle approvals with big-picture knowledge a couple of clicks away.
Every consumer has a customized productiveness dashboard that outlines their to-do listing, vital paperwork, and progress on owned tasks.
Airtable: Content material monitoring and operations template
Airtable is one other nice choice to contemplate when dealing with content material operations at scale.
As a strong relational database resolution, it’s nice for organizing advanced content material methods that don’t match into different templates. It has a strong automation engine and loads of customization alternatives to show it into precisely what you want.
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From summarizing campaigns and filling your content material pipeline to monitoring workload and monitoring key metrics, this template has a little bit of all the pieces.
Not like different Airtable templates you might have seen, this one contains pre-built interfaces with modular entry controls. As an alternative of accessing your whole base knowledge, customers can solely see and work together with the weather you need them to.
It additionally comes with content material request types, content material marketing campaign administration capabilities, a calendar view for big-picture operations, and AI-powered instruments that will help you make data-driven selections.
I personally use Airtable for managing many of the workflows throughout my enterprise and may actually say it’s a greater match for individuals who prefer to get their arms soiled.
Stackby: Content material operations template
Like Airtable, Stackby is a no-code on-line spreadsheet and database resolution for companies. It’s similar to Airtable in a whole lot of methods, albeit a bit extra user-friendly for many who don’t wish to customise each single factor.
The platform has greater than 500 templates for nearly each use case you’ll be able to think about.
Stackby’s content material operations template is an all-in-one resolution for planning, administration, and content material creation.
What’s distinctive about this template is the truth that you’ll be able to sync knowledge from completely different campaigns, instruments, and activity boards for high-level outcomes monitoring in a single view.
Say you’re managing content material in your weblog. In a single click on, you’ll have the ability to see crucial KPIs like the typical time guests spend on the web page, estimated variety of guests, and precise guests when you’ve hit publish.
There’s additionally a pre-built tab for outlining and monitoring advertising aims, together with which forms of content material you’re going to make use of to realize them.
The true-time knowledge syncing is a key part of this template, making it an amazing selection if you need that degree of element at your fingertips.
Smartsheet + Excel: Fundamental operational plan template
Smartsheet has practically a dozen content-specific templates in addition to operational planning templates that you would be able to both use straight inside Smartsheet or obtain for Excel.
Excel is the best way to go for those who don’t wish to pay for Smartsheet as there isn’t any free plan.
Nonetheless, you’ll have the ability to simply create a high-level operational plan throughout your content material group, division, or total enterprise with both model.
Extra on Smartsheet: Smartsheet evaluation | Smartsheet vs Wrike | Smartsheet vs Airtable
Though this template is fairly generic, it’s simple to customise it and make it work for content material operations. You can even simply adapt it to incorporate content material operations as part of a bigger operational plan.
It leaves loads of room so as to add your personal contact to match your wants. The draw back of utilizing it with Excel is that you just’ll miss out on Smartsheet’s built-in challenge administration instruments.
However you’ll be able to nonetheless handle fundamental duties and tasks in Excel for those who favor.
SmartSuite: Advertising and marketing plan and useful resource administration template
SmartSuite is a collaborative work platform that’s versatile sufficient to assist groups maintain monitor of absolutely anything. Along with having challenge administration options, it’s also possible to use it to handle customers, bills, plans, sources, and extra.
It ought to come as no shock that SmartSuite has some helpful content material operations templates that mix many of those components collectively.
Extra on SmartSuite: SmartSuite evaluation.
The advertising plans and sources template is without doubt one of the finest due to its clear and intuitive dashboard. It offers an at-glance-look at your most vital data. You can even see what’s energetic, the duties completely different groups are engaged on, what’s full, and work within the pipeline.
There are separate areas for roles, picture requests, social media account data, instruments and login knowledge, model property, company contacts, and extra.
Each sort of merchandise allows you to set an proprietor, connect hyperlinks and different sources, monitor the standing, and take notes.
Not solely do you get high-level stats, you additionally get all the pieces you should handle the small print.
Asana: Excessive-level operational plan template
Asana is a extra conventional challenge administration instrument, making it nice for people or companies in search of one thing less complicated with much less room for error and customization.
As an added bonus, it has the most effective free plans available on the market. You’ll get limitless duties, tasks, and messages plus the flexibility to collaborate with as much as ten group members for gratis. Each plan additionally contains Kanban view, calendar view, and listing view of all of your duties.
Extra on Asana: Asana evaluation | Smartsheet vs Asana | Trello vs Asana.
Asana’s free operational plan template is nice for goal and strategic alignment. You may take it a step additional and monitor targets, tasks, and duties, multi functional place. The perfect half is that you would be able to join all of those components collectively for a totally synced content material operations system.
Constructed-in types make it simple to standardize content material requests, manufacturing, and information sharing throughout your group too.
Past content material, this template contains instruments for KPI reporting and common evaluations, making a real operational plan resolution for groups that want to remain organized from the highest down.
BONUS Template (Paid): Notion content material operations for businesses
This Notion template is constructed particularly for businesses. In case you’re managing content material for a number of shoppers, you’ll be able to simply create a brand new house for every one and customise their client-specific wants from there.
Then your group can rapidly confirm the particular operational necessities based mostly on which content material they’re producing content material for.
For instance, one in every of your shoppers may need you to quote sources a selected manner and solely use knowledge from the previous yr. One other consumer might particularly ask you to publish three new posts on LinkedIn per week, and a 3rd consumer will not be tremendous explicit about something.
Regardless of how huge you get or what number of shoppers you begin working with, your group can proceed counting on this template as their centralized supply of fact for any particular necessities.
You can even use the template to plan targets and measure KPIs to your shoppers. There’s even a spot so that you can maintain monitor of upcoming conferences and handle timesheets for hours spent engaged on completely different tasks.
Not like the opposite templates, this one isn’t free. It comes with way more options and capabilities than all the opposite templates and the $75 price ticket is definitely justified if that is one thing you want. This template can also be usually maintained, which may’t be mentioned about most free choices.
What’s the distinction between content material operations and content material technique?
Operations and technique are vital items of creating an effective marketing plan. Though they sound comparable and are carefully associated, they’re not the identical factor.
A content material technique identifies big-picture targets and plans to your content material itself. Content material operations refers to the way you’ll get the work finished. Going after natural site visitors to drive conversions might be a part of your content material technique whereas operations contains the group, instruments, and sources you’ll must make that occur.
How to decide on the suitable content material operations template
There’s a whole lot of variation from one template to the following. Some are easy and light-weight, others are extremely customizable methods with dozens of views and tables to maintain monitor of various kinds of gadgets.
Hold the next standards in thoughts as you make your last resolution:
- Operations complexity: Easy content material operations can seemingly be outlined in a one or two-page template, whereas advanced flows want one thing extra superior.
- Constructed-in challenge administration: Decide for those who simply wish to use a one-off template to stipulate your operations or if you wish to proceed managing content material manufacturing from the identical platform.
- Staff dimension and scalability: Some templates are positive for people and small groups, and others are constructed for a number of departments that collectively work on content material at a excessive quantity with a whole lot of shifting elements.
- Consumption requests and content material briefs: Not each template comes with consumption types and/or challenge briefs, each of that are good to have — particularly for those who usually get content material requests from exterior groups or shoppers.
The easiest way to be sure you have the suitable one is to shortlist a couple of, obtain them, and check out them out. Plenty of the choice comes down to non-public choice, so it’s a good suggestion to see them in motion earlier than selecting.