How to cultivate a content gathering team
So your organization is growing and you’re doing great things. But you, or your marketing staff, can’t be everywhere at once. Enter your content gathering team.
A content gathering team can ensure authenticity in your marketing, capturing real moments and real stories. Your team will feel empowered, and know that they have a voice in your marketing. They will feel encouraged: what they do every day is important enough to capture and share. Plus, nothing beats a team effort when you’re undertaking something big.
Here are five simple steps to cultivating a winning content gathering team:
1.) Decide who should be on the content gathering team
Build an inclusive team by thinking cross-functionally. Invite people from all levels, top-tier leadership to entry-level staff. Appoint team members from different departments too, ensuring full across your organization. Make sure to include people who have direct touch-points with those you serve because of their unique vantage point. For example, an animal shelter content gathering team should include people who feed the dogs and cats each day. A community clinic team should include nurses and health educators.
2.) Create a content gathering system.
Set up a streamlined system so your team is more likely to be successful. Start with tools your team already uses. Does your organization use Google Drive? Create folders for each content topic. Be specific about what file details you will need. For example, every photo should be high resolution and should be titled with a simple naming convention (“Event_Date_Name” is a good start). And don’t forget a system for photo release forms!
At Fervor, we love using HeyOrca! as our content gathering tool. Our clients have their own unique phone number, so their team can text in photos with one click and we can easily incorporate these visuals into the social media calendar.
3.) Hold a content team kickoff.
Schedule a kickoff training event for your content gathering team. At the kickoff, cast your vision for the team as a whole: they’re are on the front lines of creating stories!
Then, get specific. What’s the strategy, and what are you trying to accomplish through your content? Tie to a concrete goal. A church might be trying to recruit 10 new volunteers for Sunday School this fall, for instance. Letting your content team into your strategy allows them to focus their efforts on reaching this goal — think testimonial stories from previous volunteers, photos of teachers interacting with kids and video of kids singing “Jesus Loves Me.”
4.) Keep your content team engaged with regular check-ins and invitations to participate.
Your crew wants to stay in the loop, so equip them for continued engagement with plenty of check-ins, touch points and invitations to participate. Add content team priorities to regular meeting agendas. Send weekly email reminders of the team goals as they change. Send shout-out messages highlighting top posts when you see them.
5.) Reward your team with special treatment and celebrate the wins.
Hey, a little VIP treatment can go a long way. Bring the crew together to celebrate success over a fun team lunch. Chat about the big marketing wins that happened because of their great work. Celebrate the metrics and let everyone know how important they are to your content gathering team. And some swag every once in awhile never hurts. Say thanks with a token of appreciation — branded, of course.
A content gathering team allows you to capture what makes your organization so impactful and showcase it in your marketing. When you create a content gathering team, you empower your staff to be on the front lines. Your best content is probably sitting inside your organization just waiting to be tapped.