Content Audit

Successful Content Audit

Whether you’re in the early stages of building a content library or you’re already drowning in a sea of content so vast that you can’t find what you have when you need it, a content audit is the key to getting the most value from what you’ve created. You’ll always know what you have on hand, what you can use with a few updates and what requires a net-new investment. These 5 simple steps will get you started.

you'll use to assess and label your content.

What can you use today? Where are the gaps in terms of the buyer’s journey or target audiences? A standard content audit often evaluates these basic criteria:

Evergreen value:

Does the content still resonate, and is it likely to do so 6 months from now?

Quality:

Do assets have broken links, poor video quality or subpar writing?

Buying stage:

What stage of the buyer’s journey does the content address?

Persona:

Do assets have identifiable targets?

Of course, you can take your audit to another level by adding any criteria that will help you make stronger decisions or to better identify usable content, such as campaign topic.

a scoring system.

A good content audit isn’t subjective, so you’ll need to assign objective scores that tell you whether an asset is ready to use as-is, usable with a few updates, or ready for retirement. Assign letter or number scores to those valuations so that you can search the results quickly to find what you need.

Do not use!

Needs major revisions before using

Could be used with some moderate editing

Slight tweaks, and this could be great!

Great asset!

your materials.

In many organizations, content is spread out all over the place – stored in different servers and various departments. That makes it difficult to share relevant content or access it when you need it. Ideally, you’ll compile all the content in one central, accessible location. Catalogue it in a spreadsheet with all relevant details – title, topic, format and so on. Format your spreadsheet with spaces to add what the auditors learn as they review the assets – evergreen score, buying stage and other important details.

consistent review process.

Most of the time, it takes more than one auditor to review all the assets in a content library. Make sure that everyone is aligned on the criteria you’re using and able to generate results that are as consistent as possible. We often perform a calibration exercise where our auditors assess a small number of the same assets. We compare the results and address any discrepancies.

the results.

With all your notes and scoring entered into your spreadsheet, you’ll have a bird’s-eye view of your content library. How many high-quality assets do you have available for the bottom of the funnel for each persona? What’s your mix of short-form vs. long-form assets, blog posts vs. white papers or interactive vs. static? Is your library short on mid-stage content? Assessing these kinds of gaps will help you make important decisions on where to spend content investments to create the content you need most. The close-up view is just as helpful. A good audit allows you to “shop” for content in your library by zeroing in on the existing content that fills a specific need. You can search for high-quality evergreen content by topic, funnel stage and persona – whatever criteria you evaluated – to find specific assets relevant to an upcoming campaign that are ready to share.

The value of your audit is tied directly to the quality of the auditing. It can be a tedious process, but one that will continue to deliver value for years to come. Emerald Studio has conducted dozens of in-depth audits for clients in a variety of industries. Contact us any time for additional tips or to partner with you on a successful content audit.