Marketers have been implementing content strategies for decades, and it’s time for learning and development (L&D) departments to implement them, too.
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According to one expert, a content strategy is simply the “creation, publication, and governance of useful, usable content,” and every successful L&D professional knows that useful, usable content is pivotal to any successful L&D initiative or program.
This is especially true in 2019, when thousands of pieces of content are published and consumed online every minute and employees rely on their mobile devices more than ever before. So, here’s why you need a content strategy for your L&D department and initiatives.
You’ll Know When to Outsource and How to Manage Your L&D Content
There is simply too much content that needs to be created for online learning courses and L&D departments nowadays for L&D professionals to be able to keep up with learners’ demands and expectations.
Sometimes it’s hard to know where to begin. However, when you develop a content strategy, you’ll gain a bird’s-eye view of what learning materials you need, how they’ll be distributed, and what format they need to be in, as well as how they should be managed.
You’ll also know when you should outsource your content needs and when you can rely on your existing staff to develop and manage learning content. For example, you might decide to curate all learning content related to upskilling employees in coding while hiring an expert to help you develop your compliance training programs and having your staff develop materials and content for your leadership development programs.
You’ll Always Have High-Quality Content
After you develop a content strategy for your L&D programs and initiatives, you’ll know exactly what type of content you need and where or how to get it. With a little bit of planning and foresight, you will always have high-quality learning content that your employees can rely on and access.
Whether it’s outsourced content, curated content, or content developed in-house, you’ll have a strategy that will ensure your employee learners can access high-quality learning content.
You’ll Save More Time and Money
As you develop your L&D content strategy, you’ll learn ways that you can save time and money without having to sacrifice your employees’ learning content needs or demands or the quality of the learning content they access.
For example, you might discover that curating content in one program will be far less expensive and more effective than rushed or incomplete learning content that’s developed in-house, or you might discover that hiring a compliance expert for your compliance training program will be more cost-effective and beneficial, etc.
Bonus: You Can Also Recruit Employees to Produce Content
When you develop a content strategy for your L&D initiatives, you can also include your employees and have them create content, too, which will also save you a lot of time and money.
For more details and insight, read “Why You Want Your Employees to Be Content Creators” and “How to Motivate Your Employees to Be Content Creators.”
While you’re developing your learning content, consider the reasons you need to develop a content strategy for your L&D initiatives, too, as detailed above.
