Working with a ghostwriter is an excellent way to turn raw insights into compelling content. It does, however, require an initial investment of time and effort to get this going. The question is: How much time and effort?
Well, that depends on your workflow.
When we say “workflow,” what we mean is the way in which you and your writer work together to turn an idea into a completed piece of work. How do you get your writer set up with the information they need? How do they proceed once they know what you want?
There are many approaches, and most writers will employ several, depending on the type of content they’re working on and their own preferences.
The success of your collaboration will depend on the mutual understanding of and commitment to the workflow that you and your ghostwriter develop. At Community & Company, we’ve had great success using recorded interviews, instant messaging, and detailed briefs. Here’s how you can use these workflows to produce your own content.
Recorded interviews: Out of one conversation, many insights
Best for: Creating regularly scheduled content, evergreen content, or content that requires a more personal voice and tone; if you’re at your best when speaking.
Why it’s great: Interviews are information-dense, meaning they’re a fantastic way to transfer lots of valuable information to your writer in one sitting. Discussions can evolve organically in the moment, yielding unexpected gems. One interview can result in multiple opportunities for content.
Potential pain point: The production timeline for interview-based content tends to be longer, so this isn’t great for generating engagement over rapidly evolving news events.
How it works: Setting up a content production cycle based on interviews takes a modest amount of preparation on your end.
You’ll need to establish how often you want to meet with your writer, and for how long. This could be an hour every month, every six weeks, or even quarterly. Decide whether to meet in person or via video call.
You’ll also have to define, at a high level, what topic(s) you want to cover and what you want the output to be. Consider the quantity, quality and scope of the content.
Share this information with your writer ahead of the interview. This allows your writer to prepare thoughtful questions so that you can cover enough ground without losing momentum or getting too off-track.
Your writer will take the notes and recordings, extract key insights and create drafts based on your initial request.
If you have a collaborative, trusting relationship with your writer, they might suggest a different approach or point out additional content opportunities based on the results of the interview. Hear them out—great writers have sharp instincts for what makes compelling content.
Instant messaging: Quickfire bytes of brilliance
Best for: When something great just happened to you and you want the world to know now; creating short-form content on time-sensitive topics; making content from ideas that don’t need in-depth instruction.
Why it’s great: Instant messaging eliminates the lengthy ramp-up portion of copywriting. When you want to drive engagement by reacting to trending content or major world events, you can send your writer an IM or voice note and they can get started right away.
Potential pain point: This method gives you less control over the fine details, so it’s not suited for lengthy projects, complex subject matters or untried copywriters.
How it works: You probably already use instant messaging for housekeeping tasks such as setting meeting times and checking whether files have gone through. Using it for actual content creation comes with additional considerations.
Before you start sending articles and links over to your writer, establish some ground rules to keep your workflow clear and efficient.
Here are a few things we suggest keeping in mind:
- Set guardrails around types and lengths of content you’ll request in this way. This creates a shared understanding of your mutual expectations.
- Always provide expected turnaround times upfront so your writer can quickly evaluate how your request fits their current workload.
- Be flexible. Does your writer already have a few projects in the works with you? This new ask, with its tight timeline, might mean you need to find your writer some wiggle room elsewhere.
- Have a backup plan. Writers are human; sometimes circumstances just don’t line up. Would they be willing to look over something you write instead?
- Only use this method with a writer you trust. Constant requests for small revisions will kill the timeliness of your content. You need a writer you can rely on to get it right quickly.
Detailed written briefs: When precision is king
Best for: Long-form content; complex or specialized topics; content that relies heavily on technical information or precise instruction; high-compliance environments.
Why it’s great: A detailed brief allows you to be very prescriptive, granting you a high degree of control over the final product. You can specify research direction, content type, tone, length and scope, and provide a long list of reference materials, all within one document.
Potential pain point: Preparing well-structured briefs takes a substantial amount of effort, time and attention to detail. The content production cycle is also the longest.
How it works: The brief is a cornerstone of content production. It is a comprehensive written outline of the piece of content you want created. Your results depend heavily on how good your brief is.
Your writer may have a standard brief document that you can fill out; or you can create your own, if there are aspects you want to cover in specific detail.
At a minimum, the brief should describe the type, target audience, topic, objective and due date of your project. Other criteria you want to specify include voice and tone, length limitations, specific keywords and more.
Be as detailed as necessary in your directions. If the topic is nuanced, provide that nuance. If your content relies on highly technical information from your specialized domain, instruct your writer on how to navigate that data. If you want to present your information in a specific order, lay it out. The whole point of putting your request in writing is to reduce ambiguity and ensure precision, clarity and completeness.
Understand that, with a detailed brief, the primary return on your investment of time and effort is quality, not quantity. One hour of interview could net you multiple pieces. One hour preparing a brief might only get you one article, but that article will be precisely crafted to your exact specifications.
Making these options work together
Depending on your relationship with your writer, you might find yourself using one, two or all of these workflows with them. That’s not a bad thing; in fact, it probably means you’re building a varied and diverse bank of thought leadership content.
Certain kinds of content tend to work better with certain kinds of workflows.
Here’s a mix we’ve seen work well:
- Interviews for planned LinkedIn, blog and newsletter content. These types of content follow a set schedule, tend to be evergreen, and benefit from a more personal tone, making the interview format a fantastic fit.
- Instant messaging for social media posts on industry news, events or developing stories. When big events start to generate buzz and you are an authority who’s expected to comment, this is the quickest way to get that “share” post up on LinkedIn and capitalize on the widespread engagement.
- Detailed written briefs for white papers, case studies and industry publication contributions. These more academic pieces require the depth of information and directive instruction of a brief. A brief will also help organize background information, resources and data in one place.
This isn’t the only way to leverage these workflows; what works for you will depend on the content you produce, how often, and what your relationship is like with your writer. But if you’re looking to ramp up your content game, this is a great place to start.
If you’re interested in teaming up with a partner that can connect you to a talented writer and help orchestrate your content mix and workflow, contact us and let’s talk.
