How to shape the most effective CMS workflow for your team

Content management can feel frustrating when your team is growing and the number of processes, stakeholders, and tools is increasing proportionally. This is where a content management system (CMS) workflow comes into play. It can streamline your team's content creation, publishing, and workflow management, ensuring everyone is on the same page and working towards the same goals. 

What is a CMS workflow?

A CMS workflow is a set of steps and processes that define how content is created, reviewed, approved, published, and managed within a content management system. It helps companies organize their content creation and publishing processes to ensure the right content is delivered to the right audience at the right time.

The key elements of a CMS workflow include the following:

• strategy
• content creation and approval
• editing and publishing
• management and maintenance

7 steps to create a CMS workflow tailored to your team

Even while the content workflows vary depending on the company's goals, teams, budget, and other factors, the overall planning approach is similar.

However, the functionality of the CMS might limit your possibilities or vice versa, add more options to control. Here is what you can do with Storyblok - a headless content management system.

1. Refine the content strategy and guidelines

As Dwight D. Eisenhower said: "Plans are nothing; planning is everything.", having a strategy is the first and the most critical step. Producing content without a clear understanding of the goals and KPIs you intend to achieve is a waste of time and resources. The content should be aligned with the overall company goals as part of the marketing strategy.

The more detailed your plan, the easier it will be to carry through. Therefore, try to predict every tiny step that will lead you to the final result. For example, establish content guidelines so that everyone working with a CMS (whether an in-house employee, freelancer, or agency) knows exactly how to promote your brand or product.

2. Set up roles to improve content alignment

When the strategy is complete and approved, it is time to define each stakeholder's exact responsibilities. First of all, you'll always know the "owner" of each process, whom to address regarding any topic, and ensure security. 

The good news is that you can manage all the roles and permissions directly in the CMS. You can enable only certain roles to perform different actions within a CMS, such as adding new content entries, editing, reviewing, deleting, and publishing content. You can also grant access to different folders, files, and even locales within the CMS. This implies that both external and internal contributors can only see and act on the data you allow them to see.

3. Set up a content staging workflow 

Once the roles are established, you can set up a personalized content workflow with numerous phases that are tailored to your team's processes. Users in Storyblok can use the Pipelines App to create a content pipeline and assign stages such as drafting, reviewing, ready to publish, and so on. Thanks to precise staging and a granular permission system, you can be sure no unfinished or non-approved content is published.

However, sometimes you need to publish something outside of working hours, such as a press release for the market on the other continent. In such cases, you can easily schedule content in the Releases App to plan campaigns while working on the current content without confusion. 

4. Create content collaboratively

Many content management systems, particularly legacy systems, make non-technical users (content creators, editors, and so on) reliant on developers. To make some content pieces look how you want, you may need to code or change them with CSS or HTML. Alternatively, there is no preview option, so you never know how the material will look after it is published.

Storyblok's unique Visual Editor solves this problem. This is a workspace where you can build content with a WYSIWYG editor (what you see is what you get) and a live preview on the same screen. You can construct your content like a puzzle using pre-made blocks and elements.

A collaborative suit, which enables users to interact directly in the CMS, is another useful tool. This allows all collaborators to tag each other not only in the overall entry but also in specific components, making it easy to understand what they wish to update or just leave feedback.

5. Store content in one central hub 

While all pages and components are always stored within a CMS, some systems do not provide internal storage for assets like photos, videos, files, and so on. In fact, many legacy systems only allow for external storage of all these assets, which might result in multiple duplicates, outdated files, or even data breakage.

All assets in Storyblok are saved in a built-in DAM – a digital asset manager. This means that users can access the necessary files without leaving the system, making content management easier and more effective.

6. Publish content wherever you want

As we mentioned earlier, the more tasks you can perform within a CMS, the more efficient the workflow will be, as you don't have to distract by multiple tools and systems. This is especially important for enterprise companies or online-first brands relying solely on their digital presence. Typically, such organizations expect sophisticated features such as omnichannel publishing and localization.

Due to its headless architecture, Storyblok can fulfill these requirements. Since there is no predefined frontend, developers can choose any technology to deliver the content. At the same time, they can also integrate multiple third-party solutions via API (application programming interface) to expand the content management system's capability.

Unlike traditional CMSs, Storyblok enables users to publish their content across various channels, including websites, mobile apps, VR, AR, IoT, etc. Meanwhile, managing several locales won't be a problem either due to localization integrations allowing you to tailor your content to different markets.

Streamline your CMS workflow with Storyblok

While the majority of legacy content management systems are making things more complicated, modern headless solutions such as Storyblok provide users with up-to-date technologies, allowing them to reduce development and content creation time.