What Makes Content Operations Successful?

2021 Update
What Makes Content
Operations Successful?
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
content-science.com/content-operations-study/

What Makes Content Operations Successful? 2
Value of This Report
No industry is exempt from digital disruption. Content has become critical to the
day-to-day of every business and organization. This report offers our latest research
into successful content operations.
We first set out to document the state of content operations in 2015. Since then, the importance of
content has grown as digital disruption has accelerated.
This report shares our analysis of the data collected from the more than 100 leading content
professionals with diverse organizations. We shed light on the current state of content operations
and what differentiates the most mature and successful.
As you work in the new content era of business, these insights will help you thrive.
Recommended Citation:
Content Science, What Makes Content Operations Successful? May 2021, http://content-science.com/content-operations-study/

Top 12 Takeaways
Our analysis of data from more than 100 content professionals is a treasure trove of insight.
The 12 findings below are among the most notable.
1. The majority of companies are at either level 2
(piloting) or level 3 (scaling) out of 5 maturity levels.
2. The top three challenges to mature are:
§ Content strategies are not standard for the
entire organization
§ No direct evaluation of content effectiveness
§ No clear content strategy or plan
3. Organizations that report being very successful are
more likely to have a clearly defined content vision.
4. Very successful organizations are more than twice
as likely than slightly successful ones to evaluate
content impact and success regularly.
5. Very successful organizations are more likely to be
using ROI to evaluate content.
6. The top barriers to maturity are lack of
communication across silos and red tape.
7. 73% of organizations use a content
management system. 41% use specialized
content technologies in addition to or instead
of content management.
8. 44% report personalizing the content
experience for each user.
9. 22% use machine learning or AI for content
work such as distribution and generation.
10.Teams with content training are less likely than
teams without it to experience challenges.
11.The majority of content teams consist of six
members or fewer and have more diverse roles
compared to our 2017 study.
12.More organizations have leadership roles such
as content manager and director compared to
our 2017 study. Some organizations have
executive level content roles.
Recommended Citation:
Content Science, What Makes Content Operations Successful? May 2021, http://content-science.com/content-operations-study

What Makes Content Operations Successful? l content-science.com/content-operations-study/ 4
Methodology
Data Collection and Analysis
Content Science promoted its proprietary Content Operations Assessment through a number of channels from January 8, 2020, through
March 15, 2021. The Content Science team analyzed the quantitative results and qualitative comments for the purpose of this report.
In-depth Interviews
Content Science conducted follow-up interviews with eight respondents from the online self-assessment to gain additional context and
insights. These eight respondents:
Participant Information
Total respondents: 109
Full-time freelancer /
contractor / independent
consultant
Member of content team
Leader of content team
62%
28%
10%
Non-Profit
Higher Education
Government
Corporate
4%
8%
14%
74%
• Are all leaders of their respective content teams
• Represent a wide range of organizations, including large nonprofits, tech startups, and Fortune 500 companies
• Reside in a variety of different countries including France, Israel, Italy, and the U.S.
• Respondents are from a wide variety of industries, including technology, finance, retail / ecommerce, health, nonprofit, and education
• Slightly more than half were from organizations with more than 1,000 employees
Which of the following best describes your role? Which of the following best describes your organization's sector?

Sample Participant Organizations
What Makes Content Operations Successful? l content-science.com/content-operations-study/

Content Operations Maturity
Even though digital business requires a sophisticated content approach,
most organizations lack mature content operations. Yet, most
organizations aspire to sophistication. Learn more about the challenges
standing in their way.

No formal content
operations, only ad hoc approaches
Sustaining while also innovating
and seeing return on investment
Solidifying and optimizing content
operations across business functions
Expanding formal content
Trying content operations
in certain areas, such as for a blog
18%
4%
19%
30%
28%
Content Operations Maturity Levels
§ 46% of organizations are at
levels 1 and 2.
§ Compared with organizations in 2017,
significantly more are at
levels 1 and 2.
§ Compared with organizations in 2017,
far fewer are at level 3.
Which of the following best describes your organization’s
level now?
CURRENT STATE
1
2
3
4 5
1. Chaotic:
No formal content ops
2. Piloting:
Trying content ops in certain areas, such as for a blog
3. Scaling:
Expanding formal content operations across business functions
4. Sustaining:
Solidifying and optimizing content ops across business functions
5. Thriving:
Sustaining while also innovating and seeing return on investment

Content Operations Maturity Levels
Solidifying and optimizing
content operations across business
functions
Expanding formal content
Trying content operations
in certain areas, such as for a blog
No formal content operations,
only ad hoc approaches
Sustaining while also
innovationg and seeing return
on investment
16%
12%
25%
39%
8%
What level does your organization strive to achieve? § About 4 in 10
respondents are
striving to achieve
level 5.
ASPIRATION
4
5
1
2
3
4
5
1. Chaotic:
No formal content ops
2. Piloting:
Trying content ops in certain areas, such as for a blog
3. Scaling:
Expanding formal content operations across business functions
4. Sustaining:
Solidifying and optimizing content ops across business functions
5. Thriving:
Sustaining while also innovating and seeing return on investment

Very successful
Not at all successful
Slightly successful
Moderately successful
64%
15%
20%
1%
Very successful
Slightly successful
64%
15%
20%
1%
Very successful
Slightly successful
64%
15%
20%
1%
Perceived Content Success
SUCCESS
Most organizations report only
moderate content success.
How successful do you consider your team / organization's
content efforts?

What Holds Maturity Back
Enterprise
(+1k employees)
Midsize
(100 - 1k)
Small
(< 100)
54%
reported lack of communication
between silos
70%
between silos
52%
between silos
54%
reported red tape / bureaucracy
57%
24%
Silos and red tape are the top barriers, with
midsize organizations reporting them the most.
§ More than half say that communication across silos is problematic.
§ Almost half report problems dealing with red tape and bureaucracy.
§ Nearly 4 in 10 report not having the tools, technology, resources, and
organizational support to succeed.

What Holds Maturity Back
60
Content strategies not standard
for the entire organization
No direct evaluation of content
effectiveness
No clear strategy or plan - content
created and managed on the fly
Content not tied to business goals
and objectives
Don’t have the right content
roles/staff
Customer data is limitedand
channel-specific
Bottlenecks in content operation
Bottlenecks in IT
Technology not sufficient to handle
the complexity of content strategy
Other - Write In (Required)
Not enough content-specific training
Technology not core to content
40
20
0
What are the top 3 challenges your content team / department faces?
60
Content strategies not standard
for the entire organization
No direct evaluation of content
effectiveness
No clear strategy or plan - content
created and managed on the fly
Content not tied to business goals
and objectives
Don’t have the right content
roles/staff
Customer data is limited
and channel-specific
Bottlenecks in content operation
Bottlenecks in IT
Technology not sufficient to handle
the complexity of content strategy
Other - Write In (Required)
Not enough content-specific training
Technology not core to content
40
20
0

“ T h e r e ' s b e e n a l o t o f c h a n g e i n o u r o r ga n i za t i o n a s
a r e s u l t o f w h a t w e l e a r n e d d u r i n g t h e C O V I D c r i s i s .
I t b e c a m e o b v i o u s t h a t t o m e e t t h e i n c r e a s i n g n e e d s
o f o u r c u s t o m e r s , w e n e e d e d t o a c t i v e l y b r e a k d o w n
o u r c o n t e n t s i l o s . A s a f i r s t s t e p , we've brought
the teams who deliver our onboarding,
adoption, and help content into the
same group. O u r g o a l , u l t i m a t e l y, i s t o a l i g n o u r
d i s p a ra t e s t ra t e g i e s a n d f u n c t i o n a s a single,
cohesive unit.”
— Anneliese Wirth, Senior Content Strategist, Cisco (WebEx Growth)
12
12
OVERCOMING SILOS AT AN ENTERPRISE

Content Roles and Process
Organizations are reshaping their content teams to include more
modern content roles and adapt new process models. Yet, many
organizations struggle to provide content-specific training—even
though such training correlates with content success. Topics covered in
content-specific training have become more diverse.

Content Teams
TEAM SIZE
How many members does your team have? § More than half say they are
leaders of their content teams. The
teams vary in size, ranging from fewer
than three members to more than 21.
§ The majority of teams report having
six or fewer members.
16-20
11-15
7-10
4-6
≤ 3
21+
3%
17%
27%
29%
13%
12%

Which of the following roles do you have on your team?
Content Teams
CONTENT ROLES

Which of the following roles do you have on your team?
Content Teams
CONTENT ROLES § Content marketer has
increased 112% from 2017. There is
also an uptick in content strategist and
content designer roles.
§ 52% report leadership roles like
content manager or director, up
8% from 2017.
§ Some organizations also have VP
or C-level leadership roles
focused on content.
§ Writer roles have declined 16%
since 2017.

“We're organized by specific product
groups, and each team has specific roles. S o,
t h e r e ' s s o m e b o d y w h o ' s t h e U X l e a d , t h e d e v l e a d ,
t h e p r o d u c t l e a d a n d t h e n t h e a g i l e c o a c h /s c r u m
m a s t e r. We're all supposed to be working
together to drive the product features that
we want to build.”
— Survey Respondent from a Large Financial Institution
17
LEANING INTO A SQUAD MODEL

Presence of content-specific training by content operations maturity level
Content Training
100% of teams at maturity level 5 offer content-specific training.
Only 15% of organizations with no formal content operations offer content-specific training.
1
2
3
4
5

Content Vision
The evidence is clear. Organizations that report the most success with content
also report having a content vision. Learn more about the connection.

Does your organization have a clear content vision?
Content Vision
63% of organizations lack a clear
vision for content.
This is up from 54% in our 2017 study.
Yes
27%
No
63%

Clearly communicated vision by success level
Content Vision and Success
Does your organization have a clear content vision?
§ Organizations with a
content vision are more likely
to report success.
§ 100% of organizations that
report no success also report not
having a content vision.
Successful organizations are more likely to clearly communicate the content vision.

“ I t i s v e r y d i f f i c u l t t o m o t i va t e my s e l f,
t h e t e a m , o r t h e l a r g e r o r ga n i za t i o n
w i t h o u t a v i s i o n … k n o w i n g w hy w e a r e
h e r e , w hy w h a t w e a r e d o i n g m a t t e r s ,
a n d w h a t w e a r e t r y i n g t o a c h i e v e .
Ro a d m a p s a r e c o n c r e t e a n d s h o w t h e
o r ga n i za t i o n h o w w e a c h i e v e a n d d e l i v e r
o n o u r v i s i o n .”
— Kelly Lawetz, Director, Genetec
22
VISION, MOTIVATION, + ROADMAPS
22

Content Measurement and Evaluation
Most companies continue to face content measurement challenges.
But organizations that are evaluating content effectiveness are reaping
the rewards. Learn more about what they are.

Content Evaluation
Does your organization regularly evaluate content impact and success?
Yes
35%
No
65%
65% of organizations do not
evaluate content.
This is up slightly, from 62.5% in our
2017 study.

Content Evaluation
Why don't you regularly measure impact and success?
§ A lack of time (73%) and vague objectives and goals (69%) are the most common
reasons for not evaluating content.
§ This finding reiterates the connection between having a vision and strategy and efficiently defining
what to evaluate or measure.

Content Measurement and Success
Organizations that evaluate content success are better poised for success.
DO
Evaluate
Content
DON’T
Evaluate
Content
My team has clear goals and understands how to
achieve them
71% 30%
My team has effective content standards and
planning procedures
69% 31%
My team employs effective decision-making and
problem-solving processes
71% 51%
My team is empowered to take risks and has
permission to fail
71% 48%
My team receives adequate recognition (whether
verbal or monetary)
61% 34%
My team has the flexibility to respond to change 87% 68%
Such teams are more likely to have goals,
standards, decision-making, and culture that
empower team members.

“ O n e o f o u r c h a l l e n g e s i s w a k i n g p e o p l e u p t o t h e f a c t
t h a t t h e r e i s value in this technical content, a n d
n o t j u s t i n s u p p o r t i n g c u s t o m e r s , b u t v a l u e t h a t c a n b e
m o n e t i z e d , s u c h a s g e n e r a t i n g s a l e s . T h a t ' s s o m e t h i n g
t h a t w e ' r e a b l e t o d o t h r o u g h a n a l y t i c s .
S o now the marketing team has realized that
they have this asset t h a t i s d r a w i n g a l l o f t h i s
t r a f f i c a n d c a n b e u s e d t o g e n e r a t e l e a d s a n d
p o t e n t i a l l y s a l e s . . . A n d this is helping us
get buy-in f o r a d d e d v a l u e p r o j e c t s .”
— Rick Teplitz, Manager, Imperva
27
SEEING CONTENT VALUE OPENS OPPORTUNITIES
27

Content Technology
Enterprises face increasing demand to provide the right content to the
right customers at the right time at scale. Learn more about how
organizations are starting to rise to the challenge with more—and more
diverse—technology applications.

Content Management
Which of the following technologies does your organization use to manage content?
§ 73% of organizations use a content management system or platform. Nearly 60% are using
an open-source platform like Drupal or Wordpress. This is up from 40% in our previous report.
§ 41% use other specialized content technologies for purposes such as workflow, standards
compliance, and asset management. Many organizations are using these technologies in addition to a
content management system or platform.

“ We h a v e a f e w different workflows, s o w e a r e
s t a r t i n g t o l o o k i n t o d i f f e r e n t o p t i o n s f o r m a n a g i n g
t h e m . F o r e x a m p l e , w e h a d G a t h e r C o n t e n t d o a d e m o f o r
o u r t e a m t o g e t e v e r y o n e t h i n k i n g a b o u t t h e w o r k f l o w
s t e p s . M y t e a m , w h i c h i s p r i m a r i l y p u b l i c h e a l t h
p r o f e s s i o n a l s , i n j u s t t h a t o n e d e m o s t a r t e d t o s e e t h e
p o w e r a n d e f f i c i e n c y o f t h e s e t y p e s o f p l a t f o r m s .”
— Susanna Guzman, Consumer Health Information, March of Dimes
30
EXPLORING WORKFLOW TECHNOLOGIES
30

Does your organization seek to provide a personalized
content experience?
Content Personalization
Almost half of organizations are
trying to offer personalized
content experiences.
This is up from 38% in our 2017 study.
Yes
44%
No
56%

Data Used in Content Personalization
What criteria does your organization use to determine which content to deliver to users?
§ 65% of organizations that offer personalized content experiences report using
behavior criteria such as previous content viewed.
§ 50% report using demographic criteria.
• Other criteria include firmographics such as business size, industry, and purchase behaviors.

Content and AI
What tasks are you currently using machine learning and/or AI to help complete?
Distribution, such as content syndication or targeting, is the most common application, with
39% of AI / machine learning users citing it.
22% report using machine learning and/or AI to help manage and generate content. This is up from
15% in our previous study.

What Thriving Content Operations Look Like
Get a snapshot of organizations that say they reached level 5—sustaining the day-to-day
content demand while also innovating and seeing a return on investment.

Have a clearly communicated vision
Evaluate content effectiveness and ROI
100% of thriving organizations regularly evaluate content impact and success, compared to only 32% of organizations at levels 1-4 Thriving
companies are less likely to consider direct evaluation of content effectiveness to be a challenge and more likely to measure success based on
return on investment (ROI).
Face fewer barriers to success
Zero thriving companies report any of these challenges:
• Content strategies not standard for the entire organization
• No clear strategy or plan - content created and managed on the fly
• Content not tied to business goals and objectives
• No or not enough content-specific training
• Technology not core to content
Organizations at maturity level 5…
All the thriving organizations say their team has a clear content vision. And 75% of them note this vision has been clearly communicated, with
the team fully invested in realizing it.
Get more specific training
All thriving organizations provide content training compared with 19% of non-thriving companies. And 67% of thriving companies provide
training in content analysis / data science specifically.
Employ more advanced technology
Thriving organizations are more likely to provide a personalized content experience—75% thriving vs. 43% non-thriving. And thriving
organizations are more likely to be using machine learning or AI—50% thriving vs. 20% non-thriving.
Thriving organizations are more likely to use voice of customer/sentiment data (50% thriving vs. 27% non-thriving) as well as
competitive data tracking (50% thriving vs. 21% non-thriving).
Use more diverse data to evaluate content
A Glimpse into Thriving Content Operations

C L O S I N G C O M M E N T S
If I had to sum up what our findings say about
the state of content operations today, I’d say
“two steps forward, one step back.”
Smart and aspiring organizations face an exciting
opportunity to differentiate on content.
Founder + President, Content Science
Author, The Content Advantage
Get more commentary and recommendations from Colleen Jones in the full report.

Content Operations Assessment
M O R E O N C O N T E N T O P E R AT I O N S
Get the Full Report
The full report with detailed findings, more
quotes, and commentary from Colleen Jones is
available as
• A premium report at Content Science Review
• Material in our Content Leadership + Operations
Certification at Content Science Academy
Links to all of our content operations resources are available at
content-science.com/content-operations-study/
At what level of maturity is your
organization? Take a quick assessment
online to find out.
Take the Assessment >>

38
A b o u t C o n t e n t S c i e n c e
What Makes Content Operations Successful?
We’re an end-to-end content company founded by Colleen Jones that
turns insight about your content into impact.
www.content-science.com

A B O U T C O N T E N T S C I E N C E
SOLUTIONS
STRATEGY + CONSULTING
With a sophisticated yet collaborative style, we advise, research and
train on content strategy and operations.
STUDIO
Our diverse content capabilities serve the entire customer
experience and enable the entire employee experience.
INSIGHTS
What content is working? What’s not? Our CS Lab analysts
can help answer those questions and more.
PRODUCTS
The leader in automating evaluation of
content effectiveness
Devoted to a variety of training
in content excellence
Online magazine with free and
premium content

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