Written content about your lodge or section is a fantastic way to convey information and keep people up to date on relevant business and upcoming events. This section will outline selecting subjects, writing and soliciting articles, editing content, and publication.
Content Subjects
It is important to consider the types of content that you are covering to make sure that it is interesting, relevant, and engaging. Interesting content will draw in readers, relevant content will keep them reading, and engaging content will connect them with what’s going on in the lodge or section.
There are four major phases to content planning: Brainstorming, narrowing, refining, and scheduling. Following this sequence will help make sure that you are able to create content that remains interesting, relevant, and engaging, and keep your team organized.
Brainstorming phase
In this phase you will be thinking of general messages or topics that you want to address. Brainstorming can be done by getting a group like a content team or LEC together and writing down content categories that they’d like covered such as event recaps, announcements, national program promotion, etc.. Figuring out these broad clusters of topics will then help you stay focused as you look into specific subjects.
Narrowing Phase
During this period, you will take the broad categories, and think of specific subjects to address within them. For a category like event recaps, you could then specifically cover a fall fellowship weekend or section conclave. This phase should end with a list of every article topic that you will need for your planning period whether that be a month, quarter, or year.
Refining Phase
This is the phase that makes sure that your content is interesting and engaging. Writing a general summary about your Fall Fellowship weekend is certainly informative, but won’t necessarily be interesting or engaging to a general lodge member who wasn’t at the event. Covering this event from the perspective of a new Ordeal member or the lodge chief, or discussing a specific part of the event will keep the article interesting. Ask yourself some of the following questions to help refine your subjects:
- What is my audience for this article?
- Does this subject address a new perspective or aspect of the topic?
- Would a new Ordeal member who has never attended a lodge event want to read this?
- Does this subject have a call to action that would encourage someone to participate in future events and activities?
Scheduling Phase
This phase helps ensure that content is distributed in an intentional way. When you write an article is just as important as what you write. There could be a fantastic article about a new OA summer camp program, but if it is written in October then people won’t remember it by the time summer camp registration comes along. To make this article more effective and relevant, it could be sent right after summer camp registration opens to remind people about great opportunities at summer camp. By thinking about when an article is posted, you can increase the ability for the article to make an impact on the readers.
By brainstorming, narrowing, refining, and scheduling, you can create new content for your lodge members that is interesting, relevant, and engaging. Once you’ve developed this schedule of content, all you need to do is have people write them, edit them, and distribute them to members of your lodge.
Article Solicitation
Finding ideas for articles can be difficult, so soliciting for articles from members of your lodge or section is an effective method to assemble content. It’s key that any articles written by these Arrowmen are still rigorously edited (see editing practices below). There are two types of solicitation: broad and individual. Broad solicitation involves providing a forum for any lodge member to submit an article to be published on the website and/or eNews. Individual solicitation involves asking a specific person, often an LEC member or event staffer, to write an article. Below are some best practices for both types.
Broad solicitation
If you choose to open up article submissions to any member of your lodge or section, it’s important to consistently promote the submission forum. Consider the following:
- Create an online submission form hosted or linked on the lodge or section website.
- If you can’t host the form directly through the website, use an external platform, such as Google forms.
- Include specific subjects or types of articles that would be a good fit.
- Include the specific publications and relevant deadlines that articles are needed for.
- Include article guidelines (examples, style, and length)
- Require the writer to upload images, with captions and sources, related to the article.
- Display the link to the submission form prominently on the homepage of the lodge or section website.
- Include the link to the submission form in every enewsletter, in the same location.
- Make social media posts monthly or quarterly asking for article submissions.
Individual solicitation
If you need specific articles related to events or initiatives, it is common practice to ask the LEC member responsible or a related staff member to write an article. It is best to ask before the event/initiative takes place, so the writer has the opportunity to take notes, interview participants, and collect images. Much like broad solicitation, it’s important to include the following information when asking for an article:
- Include specific key points that the article should cover.
- Lodge banquet example: Share with the writer, “It would be helpful to include information and quotes from keynote speakers, include the attendance, and highlight major award presentations.”
- Include the specific publication(s) the article will be included in, and describe the audience to the writer.
- Share the deadlines relevant to the piece and publication(s).
- Include general guidelines (examples, style, and length)
- Require the writer to include images, with captions and sources, in their submission.
Editing Practices
Editing written content is arguably the most important part of the content process. If content isn’t already interesting, relevant, and engaging, it should be changed during the editing process. Consider finding one person who will be responsible for editing all written content for your lodge or section, to ensure consistent quality. This may be the youth lead for communications activity, or a youth specifically assigned to content or editing. Additionally, an adult adviser should always read and edit everything before it will be posted, published, or shared. Editing is where grammar , spelling mistakes, writing style, brand/style compliance, and YPT issues are all addressed. Writing should always follow the rules outlined in the Language of Scouting and OA Branding Guide. Following these guidelines will ensure that the OA has a consistent style as an organization. It is recommended to generate a checklist used every time a piece is edited, to ensure consistency. An example checklist can be found here (PDF).
Content Publication
The final article should:
- Include the author (no full names if youth).
- Include relevant images, with captions and sources.
- Include quotes that highlight key points.
- Meet all editing criteria (see above).
- Be shared with a relevant audience.