How to align your content marketing and social media teams

Content distribution is key to any marketing strategy. Yeah sure, you might write a blog that ranks #1 the next day (one of the ultimate content marketing miracles) and that LinkedIn post you did last week might have gone viral (or your company-sized equivalent), but strategizing how every piece of content can be promoted across channels is the winner.

And it's not just about writing a blog and sharing a link on social—nope, definitely not.

Here's how to align your content marketing and social media teams for some serious skyrocketing content. 🚀

How to align your content and social media teams

1. Get your creative brains together

   
   Two brains are better than one, but when you're taking into account your entire content and social media team, that's a whole lot of creativity.
   
   Get the most out of all these creative brains by making time for regular brainstorming sessions. In these sessions, you can throw content ideas around here, there, and everywhere—sure. But you want to make sure you're thinking about how to create content that works harder for you across all channels; this is where your knowledge of different channels can really chime in.
   
   Here's what works:
   👉 Schedule monthly 'big picture' creative brainstorming sessions where both teams can geek out on upcoming campaigns
   👉 Set up a shared Slack or Teams channel for those spontaneous ideas that come at non-scheduled-meeting moments
   👉 Go the extra mile in breaking down departmental silos by creating a 'buddy system' to foster ongoing collaboration

2. Plot a bada$$ content repurposing strategy

   
   Fun fact: You don't need to create content from scratch every single time. You've already got blog posts filled with social-worthy goodness, and those viral social media posts? They're practically begging to be transformed into full articles.
   
   Working together to come up with a smart content repurposing plan means you can easily:
   
   🤝 Break down long-form content into things like tweet threads or carousel posts
   🤝 Turn customer comments and questions from social into FAQ blog posts
   🤝 Create infographics from those data-heavy articles for quick social sharing
   🤝 Use social poll as research for upcoming blog content

3. Plan ahead with task management tools

   
   We can all agree that nothing kills creativity faster than chaos. Make sure your teams are on the same page with shared workflows; specifically workflows that make sense for all involved (please).
   
   Consider things like:
   
   ✅ A unified content calendar... that both teams actually want to use
   ✅ Clear approval processes that don't eat up half the production time
   ✅ Project management tools where everyone can see what's cookin'
   ✅ Regular (and QUICK) check-ins to help with blockers or bottlenecks
   
   Optimizely Content Marketing Platform takes all these points into consideration; probably because it's made for marketers. Its shared calendar and workflow tools make for easy alignment, visibility, and accountability across teams—not to mention the fact AI is embedded throughout the solution to make things extra speedy and streamlined. With different calendar views available, your team can see what's coming up however they want to, whether that's list form, calendar layout, and more. Content chaos, manic marketing, be gone!
   
   

4. Make the most of social media's instant feedback

   
   Not many content channels can get the same level of customer engagement as social media can--the impressions, the likes, the comments, the shares... the rants. These are all great indicators of what makes your target audience tick.
   
   Take this direct feedback and use it to ideate or get inspired for future content. For example, you can track which social posts get people talking and deep dive into those topics for other types of content. You can also make the most of social media features like question stickers and polls to test content concepts you might have.

5. Develop cross-promotional content series

   
   Align your editorial calendars to create complementary content, and don't you DARE stop promoting blog content through social media channels and vice versa.
   
   Think of your content kinda like a TV show and its ads--each piece should work on its work, but together they'll tell a bigger story.
   
   Here are some ways you can do this:
   
   ✅ Create a blog post series with social media teasers for each installment
   ✅ Develop social-first micro-content that leads to comprehensive guides
   ✅ Use social media to build anticipation for upcoming content pieces, including webinars
   ✅ Create behind-the-scenes social media content about your blog post research

6. Compare metrics on the reg

   
   Numbers don't (usually) lie. Regular performance tracking will help both teams understand what's working and what's falling flat.
   
   Here are some key content marketing metrics to see what type of content is resonating best on social versus blogs:
   
   📈 Cross-platform engagement rates
   📈 Referral traffic between social and blog content
   📈 Conversion rates from content types
   📈 Time spent on content vs. social engagement

Key takeaways

• Leverage task management tools for seamless collaboration
• Analyze cross-channel content performance to optimize strategy
• Incorporate social elements into long-form content
• Create synergistic content series across platforms
• Draw inspiration directly from social audience interactions

Integrated marketing: The power of content and social collaboration

Team alignment is one BIG part of integrated marketing; in fact, it's kinda the whole idea. But how you go about promoting an integrated marketing approach is where you might need some work.

Teamwork really does make the dream work. This kind of alignment amplifies the impact of both teams, and amplifying results across marketing. But look, it's not something that you can add to a strategy and never look at again—there will be trials, errors, and the rest, so keep learning and adapting.