The grinding, laborious nature of content management can make any content manager feel like an under-appreciated librarian. But has anyone ever called Hercules a librarian? Hell no. So make like Herc and own your content like he did his 12 legendary labours.
Before we get into the nitty-gritty details of beast-quashing in this final episode of our content management Greek mythology mash-up, there is one over-arching caveat that must be highlighted. To be a truly successful content manager, you must ACTUALLY enjoy the process of content creation, curation and dissemination. If you don’t, best get someone else who does, to do it.
As with any task that requires proficiency through practice – content management in the digital space requires the potent combination of skill adaptation and engagement dexterity. Sounds scary? It is. Imagine if you unknowingly shared some key market findings from a direct competitor on your company’s social platforms – and now the trolls are up in arms over your inappropriate cross-branding blunder and your existence in general.
“Stupid branding!” they’ll cry, “Imbecilic!” they’ll accuse.
Voila, you now have your personal Hydra-troll to slay, with every decapitation smearing poison and new trolls sprouting everywhere. Still want to be in the game? Then ask yourself, what would Hercules do?
Impossible Labour #9: The Belt of Hippolyte
Target: The apparatus that holds up the skirt/military slacks/yoga pants (?) of the Queen of the Amazons.
Objective: Get the belt without getting flayed/stabbed/murdered by Amazons.
Here’s the unfortunate truth, for every 10 trolls that are baying for your blood, you’ll probably only have one fan, who loves everything that you do.
What Herc did: The combination of a badass lion-helmet-cape and manly charms won the Queen over and she gladly gave Herc the belt. Hera (who really needs some coffee) is enraged and rallies the Amazons to attack Herc. In the ensuing melee, Hippolyte is killed, but Herc gets away with the belt.
Takeaways: Keep your fans engaged, informed and well-fed with the best of your content. It only takes one influential troll to completely ruin your fan club (of one).
Impossible Labour #10: Cattle of Geryon
Target: Herd of very pretty cattle located at the other end of the world, guarded by a two-headed monster hound owned by a giant named Geryon, who has three bodies and three sets of legs all connected at the waist. Weirdo.
Objective: Get the cattle safely across the globe.
Content management is not a sprint. It’s a marathon. It’s a slow process filled with ups, downs, tears, hair-tearing and sometimes, evil maniacal laughter.
What Herc did: He sailed all the way across the ocean in giant golden goblet (another handy gift from Sun-God Helios), fought the two-headed beast-dog, got into a club-fight with Geryon and sailed all the way back with a bunch of bulls in a cup-boat.
Takeaways: Content management is an endurance game. You won’t get immediate or quick ROI with the time, money and effort. It’s a distance sport that requires managers to keep the team motivated with a goal line that’s deep in the horizon. Hence, the importance of actually liking this gig. The returns should not be measured in days or weeks, but in months and quarters. So expect a very slow burn.
Impossible Labour #11: The Golden Apples of the Hesperides
Target: Golden apples from a secret garden, guarded by nymphs, the Hesperides, who are daughters of Atlas, a TITAN. Oh, and get this, the shiny fruits were Hera’s (the one who needs coffee) wedding gift when she married Zeus.
Objective: Get the apples.
In every business setting, the people you work with – associates, partners and rivals, all have their own agendas and objectives. In content management, access to content provision talent, sharing rights and distribution protocols often boil down to who you have a mutually beneficial relationship with.
What Herc did: He went through hell and high water to find the location of the secret garden, battling other demigods and lesser beasts along the way. He finally had to seek the help of Atlas, the Titan condemned to hold up the sky on his shoulders by Zeus. The deal was for Atlas to grab the apples while Herc held the sky in his place. Not surprisingly, Atlas tried to pull a fast one, intending to leave Herc to hold the sky in his stead (like forever), but Herc was on to him and told Atlas to switch for a minute so that Herc could put on some shoulder pads to ease the weight of the freaking sky. Fortunately Atlas wasn’t known for his Titan-negotiation skills and has, since then, been holding up the whole bloody sky.
Takeaways: Have trusted allies, negotiate hard and if it’s too heavy a burden on your shoulders, get help (or pass it back to Atlas – he’s not very bright).
Impossible Labour #12: Cerberus
Target: Three headed, flesh-eating, dragon-tailed demon-dog guardian of the Underworld.
Objective: Discipline the hell-doggy and bring him back.
Content management is just like Cerberus or any other dog that seems untrainable. But with the proper skills and techniques, he too can be trained to fetch, play dead and even safeguard the gates of Hell (filled with trolls).
What Herc did: All the tasks that he has been through have culminated to this. A journey to the Underworld to retrieve its fearsome gate-guardian. Knowing that he could potentially not return from this journey to Hell without the proper training and prep, Herc sought out the help of mystics and masters. Only when armed with the right skill sets, he walked up (or down) to Hell and asked the Bossman himself, Hades, for a shot at taming the demon-dog. With Hades’ thumbs up, our hero makes full use of his ridiculously muscular arms and dog-wrestles Cerberus into submission. Herc is now a certified dog whisperer.
Takeaways: Get the right training. Some of the skill sets needed in content management include digital media applications, social media savviness, IT infrastructure knowledge for internal and external volume sharing, editorial experience, client engagement and the ability to analyse tracking data. No one is naturally born with these skills. So get the RIGHT TRAINING.
So there it is fellow content managers, a mythologically-themed attempt at content management clarity. If there’s anything to be taken away from this three-part journey of redemption, pain and absolution, is that nothing is really worth doing – unless you’re having fun with it.
Categories: #TRUTH
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