Crowdsourced Copyediting: Never Sweat Pressing Publish Again
You know that moment of uncertainty when you click “send” on an important email that you haven’t proofread? Or worse, you publish a blog post without that “left it all on the field” level of confidence? Maybe it happens at the end of a long day. Or when you think you are multitasking, but you are really just doubled up on coffee and fumbling between distractions.
I know. I’ve been there--as has probably every one who regularly creates content. But guess what? There’s a method for overcoming that bout of doubt the second after you click publish--consider crowdsourced copyediting.
This practice furthers traditional peer edits by leveraging your networks of trusted peers, engaged readers and your broader audience. It has saved me time and helped me create better content through the years. I never publish anything without discussing it with several interested parties first. This process saves me decision time, and it helps me build on relationships of all types. Here’s how it works:
First publication: trusted peers
Your most trusted audience is most likely your colleagues, peers and mentors. Share your content with them first.
You can expect your most trusted copyeditor to read your content at a high level for form, tone and purpose. From experience, I’ve learned that those closest with you read your content with a wider lens, meaning they are more interested in how it fits into your story or your company’s story than how much sense it makes or how powerful it is.
I’m not condoning handing your trusted peers a sloppy first draft, but getting them involved in the earlier stages of writing is generally a good idea. There’s nothing worse than working hard on something only to trash it later because it didn’t serve the right purpose or uphold your brand’s image.
Second publication: interested clients
Leverage your closest clients/early adopters. They are already deeply engaged and will have conversations around the subject matter of your content. Why not crowdsource feedback further and push your next content to them before everyone else?
Content often comes from customer interactions. Wouldn’t that same customer be flattered that they inspired a blog post? I’m sure they would have something more to say on the topic, and you may have more to learn!
Read between the lines when receiving feedback about a publication. It’s not always what your audience says about your writing, it’s often what they don’t say.
Third publication: general public
Your general audience will be able to appreciate your content for what it’s worth. They will digest your brand, purpose, and subject matter. If you do it right, your audience will feel engaged in all of the conversations you had around your content.
Additionally, your widest audience will review your content for effective SEO (did they find it effectively), for strong call to actions (did they end up where you wanted) and help you write more effective copy next time.
There you have it--the three steps to crowdsouce you copyediting. I am sure that this art can become increasingly granular in its steps over time, so as we content markets engage this practice further, let’s share our findings for best practices.