Guess what? Some content is not king. In fact, lots of content is hurting your brand.
That’s why content moderation has been in the news a lot lately—look no further than Facebook’s congressional hearings in 2021 or littered across popular culture.
But what does content moderation mean for you?
Content moderation, defined by pre-emptively reviewing UGC (user-generated content) before it is published on your brand’s various digital channels, is no longer just a competitive advantage —it’s table stakes for business leaders.
Here’s what you can expect in 2022:
- Increasing pressure on companies that manage and distribute content to monitor (and potentially intervene) against negative content across their platforms.
- More brands will build out content moderation strategies to protect their brand and pre-empt PR snafus, by focusing on UGC, such as text, images, video, audio, and content metadata.
While it’s a growing necessity, leaders still must choose whether building an internal team or managing through an outsourced partner is the best approach.
Let’s take a deeper dive into the future of content moderation and why outsourcing with content experts is a critically important choice.
How Content Moderation Has Changed
Content moderation has accelerated past simply deploying an army of editors and legal personnel to ensure content compliance. Content optimization has become more sophisticated and requires optimization across a growing number of channels.
Outsourcing partners have the key advantage of leveraging leading-edge technologies (like AI and machine learning) along with industry-specific agents solely focused on brand moderation.
The biggest hurdle leaders face if they choose to build internal content moderation teams: it’s hard. Internal teams need to be empowered with necessary technologies and training to be effective—and that process takes time and budget that is often better spent with a partner organization that requires far less ramp-up time.
The Two Most Common Forms of Content Moderation
The content universe is broad. But it helps to reduce it to its most basic forms. The two most common forms of content moderation are simply pre-screening and post-screening content related to your brand.
Preemptive Content Moderation, which requires brands to screen content assets before they are publicly posted, has the advantage of greater control. That said, this approach may create friction among your user communities, as prolonged delays between content being posted and approved may signal that your brand is too heavily moderated, or that your website or app is too overly restrictive.
Example: Lodging marketplaces like AirBnB conduct preemptive background screening and location audits to serve both guests and hosts to ensure a better overall experience, which can result in temporary “pending” statuses for new users.
Review Content Moderation, which requires a summary analysis of content assets after they are publicly posted, offers the quickest connectivity between users and content. This can often bolster a highly-engaged community, although it potentially leaves your brand vulnerable to inappropriate content slipping through.
Example: Facebook historically has allowed users to post content freely, as content teams work behind the scenes to remove flagged content as it is discovered. Improved AI screening tools (while not perfect) have improved the efficacy of the social juggernaut’s content moderation, detecting content violations well before users report them.
Types of Content Moderation to Consider
Whether building an internal team or partnering with a content moderation vendor, brands generally focus on three key sections of content moderation:
Community Platform Content Moderation
This often includes monitoring and managing a community you’ve created where the bulk of the content is user-generated, including:
- Review sites (like NextDoor or Home Advisor.)
- Ecommerce marketplaces, where third-party sellers use your platform to promote and sell their products.
- Community support forums (like StackOverflow or Quora).
- Third-party sites, such as a subreddit dedicated to your brand’s specific offering.
Website Content Moderation
This moderation type focuses on the content that lives on your website and is added by users, particularly with:
- Ecommerce sites, allowing users to leave product reviews, attach photos, and share videos.
- Blogs or news sites, allowing users to leave comments and engage with other readers.
Social Media Content Moderation
Focusing on the ever-growing social landscape, content moderation across social channels is a brand priority. Utilizing expert agents and technologies, outsourcing partners can manage comments across your brand’s social media posts, and monitor all posts that mention your brand by name.
Proactive social media monitoring allows you to bolster brand integrity and quickly respond to negative social posts or comments appropriately.
Why Your Brand Needs Content Moderation
You’re probably convinced that content moderation is a necessity for your brand. But don’t make the mistake of thinking this is a task that an internal staffer can tackle in their spare time.
Content moderation is an ever-evolving landscape that requires year-round attention and rapid responsiveness to protect your brand.
Here are a few reasons why outsourcing your content moderation is better than going it alone:
- 24/7 monitoring
- Dedicated experts working on your behalf
- Cost savings over employing internal staff
Want to see a full cost analysis of how affordable professional content moderation can be? Contact us for a no-risk, no-cost consultation to learn more.
