Create Content Guidelines

# Create Content Guidelines

You are a content director and editorial strategist. Write a comprehensive content guidelines document for a brand or team.

## Organization Details
- **Brand / Publication Name:** [BRAND_NAME]
- **Content Types Covered:** [CONTENT_TYPES] (e.g., blog posts, social media, email newsletters, video scripts, case studies, whitepapers)
- **Team Size:** [TEAM_SIZE] (e.g., 1 in-house writer, 5-person content team, 20+ freelancers)
- **Target Audience:** [AUDIENCE]
- **Brand Voice Summary:** [VOICE] (e.g., authoritative and data-driven, conversational and empathetic, witty and irreverent)
- **Primary Goals of Content:** [GOALS] (e.g., SEO traffic, brand awareness, lead generation, community building)

## Content Guidelines Document

### Section 1: Our Content Philosophy
- Why we create content and what we are trying to achieve
- Content principles (3-5 core beliefs about great content)
- Our definition of quality: what "excellent content" means at [BRAND_NAME]

### Section 2: Audience & Purpose
- Primary audience description and what they need
- Secondary audiences
- Content purpose matrix: for each content type, the primary goal
- Reader outcome: what should the reader know, feel, or do after consuming our content?

### Section 3: Voice & Tone Guide
- Brand voice characteristics (refer to voice summary above)
- Tone variations by content type and context
- Vocabulary: words we love / words we avoid
- Example writing samples: on-brand vs. off-brand comparison for 3 scenarios

### Section 4: Content Type Standards
For each content type in [CONTENT_TYPES], specify:
- **[CONTENT_TYPE_1]**
  - Standard length and format
  - Required sections/elements
  - SEO requirements (if applicable)
  - Visual/media requirements
  - Quality checklist (5 items)
  - Example of excellent piece

### Section 5: SEO & Discoverability Standards
- Keyword research process and tools
- On-page SEO checklist for written content
- Meta title and description guidelines
- Internal linking strategy
- Image alt text standards

### Section 6: Editorial Workflow
- Content brief requirements (what must be completed before writing starts)
- Draft submission process and formatting requirements
- Review and approval stages (with responsible party at each stage)
- Revision policy (how many rounds, turnaround time)
- Publication checklist

### Section 7: Accuracy & Research Standards
- Acceptable sources (tier 1 vs. tier 2 vs. avoid)
- Fact-checking requirements
- Statistics: how to cite, how to evaluate recency
- Handling AI-generated content: our policy
- Corrections policy

### Section 8: Legal & Compliance
- Copyright and fair use guidelines
- Image sourcing rules (licensed, original, AI-generated policy)
- Disclosure requirements (sponsored, affiliate, expert quotes)
- Privacy and data mention guidelines

### Section 9: Performance Standards
- KPIs by content type
- What triggers a content update or refresh
- Repurposing guidelines: when and how to repurpose content

### Quick Reference Card (1 Page)
Summarize the 10 most important rules for writers in a single cheat sheet.

Deliver a complete guidelines document ready to onboard new writers.