WellSpoken is the wellness industry’s first credible content accreditation. WellSpoken also provides the wellness industry with advisory services and training around communicating credibly so they are able to reach the WellSpoken standard of excellence for wellness content.

In a time where accusations of fake news steal headlines, it is imperative that businesses show that they are doing more than the minimum to ensure that they are working in a credible fashion – especially when providing content to the public. The mission of my business WellSpoken is to equip and empower brands and influencers to produce good quality information, communicate in a responsible manner and have credible partnerships and affiliations.

In all industries there needs to be certain parameters established to guide those producing consumer content to generate credible information. The power that brands have to influence consumer is vast, but the public are becoming more and more sceptical of the information they receive from corporations.

When developing and information to be shared with consumers, there needs to a defined and documented process for producing high quality information – This principle is designed to demonstrate that there are robust processes to ensure consumer content is top-notch every time.

Staff training.

At WellSpoken, we appreciate that our clients’ teams are constantly evolving and growing. It is the responsibility of our clients to ensure that everyone within its teams that develops editorial content is adequately trained in or equipped with basic communications and writing skills

Editorial policies

Are vital for ensuring constituency and alignment across any content generating organisation, but it is shocking how many companies do not have concrete guidelines written on paper. Instead a series of miss-aligned briefs are normally given to various internal or external teams. This leads to fragmented content which results in a confused consumer which creates and air of mistrust.

Ongoing reviews.

Review of content and editorial processes should occur on a planned and regular basis – this principle is designed to ensure that content is reviewed, within a timeframe appropriate to the type of information, not normally less than every three years.  Any content that is not reviewed within your defined review periods should no longer be distributed. In addition you should review your information production process on a planned and regular basis.

Customer feedback policy.

Managing comments/complaints around brand content is a core principle to ensure that all feedback is dealt with appropriately especially concerning errors, omissions or points for clarification. Businesses need to ensure that consumer feedback is recorded, actioned and resolved as appropriate, especially if an amendment to content is required.

Review of social media content.

Condensed information for social media posts are commonplace due to the limited number of character available on social platforms. Despite these structural limitations, it is imperative that good practices around heath communications are maintained.

If topics or advice are unable to be communicated in a complete, balanced, substantiated way on social media – then consumer need to be clearly signposted to a source where they can find more information on the subject. 

The World Wide Web has created a truly global landscape, where information is freely shared without borders. While this has an enormous amount of positives – an unfortunate side effect is that corporate mistakes spread like wildfire. In 2017, we saw many of the world leading brands face the harsh consequences of putting out the questionable content or having partnerships that backfired, From backlash to boycotts, getting content wrong can have a very real impact on sales and reaching targets. Once a groundswell of public outrage starts, it is incredibly hard to stop and to re-build trust.

There needs to be a paradigm shift in how brands think about communicating externally. Partnering high profile influencers is not just a means to end or simply a mechanism to generate sales or reach new audiences. Company partnerships provide consumers with a glimmer of a business’s value system. Building credibility builds rapport, brand loyalty and ultimately better business.