Regardless of the type of work you may do, communication is essential for any business. Poor communication can lead to many mistakes but great communication can lead to unparalleled success. In order to avoid the chaos and frustration that typically surrounds communication in business, the website and program GatherContnet was created.
What is GatherContent
GatherContent is a recently established communication software company based in East London with the goal of setting up a formal system of communication within a business. GatherContent allows businesses to exchange information in the easiest and most productive way possible, and allows businesses to keep track of projects from brainstorm to completion. The site is great for companies specializing in anything from website design to content marketing to account management. It's currently used in 133 countries by more than 7000 companies, including The DSM Group.
How it Works
All of GathertContent’s communication is done online. Simply create an account and you're ready to go.
Once signed in, GatherContent will show all the projects you have access to. These projects can consist of any information you need to communicate to your co-workers or clients. For example, one project I am apart of is blogging assignments for The DSM Group. A project can be created at any time and can include anyone as long as they are added to the group.
Once a project is selected, an overview of that project appears with a list of helpful applications including:
- A customizable status bar that allows participants in that group to see how far into the project they are at currently.
- A list of pages you have been assigned.
- Due dates of individual pages of the project and the project itself.
- A feed of recent activity done on the project from both coworkers and clients.
The individual pages are where most the communication occurs between clients and co-workers. The information availed on a page can be presented in several ways including checkboxes, discussions, paragraph texts, markdowns, sections breakdown, etc. This allows participants of a group to easily edit, review, discuss and finalize work without confusion. Once completed, a participant can change the status of a page, which notifies whomever is in charge of the next step of the project.
For example, right now my blog post is on the status of “working on this now,” and if there is a section I am not comfortable with, I can switch the status to “needs review” and write a quick memo about my concerns in the discussion section.
There are no limits to how many projects you can be apart of, but for the sake of client privacy I had to temporary delete a few projects to take this screen shot.
The person in charge of reviewing will be notified and that person will then edit the blog and change the status to “approved by DSM,” which will notify me. I will then post the blog on the website and change the status of the page to “posted on website.” Everyone in the group will then know that particular page has been completed.
Review
The DSM Group has been using this for a couple months now and so far the program has proven to be great. Instead of wandering around the office aimlessly not knowing what to do, I have a full list of activities and the due dates for each. Now I always know what to do and when to do it by.
Tasks assigned over GatherContent are clear and precise. If any questions do arise, they can easily be answered in the discussion section on the page. This allows me to communicate easily, whether I’m at home or in the office.
Ever since The DSM Group started using GatherContent, we have been noticeably more productive. The only downfall that I have noticed is that there is no live chat. So if I have an ongoing discussion with a client, it’s usually like an e-mail, which can be annoying sometimes. However this is the only fault with the system we have noticed.
Recommendation
GatherContent is a great tool for any business and is a must have for any marketing agency in NJ. Even if you need it for only one project, it will be worth it, and odds are once you get started with it, you'll use it every time a new project comes up. Sign up for GatherContent to start communicating!