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Content Strategy 101Using content to show member value
What is content?
• Magazine articles
• Conference session descriptions
• Course listings
• Executive biographies
• Press releases
• Newsletters
• Program information
• Membership details
• Advocacy issue updates
• Topic research and surveys
• Etc., etc., etc.
Content takes different forms
• Web pages
• Blog posts
• Infographics
• Images
• PDFs
• Video
• Audio
What is content strategy?
The right content
To the right person
At the right time
For the right action
Put another way….
Content strategy is the practice of planning for the
creation, delivery, and governance of
useful, usable content.
Three faces
Multiple parts
• A strategic statement tying content to business
goals
• Guidelines and policies: Who, what, when,
where, why, and how of publishing content
• Defining people, roles, and processes
Audience-centric
Business-sensitive
Content
The ultimate vision
Foundational tenets
1. Content creators & SMEs have a common
understanding of what key audiences want, and how
their content helps deliver that.
2. Content creators & SMEs have a common
understanding of the org’s goals are and how their
content contributes to them.
3. Content creators & SMEs share their content in a
consistent, effective way
Principles
• The organization creates content that its audiences want
• The organization creates content that helps it meet its
goals
• Content has success metrics and is measured against
those
• Content that is no longer relevant is no longer available
• Content is promoted, surfaced, and cross-linked based on
its topic, not its source
• Content is created in the organization’s voice
• The organization manages content platforms, tools, and
Department
Message
Audience
Department
Message
Audience
Department
Message
Audience
Department
Message
Audience
Old thinking
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Silos
Different views of the audience
http://www.fastcompany.com/3019930/leadership-now/the-5-blind-men-and-other-myths-of-innovation
13
http://www.amazon.com/Have-Always-Done-That-Way/dp/184728857X/
Difficulty prioritizing
Consequences
Diluted
impact
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Lack of
understanding
of your value
Opportunities
1. Be the primary source of information
2. Use your content to draw the right people
3. Get people to take the action you want them to take
• Must be a win-win
• Without a strategy, it’s just content
Organization: Programs, offerings
Audience
Messages
Audience Audience Audience
New thinking
Typical project flow
1. Gather data to know what we know (discovery)
2. Audit and assess website content
3. Audit and assess e-newsletters
4. Analyze competitive organizations and for-profit
companies
5. Audience personas and customer journeys
Typical project flow
6. Facilitate the development of content creation and
publishing guidelines
7. Identify roles, content lifecycles, workflow,
governance models
8. Create a framework for content promotions
9. Plan for sustainability
Data gathering
1. Review existing studies, surveys, assessments, reports
2. Interview stakeholders to learn about current goals,
opportunities, and challenges
3. Survey members to learn what they like and don’t like
about your communications today, and what topics and
channels they are interested in
Stakeholder interview goals
• Learning more about each department’s
business needs and goals
• Getting an understanding of each department’s
knowledge about and perception of the
association’s audiences and their needs
• Hearing first-hand what is working now, as well
as the impact of current challenges
Web content audit
1. Review existing online content, document content
types, topics, audiences, and usage
2. Create guidelines for what to keep, what not to keep
3. Based on guidelines and best practices, recommend
action for each page (keep, delete, revise, archive)
4. Look at patterns and themes, document observations
E-newsletter audit
• Review 6 months’ worth of e-newsletters
• Recommend opportunities for improvement
Audience personas and customer journeys
• Flesh out existing personas to foster
understanding and empathy
• Think through the customer journey to
understand members’ contexts and needs
Audience personas and customer journeys
• Shared focus on the audience
• Shared understanding of the audience
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http://www.slideshare.net/est3ban/empathybased-personas-gaining-a-deeper-understanding-of-your-audience-presen
30
AnthonySusan
Allen
Maggie
Content creation and publishing
guidelines
• Identify your organizational voice and tone
• Develop editorial style guidelines to enable
that in all content the organization creates
• Adapt digital publishing best practices to
your content and channels
Governance
• Define roles needed to keep content
effective
• Define content access-level strategy
• Define content success metrics and
ongoing decision processes
Content Promotion Framework
• Organization-wide content calendar
• Data-driven decisions
– start gathering metrics regularly
– communicate metrics information
– use data to make decisions
Sustainability
• Ongoing education and training
• Content contributors, management
• Onboarding for new staff
Working
together
for member
satisfaction
