Content strategy workshop

Build YourContent Strategy

Roadmaph"p://echa.europa.eu/addressing-‐chemicals-‐of-‐concern/substances-‐of-‐poten8al-‐concern/svhc-‐roadmap-‐to-‐2020-‐implementa8on

h"p://echa.europa.eu/addressing-‐chemicals-‐of-‐concern/substances-‐of-‐poten8al-‐concern/svhc-‐roadmap-‐to-‐2020-‐implementa8on

Content Strategy Roadmap1.  Discovery2.  Content audit and assessment3.  Comparative content analysis *4.  Empathy-based audience personas *5.  Content creation and publishing guidelines6.  Roles, lifecycles, workflow, governance7.  Taxonomy8.  Content transformation and migration9.  Content marketing and promotions10.  Handoff, next steps

* Sometimes considered optional

Introduction to

Content Strategy

Content strategy challenges•  Findability•  Voice•  Ownership•  Policies•  Practices

Worst practices•  Language/jargon•  Prioritized promotion•  Content hoarding•  Bad editorial processes•  New content missing•  Different content on different channels

© Don Graham, 1998, Flickr

•  Who, what, when, where, why, and how of publishing content online

•  A strategic statement tying content to business goals

•  The people, processes, and power to execute that statement

Policies and guidelines +

Audience understanding +

Business knowledge =

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What is “content”?

Content is…EventProductClass ProgramResearch

Format is less significantWeb pagesBlog postsInfographicsImagesPDFsVideoAudio

Content is…EventProductClass ProgramResearch

Content strategy is…Event Strategy Product Strategy Class Strategy Program Strategy Research Strategy

Content is

political

Content is…Event ProductClass ProgramResearch

Content is…My Event My ProductMy Class My ProgramMy Research

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“Every pixel has an owner.”

– Paul Ford, former web editor at Harper’s magazine

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”

– Upton Sinclair, 1935

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h"p://www.amazon.com/Have-‐Always-‐Done-‐That-‐Way/dp/184728857X/

Department

Message

Audience

Department

Message

Audience

Department

Message

Audience

Department

Message

Audience

Old thinking

Organization: Programs, offerings

Audience

Messages

Audience Audience Audience

New thinking

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27

Content strategy is

CHANGE MANAGEMENT

28

User experience is

CHANGE MANAGEMENT

29

Digital is

CHANGE MANAGEMENT

•  290-‐page PDF •  Updated every year

•  Where is the member handbook?

How do I do content

strategy?

Where do I start?

Discovery

h"p://www.amnh.org/exhibi8ons/permanent-‐exhibi8ons/discovery-‐room

h"ps://www.flickr.com/photos/emmm_weee/15048086753



•  h"ps://www.flickr.com/photos/studiocurve/13080208/

•  h"ps://www.flickr.com/photos/moohcowh/2596366618

h"ps://www.flickr.com/photos/bunny/1985272127

Where you’re going •  Goals & measures of success

1 4 2 5 3

How you’ll get there •  Which channels will help you achieve success?

1 4 2 5 3

How long and how much •  Deadline, budget, resources

(staff, skills, priori8es)

1 4 2 5 3

Who’s going with you •  Who is your audience?

•  What do they want?

1 4 2 5 3

What you’ll take•  What content do you have?•  What needs to be created?

1 4 2 53

•  https://www.flickr.com/photos/cognizant-worldwide/15808428981

•  https://www.flickr.com/photos/pennstatelive/5415994846

h"ps://www.flickr.com/photos/xoques/3758640007

Strategy Statement

The <Organiza8on>’s social intranet will:   Collect and surface/curate cri8cal, relevant editorial content created by appropriate <organiza8on> corporate departments, divisions and employees.

  Enable and mo8vate employees to connect, interact and collaborate via social features.

  Foster a culture of innova8on.

We will develop and maintain content that helps people prac8ce and enjoy the arts.

NAMI.org will advance the NAMI movement by recrui8ng and mo8va8ng supporters and ambassadors to:

–  educate themselves and others about mental illness and recovery

–  find and access support –  contribute by dona8ng, walking, engaging, joining –  take ac8on by advoca8ng, par8cipa8ng, volunteering, and sharing their stories

Create a strategy statement

< O r g a n i z a t i o n > o f f e r s _ _ _ _ _ _ _ , _ _ _ _ _ _ _ c o n t e n t t h a t h e l p s t h e m _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ a n d _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ b y m a k i n g _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ f e e l _ _ _ _ _ _ _ , _ _ _ _ _ _ _ , a n d _ _ _ _ _ _ _ , a n d c o n v i n c i n g t h e m t o _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ a n d _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .

adjec8ve adjec8ve

accomplish goal accomplish goal audience

adjec8ve adjec8ve adjec8ve

take desired ac8on

Example VillageReach offers educa-onal but warm, human content that helps them increase dona-ons and raise awareness by making ins-tu-onal donors feel commi6ed, capable, and needed, and convincing them to give annually and show public support.

take desired ac8on

Exercise #1: Create a strategy

statement

Create a strategy statement

< O r g a n i z a t i o n > o f f e r s _ _ _ _ _ _ _ , _ _ _ _ _ _ _ c o n t e n t t h a t h e l p s t h e m _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ a n d _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ b y m a k i n g _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ f e e l _ _ _ _ _ _ _ , _ _ _ _ _ _ _ , a n d _ _ _ _ _ _ _ , a n d c o n v i n c i n g t h e m t o _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ a n d _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .

adjec8ve adjec8ve

accomplish goal accomplish goal audience

adjec8ve adjec8ve adjec8ve

take desired ac8on

Example VillageReach offers educa-onal but warm, human content that helps them increase dona-ons and raise awareness by making ins-tu-onal donors feel commi6ed, capable, and needed, and convincing them to give annually and show public support.

take desired ac8on

h"ps://www.flickr.com/photos/xoques/3758640007

Content Audits and

Assessments

Step 1: Content inventory

Things to trackN a m e o f c o n t e n t p i e c eU R LC o n t e n t t y p eP e r s o n r e s p o n s i b l eN o t e s

Also trackA v e r a g e m o n t h l y v i s i t sL a s t r e v i e w d a t eC M S c o n t e n t t y p eTr a n s l a t i o n s

Step 2: AuditR e w r i t e , m e r g e , d e l e t e ?E x p a n d , t r i m ?G a p sP a t t e r n s

Outcomes•  C o n t e n t m a t r i x•  F i n d i n g s a n d r e c o m m e n d a t i o n s

r e p o r t

Do not skip!

Comparative Content Analysis

Who?•  C o m p e t i t o r s•  P e e r s•  S i m i l a r o f f e r i n g s•  O t h e r i n d u s t r i e s•  S o c i a l n e t w o r k s

What to look at•  S e a r c h r e s u l t s•  U s a b i l i t y•  Vo c a b u l a r y•  C o n t e n t•  P r e s e n t a t i o n•  A u d i e n c e - c e n t r i c i t y•  Vo i c e a n d t o n e•  Q u a l i t y

OutcomesCompara t i ve aud i t find ings repor t  Fo rma l r epo r t  Presen ta t i on  Sco reca rd sp readshee t  SWOT ana l ys i s

Break!

Empathy-Based Audience Personas

h"p://www.tagheuer.com/int-‐en/company/ceo-‐speech

•  Shared focus on the audience Shared understanding of the audience

h"p://www.tagheuer.com/int-‐en/company/ceo-‐speech

•  Shared focus on the audience

•  Shared understanding of the audience

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h"p://www.slideshare.net/est3ban/empathybased-‐personas-‐gaining-‐a-‐deeper-‐understanding-‐of-‐your-‐audience-‐presen

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Anthony Susan

Allen

Maggie

Content Creation and Publishing

Guidelines

Effective content•  Sounds like the organization•  Has a goal•  Uses the active voice•  Helps the reader do a task•  Is specific•  Is focused on the reader, NOT on your

organization

Scannable content•  Uses subheads and bullets•  Is not in PDF format•  Uses fewer words but includes the terms

readers are looking for

h"p://www.useit.com/eyetracking/

Content is Conversation•  What do I hope to achieve from this content?•  Who am I talking to?•  What brings those people to my site

or app? What are their top tasks? Top questions? Conversations they want to start?

•  Make sure your goals are specific, measurable, and focused on what you want site visitors to do.

True goal•  NO - We want to tell people how great our

services are.

•  YES - We want people to choose our services.

True goal•  NO - We want to get lots of views of our page

•  YES - We want people to do something: Sign up for the event, download the white paper, subscribe to the publication

Show, don’t tell

•  Useful•  Relevant•  Timely

•  Org-focused

•  Narrow interest

•  Not actionable

Message architecture

•  Articulate your brand identity and personality

•  Create a common understanding of who your organization is

•  Informs decisions about what content to publish, what formats, what channels

Roles, Workflow, Lifecycle, Governance

Roles on a digital team• Content strategist•  Project manager•  Visual designer• User experience architect•  Social media manager• Director

92 h"p://www.ssireview.org/blog/entry/four_models_for_organizing_digital_work_part_two

93 h"p://www.ssireview.org/blog/entry/four_models_for_organizing_digital_work_part_two http://www.ssireview.org/blog/entry/four_models_for_organizing_digital_work_part_two

Where most orgs start

94

What often seems most logical

95

What some orgs are trying

96

Where most orgs land

97

Offering online content

Plalorm (project mgmt/priori8za8on, reliability)

Presenta8on (self, light,

medium, deluxe)

Editorial Ques8ons/ feedback

Promo8on

Exercise #2: Create your

governance model

1.  Review the handout showing the four models of digital governance.

2.  On your own, think about where your organization is today.

3.  Then, circle the model you think would work most effectively in the organization.

4.  With the other people at your table, brainstorm what it would take to use the optimal model. Be prepared to share this list with the larger group.

Workflow

http://www.cnn.com/EVENTS/1996/anniversary/how.things.work/index2.html

Break!

Taxonomy

•  What Is It?–  A set of terms (controlled vocabulary) and content

attributes (metadata) that can be applied to content items

–  The underlying data structure of the website

•  Why Use It?–  Helps describe and categorize content items–  Creates relationships among content items–  Helps make content items findable through

navigation and search

Controlled Vocabulary

≈

Library of Congress—www.loc.gov

≈

Search—www.acc.org

Outcomes•  Agree upon controlled vocabulary •  Validate with users •  Determine who will tag content

Taxonomy Exercise

Content Transformation and Migration

Content Audit & Assessment

Audit spreadsheet: h"p://goo.gl/G1DNx6

Content Inventory

Image: wikipedia

Transforming Your

Content

“In a sense, content models are perhaps the truest form of bottom-up information architecture: by determining what types of chunks are important and how to link them, we make the answers embedded in our content ‘rise to the surface.’”

—Louis Rosenfeld & Peter MorvilleInformation Architecture for the World Wide Web

•  Structure—how content items will assemble–  e.g., news, author, location, price

•  Type—how is it being used?–  e.g., press release for press room, author database

for journal articles

•  Attributes—published & metadata–  e.g., title, abstract, taxonomy tag

http://alistapart.com/article/content-modelling-a-master-skill

Content Marketing and

Promotions

Courtesy of Melissa Zinder, NBOA

www.bobangus.com

h"p://www.kaushik.net/avinash/smart-‐analy8cs-‐dashboard-‐modules-‐insighlul-‐dimensions-‐best-‐metrics/ h"p://www.kaushik.net/avinash/digital-‐dashboards-‐strategic-‐tac8cal-‐best-‐prac8ces-‐8ps-‐examples/

126 h"p://www.ssireview.org/blog/entry/four_models_for_organizing_digital_work_part_two

Handoff and Next Steps

#winning

Strategic nagging

Patient but persistent repetition of a message

Have a plan

Don’t wait for permission

Thank you!Carrie Hane [email protected] @carriehd

Dina Lewis, [email protected] @dinalew

Hilary [email protected] @hilarymarsh

Resources•  http://www.customerfocuscalculator.com•  http://blog.siteimprove.com/web-governance-blog/the-

hierarchy-of-content-needs-a-new-model-for-creating-and-assessing-content

•  Letting Go of the Words, Ginny Redish•  Don’t Make Me Think, Steve Krug•  Web Analytics: An Hour A Day, Avinash Kaushik

Handouts we used•  http://www.hilarymarsh.com/roadmap