The Next Generation of Content Strategy: Omnichannel, Perfomance-Driven Content, Content Marketing...

10:23Kevin P Nichols, Global Lead, Content Strategy, Sapient Nitro@KPNICHOLS

Building a Global Content Strategy: The next generation of thinking

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Agenda

1. Introduction

2. Some definitions

3. Rules of engagement (why you are here)

4. Get to know Omnichannel: your new BFF

5. See performance-driven content as new normal

6. Leverage syndicated, social, curated, & content marketing

7. Understand your entire content ecosystem

8. Govern globally and contextually

Part 1: Introduction

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Kevin P Nichols

• Director, Global Practice Lead, Content Strategy, SapientNitro

• Coauthor: UX For Dummies; Author: Enterprise Content Strategy: A Project Guide (Nov 2014)

• 19 Years experience in the Digital and Interactive Industry; 15 years specific to Content

• Experience with dozens of Fortune 100 brands

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Sapient - Working With The Most Recognized Brands

Part 2: Some definitions

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Content isAny information thatis recorded.

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.avi

DVDs

.pdf

.swf

.jpg

.wav

.png

.movCDs

booksuser guides

HTML

brochurespamphlets

press releases

.aspx

data

E-commerce

.gif

kiosks

podcasts

Packaging

Tweets

syndicated

email social

Content is experience

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Content is critical to business

It’s the ‘life-force’ of a brand AND to the consumer: all content IS brand content.

Trust with Bran

d

Consumer

ContentProduct or Service

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Content strategy

“Content Strategy is the systematic, thoughtful approach to surfacing the most relevant, effective, and appropriate content at the most opportune time, to the appropriate user, for the purpose of achieving a company’s strategic business objectives.” – Kevin Nichols and Anne Casson

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Content strategy framework

• Use closed-loop logic in content lifecycles to deliver relevant, meaningful and contextual content

• Create, manage and publish content to consumers, effectively its performance, and then optimize accordingly

• Evaluate each step in lifecycle; measure at least semi annually

• Leverage editorial calendars and governance to keep content relevant and on-time

• Develop a meaningful platform that is extensible and scalable for the future.

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Content strategy phases and deliverables

Discover

Assessing & Auditing• Content Brief• Content

Assessment• Content Inventory• Content Audit• Competitive

Assessment

Business Planning & Resources• Staffing

Recommendations for Content Production and Management

Requirements• Content Metrics & SEO

Recommendations• Content Requirements

Strategic Recommendations• Content Strategy

Framework• Conceptual Content

Model

Editorial• Editorial Strategy

(voice, tone, strategic intent of content)

Content Production / Migration

• Content Matrix• Content Migration Plan• Content Production

Plan• Translation and

Localization Strategy• CMS Authoring Guide

Define Design Implement

Business Planning & Resources• Governance Model• Business Org Structure /

Staffing Plan

Content Model and Workflow• Content Types Definition• Recommendation for

Content Design (including template-level strategic recommendations)

• CMS Content Model• Content Matrix• Content Lifecycle Definition

Taxonomy & Metatagging• Taxonomy• Metadata and Tagging

Strategy• Taxonomy Governance

Recommendations

Editorial• Editorial Calendar• Editorial Style Guide• Editorial Workflow• Voice and Tone Guidelines• Copy Deck

Part 3: Rules of engagement: the nextgeneration of content strategy

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Rules of Engagement(OR What you will learn today)

1. Get to know Omnichannel: it’s your new, best friend

2. View performance-driven content and experiences as the new normal

3. Know where syndicated, social, curated, and content marketing fit in

4. Understand the entire content ecosystem internally and externally; build operational models to support it

5. Govern globally with rule-driven and structured content (Global, Local, Contextual)

Part 4: Get to know Omni: your new best friend

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The rules

1. Understand Omnichannel; Omni does not equal multiple channels; it starts with consumer

2. Design content for Omni; rethink your approach to content and your internal publishing operations

3. Build a strategic roadmap with short, mid, long term goals; don’t boil the ocean

4. Optimize content across channels to create a seamless consumer journey and experience

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Omnichannel provides optimized content at every point a consumer interacts with brand:• Views the user singularly (aka single

view of customer)

• Fashions content experience around user

• Follows non-linear, end-to-end user journey (user may bounce from one channel to the next, go backwards in journey).

• Sees journey as evolution with no definitive end and sometimes no beginning.

• Captures the entire end-to-end customer experience.

Get to know Omnichannel

The graphic comes from my book, where it is explained in detail: Enterprise Content Strategy: A Project Guide (November 2014).

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Design content for Omni

Requires a rethinking of content, internal opps and systems

• Use an incremental roadmap to rollout strategy

• Integrate information across all channels:

• Inventory of products

• User profile / info on user

• Analytics capture

• Structure content so that it can publish to multiple channels

The graphic comes from my book, where it is explained in detail: Enterprise Content Strategy: A Project Guide (November 2014).

Launch EnrichEvolve

1. Full integration of content in all channels.

2. Continue to create immersive content around personalization, social and intelligent content features

3. Leverage new or emerging technologies and techniques

1. Identify channels, user targets, analytics and social focus areas

2. Establish which areas of content are necessary to support each of the above and create lifecycles to support each

3. Ensure taxonomy and controlled vocabularies are accounted for and supported to enable experience

4. Define governance structure necessary to support each area above

5. Ensure proper metrics to track user interaction and behavior to it can be examined for future optimization

Launch 12 – 24 months post-launch

24 – 36 months post-launch

1. Test existing content running ongoing metrics and audits to see how users are interacting with the experience; leverage social listening

2. Test assumed customer journeys across channels to ensure accuracy and optimize content performance

3. Roll-out enhanced optimization per channel

4. Implement necessary technology and platforms necessary to support the focus areas

Roadmap example – (Crawl, Walk, Run)

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Look at content across channels

Image source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:I_Luv_Video's_massive_inventory.jpg

Retailers• Integrate content across supply chain—

product inventory in all channels

• Incentivize and reward sales across the business, in addition to lines of business or singular channels (all channels lead to sales)

• Optimize in-store personalization but also incorporate into ‘offline’ content – direct mail, product packaging.

• Use packaging, product end-caps, etc. to drive social engagement (E.g., share a recipe, tweet about the product, etc.)

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Look at content across channels

Image source: Author, calflier001 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BBC_TV_AND_RADIO_OUTSIDE_BROADCAST_VECHICLE_AT_LIVERPOOL_PIER_HEAD_MAY_2013_%288817632368%29.jpg

Any business• Allow consumers to access profile

information in all channels

• Build a singular view of the consumer

• Capture cross-channel engagement, trace consumer journey and behaviors across and within all channels

• Use cross-channel analytics, confirm with user testing and research

• Don’t forget to evolve the consumer relationship with ongoing recognition via email, optimized customer support and even via phone or in-store personalization!

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Named her company Omnimedia for a reason!• Starts with a good story and tells it

through variety of mediums• Balances content between channels

for integrated consumer journey E.g.: References a cookbook on TV while magazine features a story referencing both, mobile provides exclusive content via apps

• Optimizes content specific to each channel

• Synergizes content experiences by connecting one channel to the next

Imitate Martha: AKA ‘Mother of Omni’

Courtesy Life with Cats. Karen Harrison Binette, 2011.http://www.lifewithcats.tv/

Part 5: See performance-driven contentas the new normal

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The rules

1. Start with a strategy, goals and objectives to set up a performance-driven content model

2. Use a closed-loop strategic framework

3. Leverage an operational model with quarterly/monthly assessments of content performance to improve the future

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Define intent, goals, objectives and metrics for every type of content

Image source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Sounds_of_Earth_Record_Cover_-_GPN-2000-001978.jpg

• Ladder all content up to a strategy:• Create strategic intent –

answer the question: Why? (Why our company, this career, this product…)

• Define goals and objectives, identify users/personas/segments, define metrics to measure performance

• Frame this thinking from business AND user goals/objectives/needs

• Use this approach at experience level (desktop website) and page-type level

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Use a closed-loop strategic framework

• Use closed-loop logic in content lifecycles to deliver relevant, meaningful and contextual content

• Create, manage and publish content to consumers, measure its performance, and then optimize accordingly

• Evaluate each step in lifecycle; measure at least semiannually

• Leverage editorial calendars and governance to keep content relevant and on-time

• Develop a meaningful platform that is extensible and scalable for the future.

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Performance-driven operational model

• Created a unified content calendar fueled by a performance-driven approach

• Look at inputs frequently

• Use these inputs to plan for the future

• NOTE: A performance-driven model uses inputs to frame future content opportunities

The graphic comes from my book, where it is explained in detail: Enterprise Content Strategy: A Project Guide (November 2014).

Part 6: Syndicated, social, curated…and content marketing

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Rules of Engagement

1. Understand that social, curated, syndicated, and content marketing require unique content strategies

2. Use social listening and engagement metrics to determine future priorities

3. Utilize effective storytelling (think Carl Sagan – Voyager record)

4. Ensure content calendar and content planning account for content marketing as a central component to driving content consumption

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“Content Marketing & Syndication is the process of creating, curating and distributing relevant and valuable content that is related to a brand’s purpose or benefit to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.”

- Content Marketing Institute, 2013

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Build strategies for curated, syndicated and curated content

Image source: Author, Marcwathieuhttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anne_pontegnie_02.jpg

• Take the strategic intent of the content, overlay consumer journey and determine which content to syndicate and curate

• Tie to larger themes of page or experience (E.g.: videos for lifestyle, stories that relate to page, etc.)

• Use social content for engagement, conversation about the story and for sharing and engaging campaigns

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Determine future priorities with listening and engagement

Image source: Author, Ardfernhttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Warhol_Exhibition,_The_MAC,_Belfast,_April_2013_(14).JPG

• Listen for social response and engage dialogue in social channels (social listening)

• Determine investment based on content performance, changes in consumer journey and new business/user needs

• Do not forget SEO (keywords used) consumer research/insights, and user feedback as inputs for future content decisions

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Follow Carl Sagan’s approach to effective storytelling

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Sounds_of_Earth_Record_Cover_-_GPN-2000-001978.jpg

For Voyager record, Carl Sagan first started with the audience to whom he wanted to communicate along with his goal and objectives (think business goals):

• He created the stories he wanted to tell

• He structured content to tell universal story of humanity

• He looked at which technology (channel) would preserve and communicate it

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• Leverage a cross-channel, unified content calendar that sorts by stories and channel

• Evaluate frequently, but plan annually with optimization quarterly and fine-tuning monthly/weekly

Leverage effective content planning

Part 7: Content ecosystem

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The rules

1. Look at content as an ecosystem, care for all elements within it

2. Understand that all content starts with a content type with definitive lifecycle

3. Use customer journey and work backwards from it to define content lifecycles

4. Measure, measure measure; optimize, optimize, optimize

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Instagram

.pdfs

commercial

blogs

apps

videoATMs

tweetsuser guides

small business

brochures

pamphlets

press releases

facebook posts

data

Private Wealth

images

kioskspodcasts

Retail

Tweets

syndicated

email

social

Know your ecosystem

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Know your content types, pre and post publish lifecycles

1. Look at content types, create pre-publish lifecycles. Make them CLOSED-LOOP!

2. Start with customer needs and journey, work backwards, structure operations and content creation around consumer, not internal silos

3. Determine metrics to support it (inter/intra-channel)

4. Create post-publish workflow and processes, to measure and optimize

The graphic comes from my book, where it is explained in detail: Enterprise Content Strategy: A Project Guide (November 2014).

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Measure, measure, measure

• Align the content ecosystem to support a consumer-centric, performance-driven model

• Even if silos dictate content creation, make sure all channels/silos are collaborating to create seamless content experience

• Inputs to model include analytics, SEO, social listening, business needs and objectives, user needs and content best practices. These need to fold seamlessly into the process

Part 7: Govern globally & contexually

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The rules

1. Define governance structure

2. Govern by content type; user journey

3. Know your rules for global and contextual content

4. Listen to Ann Rockley: “Control your content!”

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Govern with committee, tools and charter

1. Decide on a governance model—federated, centralized, or centralized with some federated aspects

2. Agree on what is necessary for a governance charter

3. Define when the participants will meet, agendas for those meetings, and how strategy will be implemented

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Know your rules for content usage

1. Start with content type

2. Factor in consumer journey

3. Define governance around controlling, maintaining, seeding and feeding the above two

4. Govern by content type and user journey

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Govern globally and contextually (continued)

1. Set universal standards

2. Know which content:

• Remain the same globally (universal)

• Act globally but contain local differentiation (localized)

• Can differ locally or remain locally unique

• Be shared globally to local, locally to global and locally to local

.

Image source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_illumination#mediaviewer/File:Local_illumination.JPG

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Govern globally and contextually

3. Define contextual content standards and rules for:

• Personalization

• Shared content across channels

• Shared but edited content (Product Specs long for Desktop website, short for mobile)

• Unique content per channel

Image source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_illumination#mediaviewer/File:Local_illumination.JPG

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Listen to Ann Rockley; “Control your content!”

1. Rely on content performance and internal metrics (effeceincy, ROI, etc) to dictate future standards

2. Plan content from informed decisions

3. Govern content by constantly remaining in touch with ecosystem (seed/feed/care approach)

4. “Control your content”—Ann Rockley!

Questions

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Kevin P Nichols

• knichols@sapient.com

• kevinpnichols.com

• Twitter: @kpnichols

• LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinpnichols

• UX For Dummies (John Wiley & Sons)

• Enterprise Content Strategy: A Project Guide (XML Press, November, 2014)

Keep the conversation going….

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Chloe hopes you found this presentation useful!