Content Strategy Basics

Content strategy basics

Kerry-Anne GiloweyContent strategist: August Sun Projects

Or “How To Be Awesome At The Internet In EightQuite Challenging But Entirely Doable Steps”

Let’s build

a house,shall we?

How it’s always been done:

Why do people visit your site?

Or follow you on Twitter?

xkcd - getting it right since 2005

So we have a problem.

But can we

fix it?

YES,

WE

CAN!

But first, what is content?

Body copy and headings

Video

Sound

MenusHyperlink anchor text

Dynamic data

Aggregated content

Metadata

Other ideas?

Search results

Images

Twitter updates

Facebook posts

Internal documents

User-generated content

Pizza Royale 007

Planning, creating and maintaining good

content…

…is messy…is expensive

…is essential.

…is time-consuming

STOP!Content strategy time.

1. Identify your goals and messages.

Some find this harder than others.

2. Find out what your audience wants and needs.

3. Create a style guide.

Instead of… we use…

ensure make sure

endeavour try

wonderful killer

Coming up next:Forbidden Words and Phrases

SPECIAL BONUS FEATURE!

Forbidden Words And Phrases

solutions

customised

professional service

holistic approach

tailor-made just for yousynergy

we put customers first

our areas of specialisation are

touch-points

value-added

utilise

4. Use plain language.

"I know what you're thinking. Did he fire six shots or only five? Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I've kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a 44 Magnum, the most powerful

handgun in the world, and would blow your head clear off, you've got to ask

yourself one question: Do I feel lucky?"

"I imagine that you are harboring significant uncertainty concerning the precise number of times that the hammer of this particular multishot firearm was cocked, its cylinder

was advanced, the hammer was then released at the rear of its travel, the round in the chamber was fired, and the cylinder was then advanced once again — and specifically whether the exact figure is six, or possibly only five. Indeed, given the ambient commotion, my preoccupation with the need to make multiple, simultaneous and consequential decisions with

alacrity, the surrounding high-decibel acoustic percussion, and the substantial ramifications of the firearm having already been discharged multiple times, I myself am

experiencing difficulty in quantifying the discharges with exactitude. But inasmuch as the instrument in question, having been manufactured by NASDAQ-listed Smith & Wesson

(stock symbol SWHC) with a horizontal barrel dimension of 8 3/8" to propel a projectile with a diameter of nearly 1/2" at a velocity of over 1,000 feet per second and an energy of

more than 1,400 joules, is arguably the most powerful firearm in the world (the uncertainty being a function of the

particular metric that one might choose, such as overall terminal ballistics, external ballistics, or some combination

of other factors), you should be advised that were the projectile from this instrument to strike you in the region between the apex of the cranium and the base of the lower mandible, it would completely sever this entire portion of your anatomy, and in addition transport it a considerable distance from its original location. As a result, it is

appropriate that you pursue a specific and directed line of inquiry and self-examination: viz., in view of all the facts and circumstances, and giving due weight to the relevant risk factors, is it your considered judgment that you are more

likely than not to be relatively fortunate?”

5. Don’t shovel.

6. Set up an editorial calendar.

“But, but… I’m not a publisher!” OH YES YOU ARE.

7. Make someone the gatekeeper.

Perhaps not this guy.

The curse of the CMS

“Yippee! Now we all have keys to the gate!”

8. Plan for user-generated content too.

Or you’ll end up like these guys.

Another bonus feature?!

Twitter tips for everyone!

• Be real and human

• Be engaging

• Be mature

• Don’t retweet compliments

• Don’t get defensive

• Don’t be gushing

• Lay off the exclamation marks!!!!!!!!!!

US Embassy Pretoria: setting an excellent example

That’s the end.Now go out there and make the

world better, won’t you?

Kerry-Anne Gilowey | kerryanne@augustsun.co.za | @kerry_anne