Taming the Content Beast

AICPA & CPA/SEA Interchange 2017

Create smart, sustainable strategies for your content

What we’ll cover today •  How content strategy can help your association •  Delivering content to meet the needs of your

top-priority audiences •  Identifying your organization’s voice and tone •  Creating a higher “return on content” •  Developing content lifecycles

Your life today… •  “I want my latest video on the home page now” •  I promised the committee that we would make this

our top priority on the site •  But we are required to use the real name of the bill:

HR432B •  Why don’t our members use the resources on our

site?

Better content, better results

What is content? •  Magazine or journal articles •  Session descriptions •  Product details •  Course listings •  Executive biographies •  Press releases •  Newsletters •  Program information •  Membership details •  Advocacy updates •  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 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

channels in a way that ensures their effectiveness

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

16

http://www.amazon.com/Have-Always-Done-That-Way/dp/184728857X/

Difficulty prioritizing

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

Organiza4on:Programs,offerings

Audience

Messages

Audience Audience Audience

New thinking

Working together for member satisfaction

Connect with your audience

Who are you talking to? Write for the people who read and use your content

It’s never “everyone”*

* and it’s not your leadership, either

What’s going on for them? What do they want?

Novice Nancy

•  Accounting clerk in a medium-size public firm

•  26 years old, 3 years’ experience

•  Learn, connect, network

Student Steve •  College junior, age 20 •  Interest in math and

business, member of the state association

•  “Doesn’t know what he doesn’t know:” career options, CPA requirements, volunteering, free stuff

B&I Barbara •  42 years old, 15 years’

experience •  Plant controller; worked in

public accounting before •  Busy work-life schedule •  Stay up-to-date on news &

profession, maintain CPA, network

What do you know about them?

•  What are they already experts in? •  What don’t they know now? •  What keeps them up at night? •  How tech-savvy are they? •  What do they read? •  What do they do outside of work?

What are their content needs? Exercise 1 (see your workbook)

What audiences want 1.  Give me benefits, not just information

(What’s in it for me?) 2.  Approach me as a person, understanding my life stage and

struggles 3.  Give me the freedom to use the site as I want 4.  Make it peer-centric 5.  Simplify! Shorten! Avoid jargon! 6.  Don’t waste my time when I’m trying to find what I need

Source: American Medical Association member study

“So what?”

WIIFM?

“Mom test”

https://bellegardens.wordpress.com/2011/03/24/a-love-note-to-my-mom-concerning-aprons/

What does it mean to be business sensitive?

•  Is created to meet an explicit business goal •  Written in the organization’s voice •  Crafted in partnership between subject matter

experts and web presentation experts

Identify your

voice and tone

Voice •  Your unique personality •  Values •  “Sounds like you” •  Doesn’t change

Tone •  Emotional attitude •  How you sound in different

situations/contexts/settings

voiceandtone.com – Mailchimp’s guide

US Government’s style guide https://content-guide.18f.gov/voice-and-tone/

You can try this at home Exercise 2 (see p. 5 of your workbook)

Set measurable goals

Organizations publish a LOT of content

What don’t we publish??

•  Product data •  Reports •  Press releases •  News stories •  Customer success stories •  Executive bios

•  Event information •  Course details •  Policies •  FAQs •  Mission statement •  Job listings

47 https://preservingdtharchives2011.wordpress.com/2011/10/18/im-back/

Content is the way our work is manifested in the world

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Just because…..

Because the boss said so Because the committee asked us to Because the committee told us to Because we have this program Because we do this thing Because we created the information Because we have no way to say “no” to the request Because we think we have to Because everyone else is Because Because

If you don’t know what you’re going for, how will you know whether you’re succeeding?

54 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsive_hoarding

Return on

Content

3 pieces of information

1. Goal 2. KPI 3. Measuring & learning

Identifying the Goal Why are we publishing this?

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Effective content has a goal

•  It’s published •  Lots of people look at it

What is a true goal? •  Meets a business goal •  Satisfies a user need

•  Ideally, both

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Users meet their needs

Organization meets its goals

Balancing Goals & Needs

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Audience focus

Organization focus

Audience focus

Organization focus

Content goals Each piece of content needs a clear, explicit reason to exist

Content goals Examples:

–  Bring in non-dues revenue –  Encourage joining or renewing membership –  Raise awareness and perception of the profession –  Help practitioners care for clients –  Inspire more people to register for an event –  Educate lawmakers about an issue important to the

profession

Introducing: the “we we” score

To convert a larger share of your visitors, you must focus more on the visitors than on your organization.

http://www.customerfocuscalculator.com/

Wrong time to ask

“why”

The reason is clear here

How will you know it’s successful?

•  Reached the audience in the channel that matched their expectations

•  The audience took the action you wanted them to take •  They were more satisfied with your organization •  They called customer service less •  They bought more stuff from you •  They talked you up to their colleagues

Turning goals into KPIs 1. Benchmark where you are now

–  Content performance –  Pain points –  Tie back to business

2. What will constitute success? –  Envision the desired goal –  Make it measurable!

Next steps 1. Learn what works 2. Use that information to develop goals 3. Create an editorial calendar and templates

for review time, roles, and processes 4. Share all with staff 5. Track/measure and evolve

Define your

content lifecycles

Why define? •  Ensure that only current, relevant content

remains online •  Improve findability •  Clearer promotion rules and paths •  Easier governance

Start with general rules defining what should stay online: •  Current: Published within the last year •  Relevant: More than XX unique page views •  Evergreen •  Legally required to keep

Adapt from there •  Should news releases go away sooner? •  When should course announcements go

away? •  How long should we keep conference

session descriptions?

When it’s time to go… •  Sunset à aka, retire/delete/unpublish •  Archive

– online – offline

•  Technology is your friend here

Internal communications is a key piece of the workflow

•  Keep everyone informed when you remove content, to ensure that you’re not breaking links

•  Partnerships

Thank you! •  Hilary Marsh •  hilary@contentcompany.biz •  @hilarymarsh •  312-806-7854