(Less) Content. (More) Strategy

23 June 2011 @dgcooley #UPA2011 1

(less)

Content

(more)

Strategy


About me

• 12 years as user researcher/usability specialist• BE, Biomedical & Electrical Engineering• MS, Human Factors in Information Design• Selected Employers & Clients

[email protected]

@dgcooley


Why I’m here

I have a hypothesis

.


(Less) Content. (More) Strategy.

Cont

ent

Stre

ss

Expe

nse

Valu

e to

End

Use

r

Reve

nue

Expenses and stress increase with content. While end user value and revenue ultimately suffer.


SO WHAT IS CONTENT STRATEGY?


Uh-oh!CS B

asics


You probably already do it!CS B

asics


Aaaah. Clients.(M

ore) St

rateg

y

I need a wireframe. Uhhhhh… OK?

CS Bas

ics


Which one?(M

ore) St

rateg

y

CS Bas

ics

?


Kristina Halvorson’s definition

““Content Strategy is the practice of planning for content creation, delivery, and governance.”

- Kristina Halvorson

CS Bas

ics


Rahel Bailie’s definition

““Content Strategy is the development of a repeatable process that manages content throughout the entire content lifecycle.”

And that means, from planning to creation to management within the CMS, to publishing, to post-publishing activities, and back through the next iteration of planning, and so on

CS Bas

ics


What content are we talking about?CS B

asics

Graphics

Audio

Video

Photos

PDFs

Blog Entries

CopyTweets

http://www.site.comLinks

spacer.gif


Content creation

• Who’s going to create it?• How often?• What kind of content will it be?• Tone?

CS Bas

ics

Don’t forget about maintenance!


Content delivery

• Is this going on the website?• Twitter?• Facebook?• Email?• Annual Report?

CS Bas

ics

Technical considerations can be huge!


Content governance

• Who reviews & approves new and updated content?• Who determines and enforces removal and archival rules?

CS Bas

ics

Who gets to (has to?) say “No!” to the boss?


(LESS) CONTENT


The long neck

http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/

(Less)

Conten

t


Content’s long neck(Le

ss) Cont

ent

(Less)

Conten

t Benefit Cost

(Less)

Conten

t


Required quadrant map(Le

ss) Cont

ent

Bene

fit

Cost

Logo & Branding

FAQ

Culture Video

Contact

Letter from the CEO

It Depends

(Less)

Conten

t


Content is expensive

Intermediate Copywriter $51,358Webmaster $66,169Java Developer $80,858Art Director (Web) $102,526

Salary.com

(Less)

Conten

t


Signal to noise ratio

www.jolyon.co.uk

(Less)

Conten

t


The psychology of clutter(Le

ss) Cont

ent


The psychology of clutter(Le

ss) Cont

ent

At Your House On Your Website

Insecurity “I might need that someday!”

“A customer might need that someday!”

Keeping up with the Joneses

“The neighbor has new landscaping. I need new landscaping, too!”

“My competitor uses video. I need to use video, too!”

Hectic pace of life “I’ll just put this mail here for now and deal with it later.”

“I don’t have time to meet about that. Just check with legal before you put it up there.”


Dustin Curtis gets it(Le

ss) Cont

ent

http://www.dustincurtis.com/dear_american_airlines.html


AA is even starting to get it(Le

ss) Cont

ent


This person got it.(Le

ss) Cont

ent

Everything Else

Enter your tracking number Track My Package

Reference unknown.


GoDaddy Didn’t Get it.(Le

ss) Cont

ent

http://www.heathbrothers.com/posts/2011/04/gone-godaddy-gone/

And it cost them a (high profile) customer.


Ahem.(Le

ss) Cont

ent

vs.


Lane Furniture.com doesn’t get it.(Le

ss) Cont

ent

http://www.lanefurniture.com/Contact-Us/FAQ.aspx


(MORE) STRATEGY


The most important thing(M

ore) St

rateg

y

(More

) Strat

egy

Your content is the most important thing about your website.


Let me repeat that…(M

ore) St

rateg

y

(More

) Strat

egy

Your content is the most important thing about your

website.


Take care of important things(M

ore) St

rateg

y

(More

) Strat

egy

Treat your content with love. Yell at anyone

who doesn’t.


Lorem Ipsum must die!(M

ore) St

rateg

y

(More

) Strat

egy

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Donec nunc enim, volutpat ut malesuada sit amet, aliquam eu orci. In quis mauris at enim fermentum vulputate et sed enim. Suspendisse tempor ligula et libero iaculis quis tempor erat imperdiet. Vivamus adipiscing nunc vel odio dictum tempor. Nulla mauris nibh, laoreet nec lacinia id, feugiat eu eros. Curabitur faucibus gravida lectus, sed faucibus felis mattis nec. Duis interdum placerat urna sit amet posuere. Aenean in ligula at enim convallis sagittis. Nam ac fermentum augue. Curabitur sollicitudin, lorem vel tempus malesuada, tellus quam lobortis risus, id dapibus odio leo eget orci. Morbi eu augue mi, eu porta arcu. Donec massa leo, blandit quis viverra vitae, fringilla in augue. Cras condimentum, nibh ut varius lacinia, metus quam faucibus tortor, sed posuere lacus risus in diam. Donec leo orci, fermentum vel suscipit eget, tempus in leo. Vivamus ante justo, posuere at sagittis at, consequat vel leo. Vestibulum rutrum commodo lorem, non varius nisi venenatis nec.


Bacon Ipsum, however, is awesome.(M

ore) St

rateg

y

(More

) Strat

egy

http://www.baconipsum.com(No! Not really!)


SEO(M

ore) St

rateg

y

(More

) Strat

egy

SEO is important and should be considered as part of your strategy.

<title> tags

Link text & placement

Copy volume


Video(M

ore) St

rateg

y

(More

) Strat

egy

Video is expensive, and its use should be considered very carefully.

“I’d rather just read.”

“Video takes too long.”

81% of users leave video if it buffers.

http://www.tubemogul.com/research/report/99-Online-Video-Delivery-Still-Nowhere-Near-TV-Quality


Information architecture(M

ore) St

rateg

y

(More

) Strat

egy

Whatever content is included needs to be organized very well.


More content might be OK. Maybe. Sometimes.

(More

) Strat

egy


Recap & additional resources

• You are (probably) already a content strategist.• Content is expensive.• Let go of what no longer serves you.• Optimize what does.

Erin KissaneTwitter.com/kissane

Kristina HalvorsonTwitter.com/halvorson

“Content Strategy “Group

http://blog.braintraffic.com

Content Strategy meetupsin many cities