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It’s all too easy for organisations to get caught up in the shinier, glitzier realms of the content world – viral campaigns, social media outreach, custom publishing, slick video production, and more. So many ideas! So many opportunities! But what about the basics? How about a strategic approach that focuses on getting the fundamentals right before embarking on complex creative campaigns? Positioning content strategy and planning solely as a marketing function can lead to misplaced priorities, allowing certain fundamentals to slip through the cracks and cause trouble later on. The pressure on the customer support team keeps rising, and internal workflow breaks down… and no-one can quite figure out why. In this session we consider what we might be neglecting in our rush to be exciting and trendy. We explore the content essentials, and look at how an organisation can manage and plan for them. I presented this as a webinar for Data Conversion Laboratory on 10 December 2014 (http://www.dclab.com/webinars/back-to-basics-getting-the-content-essentials-right). Please get in touch if you'd like me to give this or a similar talk in-house at your organisation.
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Getting the Content Essentials Right
Kerry-Anne GiloweyIndependent Content Strategy Consultant
Back to Basics
@kerry_anne
Why has content strategy suddenly
become so important in the
last few years?
Mostly because of this
Image credit: www.flickr.com/photos/seantubridy/
Organisations are feeling the pain.
Image credit: www.flickr.com/photos/seantubridy/
Organisations are feeling the pain.
“Why hasn’t SEO fixed our problems?”
Image credit: www.flickr.com/photos/seantubridy/
Organisations are feeling the pain.
“Why hasn’t SEO fixed our problems?”
“Why haven’t our users generated all our content for us?”
Image credit: www.flickr.com/photos/seantubridy/
“We need a blog!”
“We need a blog!” “We need a
Facebook page!”
“We need a blog!” “We need a
Facebook page!”
“We need to write articles!”
“We need a blog!” “We need a
Facebook page!”
“We need an iPad app!”
“We need to write articles!”
But what are we
neglecting?
1. Audience needs
Hi! I’m Elizabeth.I use your product.
Uh... hi! Can anyone hear me?
IS THIS THING ON?
?What information
do they need?
What’s their context?
How do you fit into their world?
Crouching customer,
hidden needs.
2. Findability
Site search is broken
I searched formacbook air ethernet adaptor.
On page 1:
I searched formacbook air ethernet adaptor.
On page 5:
Navigation is broken
Navigation is broken
3. Voice and tone
Discover your voice
What type of language does your audience relate to?
What type of language does your audience relate to?
I like a really comfy, schnuggly-wuggly
blankie.
I have a preference for deep pile
microfleece bedding material.
What type of language does your audience relate to?
4. Basic user experience
Confirmation screens
Oh please don’t make me choose!
Error messages
Cross-channel consistency
File names
URL structure
Digital document design
Did they charge me twice?I (actually really) can’t tell.
So what should we befocusing on first?
GETTING CLEAR ABOUT YOUR CORE CONTENT STRATEGY
Focus area #1
Sara Wachter-BoettcherContent Strategy Consultant
Editor in Chief at A List Apart
How does this
feed into our
overall business
and content
strategy?
Image credit: www.flickr.com/photos/tambako
Messaging
THE WAY YOU THINK ABOUT AND POSITION CONTENT
Focus area #2
Content used to belong exclusively to the Marketing
department.
(Copywriting, like movies, used to be even worse.)
CONTENT
Marketing copy Forms Interface copy
Intranet content
Terms of
serviceCall centre
scripts
But let’s move out a few paces.
This is not your grandfather’s website.
Point of saleOutdoor club
Legal contract
Customer care platform
Financial management
portal
Advice column
Travel agency
Image credit: www.flickr.com/photos/padday/
It’s no longer about the structure of your organisation.
It’s about your customer’s cross-channel journey.
Image credit: www.flickr.com/photos/padday/
The end product isn’t great content; it’s a great THING.
Erika HallCo-founder of Mule Design
Author of “Just Enough Research”
USER RESEARCH
Focus area #3
I want a faster horse,
please.
What words do they prefer?
blanket vs blankie
warm vs snug
mail vs post
shipping vs delivery
Make use of...
One-on-one interviewsSite search logsCall centre logsWeb analyticsContent testing
THE EFFICIENCY OF YOUR CONTENT WORKFLOWS
Focus area #4
The content creation process
Someone&has&a&fabulous&crea0ve&idea,&right&on&cue&
Magic&dust&is&sprinkled&
Words&pop&out&and&form&themselves&into&orderly&sentences&
The&unicorns&dance&in&a&circle&
CONTENT!!!&
Paging Trevor...
Why I didn’t study in 2011
?
Workflow questions
What are your processes and tools?What’s working, and what’s not?What does your team look like?What other teams and departments do you work with?Where are the bottlenecks?What are your challenges?
Authorship
Where should the authors sit?------
A central team?Within departments?Who oversees them?
Collaboration
How can changes best be communicated across
departments?------
How should information be shared?
MANAGING AND STRUCTURING YOUR CONTENT ASSETS
Focus area #5
Content management is the systematic planning, development, organisation, distribution, evaluation, and preservation of all information within an organisation.
Erik M. Hartman@erikmhartman
“Nimble content can travel freely, retain context and meaning, and create new products.”
– Rachel Lovinger
A new model
COPE=
Create Once, Publish Everywhere
Structured content
Content models
From guardiantruncationteam.tumblr.com
PROPER CONTENT GOVERNANCE
Focus area #6
Rick Allen@epublishmedia
What’s it about?
Who?
Contentgovernance
What?
How?When?
Who... ...has authoring and editing rights? ...owns this piece of content? ...has to review this document? ...has final sign-off? ...is responsible? ...needs to be notified of changes? ...else needs to be involved? ...measures effectiveness?
What... ...content lives on the home page? ...types of content do we NOT publish? ...languages do we create content in? ...metadata needs to be captured? ...are our highest priorities? ...resources should authors consult? ...changes can be made without going through the full review cycle?
When...
...should content be updated? ...should content be archived? ...should content be reviewed? ...should new content be created?
How...
...do content items get named? ...do we store our content? ...do we speak to various audiences? ...do we talk about ourselves and our industry? ...should content additions or changes be requested?
Politics
Who has the final say when a disagreement or conflict of
interests arises?
Everyone ready for a recap?
Don’t neglect...
Don’t neglect...Your core content strategy
Don’t neglect...Your core content strategyThe needs of your audience
Don’t neglect...Your core content strategyThe needs of your audienceVoice and tone
Don’t neglect...Your core content strategyThe needs of your audienceVoice and toneProper content structure, both visible and invisible
Don’t neglect...Your core content strategyThe needs of your audienceVoice and toneProper content structure, both visible and invisibleAll the small things that make for a good user experience
Don’t neglect...Your core content strategyThe needs of your audienceVoice and toneProper content structure, both visible and invisibleAll the small things that make for a good user experienceWorkflow and process
Don’t neglect...Your core content strategyThe needs of your audienceVoice and toneProper content structure, both visible and invisibleAll the small things that make for a good user experienceWorkflow and processGovernance
Thanks for listening!
Kerry-Anne GiloweyIndependent Content Strategy Consultant
[email protected]://augustsun.co.za
http://about.me/kerryanne
@kerry_anne
