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Welcome!
November 9, 20178:30am – 12:30pm
#DigCS
“Dealing with content is messy. It’s complicated, it’s painful, and it’s expensive. And yet, the web is content. Content is the web. It deserves our time and attention. And that’s where content strategy comes in.”
- Kristina Halvorson, Brain Traffic
The collaborative role of a content strategist
Bill Parcells, Head Coach of the NE Patriots (1993-1996)
Taking a time-intensive, hands-on approach
• Only involved at the end of the process (coaching)
• Didn’t direct strategy at the beginning (picking players)
• Bill felt like he was set-up to fail, and was being held to an unfair level of accountability for the team’s success or failure
• Frustrated, Parcells left the team one week after taking the Patriots to their 2nd-ever Super Bowl
Problem - more strategic involvement needed
Content Crazy!
CRAZY!
Content strategy in the Farm-to-Table model
• Chef finds out what his customers value the most
• Chef invests the time to find the best ingredients in alignment with customer preferences
• Menu determined jointly by the chef and farmer that fulfills their strategic vision
Farm-to-Table strategies
From the Chefs: Farm-to-Table must-do’s
“The amount of labor that goes into creating and maintaining this standard of food long before a pan ever hits the fire is a huge investment. You work many times harder to–hopefully–create food you are proud of.”
From the Chefs: Do Your Homework
“A farmer might ask a chef about what is specifically needed in the restaurant and then go ahead and plant it. A chef and the farmer can even arrange to plan out crops a year in advance...and decide what makes the most sense for both parties.”
From the Chefs: Plan Ahead
“Ingredients are constantly fluctuating, not just seasonally, and it’s up to the chef to learn what the limitations are as to what’s available and how to put things together in a way that is still appealing with little notice.”
From the Chefs: Be Nimble
Did “Farm-to-Table Football” catch on?
In 2000, Little Bill gets power Big Bill wanted!
Belichick “Farm-to-Table”: Five (5!) Super Bowls
Farm-to-Table content strategy
• Make the upfront investment in time
• Collaborate with your colleagues
• Jointly develop a vision for deliverables and tell the story together
What are the core tenets of content strategy?
Mike Petroff
Understand, establish, and enforce best practices for producing, distributing, and measuring content.
1
Produce and refine content for web, email, and social media products in alignment with University priorities, branding, and voice.
2
Develop strategies aimed at audience growth and engagement.
3
Collaborate with editorial, creative, and media relations teams to build, deploy, and refine content that supports the goals of the University.
4
Create a culture of experimentation and testing, piloting new content types, platforms, tools, and other resources.
5
Measure success using analytics to understand performance, inform decision-making, and focus on continuous improvement.
6
And now on to the show!
#DigCS
Thanks!
@MattWeber_#DigCS
Content Strategy goals:
• Understand, establish, and enforce best practices for producing, distributing, and measuring content for digital products, including web, email, and social media
• Develop strategies aimed at audience growth and engagement
• Produce and refine content for web, email, and social media products in alignment with University priorities, branding, and voice
• Collaborate with editorial, creative, public affairs, and media relations teams to build, deploy, and refine content that supports the goals of the University
• Create a culture of experimentation and testing, piloting new content types, platforms, tools, and other resources
• Measure success using analytics to understand performance, inform decision-making, and focus on continuous improvement
con•tent:
(noun) information made available by a website or other electronic medium.
con•tent:
(noun) information made available by a website or other electronic medium.
con•tent:
(adjective) in a state of peaceful happiness.
con•tent:
(noun) information made available by a website or other electronic medium.
con•tent:
(adjective) in a state of peaceful happiness.
storytelling
storytelling
ethospathos
logos
strategy is . . .
what to do with that story
strategy is . . .
storytelling
ethospathos
logos
storytelling
ethos
pathos
logos
storytelling
ethos
pathos
logos
strategy is . . .
what to do with that story
strategy is . . .
how to tell your story (for impact…to somebody)
strategy is . . .
lots of jargon in content strategy . . .
lots of jargon in content strategy . . .
will make you discontent
reach + engagement = impact
jargon
reach + engagement = impact
jargon
reverse engineered metrics-based accountability paradigms are critical for audience growth
this is a job you have to do
maybe get buy-in from boss
#D
igC
S
“Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Pray, fine stategistias of Harvardia, alloweth me one diversion, ametaphorainterpretia…”
Pre-digital content
REACH
Engagement
Impact
Marcom Office
•alumni•prospective students•current students•donors•prospective donors•staff•faculty•media•parents •teachers•dean
•Website•Facebook•Twitter•Youtube•Instagram•Medium•Email Lists•Podcast•External Blogs•Media Pitching•Content Partners
•Website•Facebook•Twitter•Youtube•Instagram•Medium•Email Lists•Podcast•External Blogs•Media Pitching•Content Partners
•alumni•prospective student•current students•donors•prospective donors•staff•faculty•media•parents •teachers•dean
PLAY THE GAME!
•Instagram•Prospective Student
•Instagram•Prospective Student
•Faculty•Podcast
•Instagram•Prospective Student
•Faculty•Podcast•Twitter
•Alumni
storytelling
ethospathos
logos
Be the creator of your institution.Be the realist of your institution.Be the advocate of your institution.
Be the now of your institution.
Be the identity of your institution.
Be the unifier of your institution.Be the mentor of your institution.
Be the creator of your institution.Be the realist of your institution.Be the advocate of your institution.
Be the now of your institution.
Be the identity of your institution.
Be the unifier of your institution.Be the mentor of your institution.
Be the of your institution.
RETHINKING BOSTON.GOVCreating a new digital face and effectively writing for the City of Boston’s website
WHO WE ARE
Digital team:
Developers
Designers
Product managers
Content & communications specialists
Digital storytellers…
Focused on working via agile methodologies and in the public eye
We build digital experiences designed around the needs of our constituents. These tools will be beautiful, welcoming, and highly useful.
WHAT WE DO
GUIDING PRINCIPLES
ACT AS A HELPFUL HUMAN.
BE EQUAL PARTS WARM AND OFFICIAL.
THE SYSTEM IS VAST. HELP USERS NAVIGATE IT.
BUILD AN ENERGIZING ENVIRONMENT.
Empathize and be reasonable in the way you communicate–simple, direct, never condescending.
The tone balances professional with friendly, official with open, authority with approachability.
Inspire residents to engage. The site should feel alive, vibrant, active, and fresh.
Organize the system through the user’s perspective.
WHERE WE STARTED
1 million words — 10,000 URLs — 8,300 PDFs - many
micrositesand two content managers updating everything in
internet explorer :(
More than 30,000 pages of content that look great across all devicesand more than 100 people trained to update their content.
WHERE WE LANDED
JANUARY 2016Launched Pilot.Boston.gov
SPRING 2016User testing, iterations on pilot
CONTINUOUSListen, tinker, improveSee boston.gov/roadmap
AND HOW WE GOT THERE - TIMELINE OF WEBSITE REDESIGN
AUGUST 2015Kick-off, began discovery phase
JULY 2016Launched Boston.gov
ISSUES WITH OLD SITE
NOT MOBILE FRIENDLY LOST IN THE CONTENT IS THIS FROM THE
CITY?
Just pinch and zoom Wait, where do I go? So many microsites...
If you wanted to get something done, you had to visit the full desktop site. We were shutting out those who rely on their phones to access the Internet.
The old website had tons of information. The problem? You needed to hunt and search to find that information, or just know where to go.
The frustration of using the old site forced some departments to run to alternatives. We didn’t have a consistent digital voice or brand.
INSIGHTS AND FEEDBACK: LOOKING IN (EMPLOYEES)
“There is no such thing as the City of Boston. We’re a bunch of individuals.”
“A lot of trust-breaking moments happen during hand-offs. There is inherently direct opposition between departments’ expertise, and the residents’ needs that straddle departments.”
INSIGHTS AND FEEDBACK: LOOKING OUT (CITIZEN STORIES)
“It’s exactly what you would expect of a government website — not very welcoming and very dry.”
“Today, the city website feels like hunting through an unorganized filing cabinet — all the information is there, but it’s not usable or accessible. It puts a heavy burden on the resident to find what they need, and takes a level of sophistication, tech savviness.”
CONTENT MIGRATION TIMELINE
JANUARY 2016Boston.gov pilot launch. Began meeting with departments and rewriting content.
JULY 20, 2016Launch of full Boston.gov website.
Content moved from post-secondary reading level to 8th grade.
MAY - JUNE 2016Wrap up rewriting thousands of webpages; more than 1 million words.
Gave drop dead dates for departments.
CONTENT AUDIT - FALL/WINTER 2015Went through the pages for more than 60 departments to see what to keep and lose.
ACTIVITY
DEVELOP THE 27TH LETTER OF THE ALPHABET
ACTIVITY
DEVELOP THE 27TH LETTER OF THE ALPHABET
boston.gov/brand
LAUNCHING A DIGITAL BRAND
The mark for the Boston.gov is not just the letter B but a Bold letter B. Underlined.
The new brand has been a huge hit, both inside and outside of City Hall.
CONSISTENT VOICE - ONE BRAND FOR ALL
WRITING FOR DIGITALTips and tricks for using plain language and a more human, friendly tone.
People mostly skim and barely scroll down a page.
Slate.com hired a data scientist to study how people used their site. They found 50% of their users stopped reading halfway down. Thirty-one percent never even scrolled.
REALITIES OF READING ON THE WEB
Most people scan with a rough “F” pattern when they read a webpage.
Starting from the top left corner, they scan horizontally across the page and quickly drop down the left side for information.
The Nielson Norman Group did a study on user behavior, and created this heat map at the right:
The red shows the most viewed section of these websites, followed by yellow, and then blue.
HOW DO WE INTERACT WITH THE WEB
PEOPLE STILL NEED US BE BRIEF GET TO THE POINT
We’re the City of Boston. We have information that residents can only find on Boston.gov.
You’re the Harvard System; people need you to. Students, researchers, faculty, alums, and much more.
We still realistically only have the attention of our audience for a few seconds on each page.
Big chunks of text just copied and pasted onto a page won’t always do the trick.
There are ways we can write that can draw people in and get their attention.
By setting up our information and writing in a certain way, we can help residents get the info they need, and get on with their day.
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR US?
TIP 1: WRITE SHORT SENTENCES
Try to make the average sentence length of your content 15-20 words.
You should look to make one point - and maybe a second, related point - in each sentence.
In the 1960s, researchers analyzed one million words of published US writing and found the average sentence length to be 19 words.
Here’s how that broke down:
● Government documents (25 words)● Learned and scientific (24)● Press reports (21)● Humor (18)● Fictional romance/love (14)● Fictional science/detective (13)
Government documents, probably the only essential info on the list, had the longest sentence length.
RESEARCH ON SENTENCE LENGTH
THE EASIEST WAY TO BREAK DOWN A LONG SENTENCE? USE PERIODS.
Periods help readers digest your latest point, and prepare for the next.
At the right, we split our big sentence into three little ones.
“The Boston Public Health Commission's Outreach Team provides outreach to individuals. They engage with approximately 400 people in the neighborhood. The team also helps those once barred from a shelter to regain admission and get the support they need.”
TIP 2: USE BULLETED LISTS
Bulleted, vertical lists can help break up long pieces of complicated content.
Information is placed in easier to read chunks, and sentences that need to be longer can become more readable.
Vertical lists work best when you have a serial list in a sentence. These sentences have a bunch of items listed out, with commas in between.
BEFORE:
The Fire Prevention Division, in the Boston Fire Department, directs fire prevention activities. It handles the more technical fire prevention problems, maintains appropriate records, grants permits, investigates the causes of fires, and conducts public education programs.
AFTER:
The Fire Prevention Division:- handles more technical fire prevention problems- maintains appropriate records- grants permits- investigates the cause of fires, and- conducts public education programs.
HOW TO CREATE A [GOOD] BULLETED LIST
GRAMMAR COMPLETE SENTENCES DON’T OVERDO IT
You don’t need a punctuation after each line in your list.
If items in a list are complete sentences, treat them like that.
Not everything on a page needs to be in a bulleted list.
If you use a list where each item isn’t a complete sentence, you only need punctuation in the second-to-last and last sentence. For example:
Today, we bought:- grapes- donuts- apples, and- bananas.
For example:
Choosing the right tree isn’t that complicated, but we have some tips:
- Only pick freshly cut trees. - Pick a tree stand that
allows you to add water.- Make sure the stem of your
tree is cut diagonally.
Adding too many bullets to a page can be just as bad as having a big block of text.
If you overdo it, the bullets lose their impact. Save them for the important content on your page.
NOTES ON BULLETED LISTS
TIP 3: USE ACTIVE VOICE
When we speak, we usually use the active voice. Using the active voice can increase comprehension, and clearly state who is responsible for what.
In most active-voice sentences, the doer comes before the verb it governs.
Putting the person or thing doing the action in a sentence in front of its verb will usually ensure that the verb is active.
ACTIVE VOICE:
The property owner pays the bill.
PASSIVE VOICE:
The bill should be paid by the property owner.
When you use the active voice, your writing is usually tighter, more personal, and you introduce the action earlier in the sentence.
When you use the passive voice, you create the reverse of this. It’s used often in jargon and legalese. There are times when you might need to use it, especially when the “doer” isn’t clear, but try to avoid them if you can.
WHAT IS ACTIVE VOICE?
An easy way to tell if you are using the active or passive voice is to add “by zombies” after the verb in the sentence.
If the sentence still makes sense after adding “by zombies,” it’s in the passive voice.
For example:
- Passive: The town was attacked (by zombies). Still makes sense.
- Active: Zombies attacked (by zombies) the town. Doesn’t make sense.
There are trickier versions of the passive voice, but this is an easy tip to keep in mind.
ZOMBIES AND ACTIVE VOICE
TIP 4: WRITE AS YOU SPEAK
It’s common advice, but it still holds true. What you write should read like a conversation with a friend.
PERSONAL PRONOUNS CONTRACTIONS USE EVERYDAY
WORDS
It’s OK to use personal pronouns, like “we” and “you.”
One of the easiest ways to write as you talk is with contractions.
Why use a five dollar word when a five cent word will work?
When you avoid personal pronouns in your writing, you often create clumsy sentences.
Don’t be afraid to say "we" instead of “The City.” Instead of "residents" or “applicants,” consider saying "you."
People talk in contractions — like can’t and don’t — and using them helps people relate to what you’re writing.
The important thing to remember, though, is not to overuse them. Only use them when they sounds natural.
The average reading level in the US is about 8th grade. Using everyday words can help you reach a wider audience.
If you must use a certain word that may be more difficult for someone to understand, that’s OK. Just make sure to explain what it means in your text.
CREATE MORE PERSONAL TONE
WHERE DO YOU GO FROM HERE?
City’s writing guidelines
BOSTON.GOV/WRITING
Web app that allows you to get feedback on the
reading level of content.
HEMINGWAY EDITOR OXFORD GUIDE TO PLAIN ENGLISH
In-depth breakdown of using plain English
WRITING FOR GOV.UK
British government writing guidelines
LESSONS LEARNED
Time: We wanted more! [so give yourselves as much time as you can] + Brand: It’s okay to let the brand organically seep into your communications.
We had an aggressive schedule and deadline. In just seven months, we:● built a content management system● rewrote nearly one million words, and● migrated all of the content to the new Boston.gov.
Build Schedule: Would have been helpful if we finished most of the content types before writing.
Build Confidence in Our Team/Each Other: Training, being available [and not disappearing], a new brand
Knowing each other’s limitation: Knowing that departments are the content experts, but that a ‘digital team’ can add value and additional support.
CHALLENGES FOR US
TRAINING CITY STAFF STICKING TO THE BRAND
IT’S A BALANCING ACT KEEPING IT 8TH GRADE GETTING INVOLVED
We’ve made plain English and language a focus on the website, but some department’s are still using jargon and legalese.
Our public notices and press releases all come out at a post-graduate level.
Majority of departments are using the City’s brand, but there’s still a few holdouts. We’re slowly working to get everyone under the same umbrella.
READING LEVEL
Drupal is fairly easy to pick up.
But, if you don’t use it everyday, or even every week, it’s easy to forget.
We’ve trained more than 150 people, but only 20-30 consistently make updates.
An unexpectedly delightful, smart, and human experience has the power to transform people’s assumptions about what government [or educational institutions] is and their relationship to it.
WHY IT MATTERS
THANK YOU
Using your Institution’s voice on social media
hello!I am Jenny Li Fowler
manager, social media strategy at MIT
hello!I am Jenny Li Fowler
manager, social media strategy at MIT web editor and social media manager at HKS
hello!I am Jenny Li Fowler
manager, social media strategy at MIT web editor and social media manager at HKS
local tv reporter & anchor
hello!I am Jenny Li Fowler
daughter & mother@thejennyli
Posting on social media
Posting on social media for yourself
Posting on social media for Harvard
Voice
Voice
Your organization’s voice is its public personality.
Tone
Your job is to find the right tone for that voice on social media.
Tone
You don’t have to start from scratch.
Tone
Your audience will let you know you’re getting it right.
Evidence based content strategy
Evidence based content strategy
Evidence based content strategy
You have to be willing to ...
● Experiment
Evidence based content strategy
You have to be willing to ...
● Experiment● If it didn’t work, don’t do it anymore (no one will
notice)
Evidence based content strategy
● You will learn the social habits of your audience
Evidence based content strategy
● You will learn the social habits of your audience● You will learn what your audience favors
Evidence based content strategy
● You will learn the social habits of your audience● You will learn what your audience favors● You will learn your audience’s sense of humor
Strike social media gold
Strike social media gold
Social media event
Strike social media gold
Social media event
Public event
Reuse content!
Reuse content!
Need to sell your method to your boss?
Need to sell your method to your boss?
With an evidence based content strategy ...
Need to sell your method to your boss?
With an evidence based content strategy ...
● You’re making informed content decisions based on what your audience likes
Need to sell your method to your boss?
With an evidence based content strategy ...
● You’re making informed content decisions based on what your audience likes
● Show them the engagement numbers / follower growth
Need to sell your method to your boss?
With an evidence based content strategy ...
● You’re making informed content decisions based on what your audience likes
● Show them the engagement numbers / follower growth
● Increased click through rates
Key Takeaways
● Your organization already has a voice, you’re not creating a new one for social media.
Key Takeaways
● Your organization already has a voice, you’re not creating a new one for social media.
● You want to find the right tone for your org’s social media channels.
Key Takeaways
● Your organization already has a voice, you’re not creating a new one for social media.
● You want to find the right tone for your org’s social media channels. (When in doubt, follow @Harvard’s lead)
Key Takeaways
● Your organization already has a voice, you’re not creating a new one for social media.
● You want to find the right tone for your org’s social media channels. (When in doubt, follow @Harvard’s lead)
● Each engagement is a data point. Do more of what your audience is engaging with — Evidence based content strategy.
Posting on social media for Harvard
Boston Globe Media DOING MORE WITH LESSOCTOBER, 2017
SHRINKING NEWSROOMS
GROWING AUDIENCES
2,500,000+ Owned Clickable Audience
Across the Boston Globe, Boston.com and Twitter accounts, we have over 2.5 million people in our owned clickable audience.
DO MORE WITH LESS
MASSIVE FRAGMENTATION
THREE TYPES OF TOOLS WORKING TOGETHER
BOTS
COMMUNICATION
SMARTPUBLISHING
WORK SMART NOT HARD
LET THE BOTS FIND THE INTERESTING STUFF
LET THE BOTS FIND THE INTERESTING STUFF
LET THE BOTS FIND THE INTERESTING STUFF
The thing you would have been looking for!
IFTTT
The stuff you arelooking for
Where you wantit to go
IFTTT
IFTTT
IFTTT
CROWDTANGLE
CROWDTANGLE
USE THESE SAME TOOLS TO PROMOTE YOUR BEST CONTENT
ALERTING YOU TO HIGH PERFORMING POSTSWe can quickly bring the best posts across ALL accounts to the largest social audiences. This nets us millions of extra impressions per month!
ALERTING YOU TO HIGH PERFORMING POSTS
Being alerted to high performance of a particular post also helps inform how we build out daily email newsletters, push alerts, etc.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
GET EVERYONE WORKING TOGETHER
USE ALERTS TO OPTIMIZE
DISCOVERY
USE AUTOMATION TO OPTIMIZE AUDIENCE
QUESTIONS?
