Content Strategy

Content Strategy Off to the market. IA Conference 3-19-09

Eat Media—A Content Agency

Content. Strategy. Design.

in that order. for a reason.

Ian Alexander

VP of Content

www.eatmedia.net/blog

Eat Media WHAT WE DO *Design, manage, strategize and deliver ongoing content

*Design and build websites

*QA/content migration management

*Manage magazine production

ISN’T THERE AN EASIER WAY TO MAKE A LIVING?

*Hey, we’ve been literary agents, programmers, ad execs and writers, but content strategy and IA was just too sexy to pass up.

Ian Alexander WHAT I DO

*Draw on the whiteboard wall

*Write, edit, strategize

*Juggle what is technically possible and editorially proper with stakeholders, check-writers and code-monkeys.

The Holy Trinity of Content

How did you get here?

What are you looking for?

'Styles upon styles upon styles is what I have.' (+10 if you can name artist.)

How Did You Get Here?

Blind—Search Engines (aka Google).

History—We already know the brand.

Referral—From a trusted brand or source.

How Did You Get Here? Blind Blind—Search Engines (aka Google).

'Searching' is the active reaching out for a want, or need, that either is not currently unavailable or unclear. We search when don’t have something or when we aren’t sure. 'Browsing' is the act of casually looking at something. We browse when we don’t know what we are looking for, or we are bored. Different emotional and strategic elements are at play here and this is reflected in the content tone, quality and presentation.

Browsers have wants: Information

Searchers have needs: Solution*

*Information can be a predecessor to a solution.

How Did You Get Here? History

History—We already know the brand.

The market leaders are easy to find: Nike, Whole Foods and

Starbucks. The web has made niche market leaders easier to find:

you want obscure music check out acquariusrec.com, interested in the most up-to-date design issues click on over to

smashingmagazine.com

Once a brand is recognized as an authority, the content it creates,

recommends or partners with is assumed valuable and trustworthy.

How Did You Get Here? Referral

Referral—From a trusted brand or source.

We are sometimes introduced to content via a trusted source:

Newsletter, magazine, friend, link off another site, Twitter, IM or __________. (Fill in with the latest nizzer-keen social media tool/site.

Referral content weighs a ton, not unlike my uzi. (+5 Anyone)

Content Purpose

Content is either:

Trust Building Informative Sales Pitch

Content Purpose Trust Building Trust Building—Examples of trust building content.

Pull Quotes: 'I Just signed up for Mint and it completely knocked

my socks off. This is going to revolutionize how I manage my money.’

Clients.htm: Helps users determine whether or not you are in

their league.

Portfolio.htm: Gives users confidence that you do what you say you do.

Case Studies/Product in Action: Seeing is believing. The bottom line

speaks volumes.

Content Purpose Informative

Informative—Examples of informative content

Simplifying the not so simple:

Support.htm: Everything from 'Do you have an internet connection?' to 'where is my order?’

Contact.htm: [email protected] may not be quite enough info.

Materials.htm: Today’s customer is going to ask questions, save yourself the phone charges.

Content Purpose Sales Pitch

Sales Pitch—Examples of Sales Pitch content

Signing up is selling and sometimes upselling

Services.htm: Give users incentive to do something or just rock the laundry list, your call.

Pricing.htm: Are the hoops you ask your customers to jump through elegant?

Copy: Sales pitch content is all about verbs (sign-up, get started, login, checkout).

Styles upon styles is what I have Same story. Many mediums. Different Presentations.

Mobile Editorial Video Print Email Newsletter Pictorial Audio Slideshow Event Widgets White Papers Social Media Case Studies

Charticle/Infographics

Leaving on a Jet Plane

IA and Content Strategy—Birds of a Feather

Leaving on a Jet Plane Snake oil anyone?

Content is not a magic elixir. It does not work right out of the box. It needs to be measured, tweaked and tested.

IA/CS—We have a duty to create, support and push for the proper implementation of our strategies. Our clients are best served by doing this together.

Leaving on a Jet Plane Safety Dance

Safe is dangerous. Playing it safe on the web is the high school equivalent of being 'cute'. No one wants to be cute.

On the flip side, safe is also relative and your audience is a barometer of how far you can push your content. Not everyone wants snark, crazy right?

Leaving on a Jet Plane ThinkGeek

Like it or not, the rules of content and content delivery are being rewritten by technologists, not writer/marketing folk. So embrace

your inner geek, or your outer geek—that’d be the guy in the corner

with the Steampunk keyboard and Vanna White shrine.*

*See play nice with the IA/UX team

Leaving on a Jet Plane Convince

Having a website/blog and newsletter just gets you into the game. When every day millions of pages are being indexed, 'Why should I care?' is a question that content strategy has to answer definitively.

Thanks

The ducks are robotic. Sorry for the spoiler.