Content Strategy for Everything

CONTENT STRATEGY FOR THE WEB Everything

Kristina @Halvorson

Coauthor, Content Strategy for the Web

CEO, Brain Traffic and Founder, Confab Events

I wrote the first version of Content Strategy for the Web in 2009.

In it, I defined content strategy as “the practice of planning for the creation, delivery, and governance of useful, usable content.”

Not just...

• What

But …• What

• Why

• How

• When

• For whom

• By whom

• With what

• Where

• How often

• What next

In 2012, I coauthored the 2nd edition with Melissa Rach.

This time, defining “content strategy” was a bit trickier.

(Read: there were several caveats.)

At exactly this time, there was another trend on the rise.

Content marketing is the approach of

creating and distributing valuable and

consistent content to a targeted audience,

with the objective of driving some

profitable action…

– “The Evolution of Content Marketing

Will Include Intelligent Content”

Joe Pulizzi, 1/12/2015

“

The marketing industry happily complied.

This is big trouble for companies who still can’t manage the content they had in the first place.

Content strategy is more important than ever.

What is content strategy?

2015

© Brain Traffic 2015

Here’s how we talk about it at Brain Traffic.

Core strategy: This defines where you

will focus your efforts

to improve content

substance, structure,

workflow, and/or

governance.

It must provide clear

boundaries for what

you will do … and what

you won’t.

© Brain Traffic 2015

Substance: Story, topic, brand elements, voice and tone

Structure: Organization, categorization, component elements

CONTENT

Substance… …fulfills business objectives by meeting audience needs.

Structure… …makes content findable and usable for users, and manageable for technology.

CONTENT

PEOPLE

Workflow: Roles, processes, tools

Governance: Policies, standards, guidelines

Workflow... ...creates efficiencies across content properties.

Governance… ...empowers, facilitates, and aligns.

PEOPLE

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Lots More To Learn About

10 Definitions of Content Strategy by Monica Bussolati

Point of View: Content Strategy by Kevin Nichols

What Is Content Strategy? by Aha Media Group

What kinds of content strategy are there?

Content Strategy for User Experience

Infographic published by IBM Customer-Facing Solutions.

http://blog.braintraffic.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/structured-content.png

Adaptive Content Strategy

Enterprise Content Strategy

Adapted from http://www.gollner.ca/2015/03/defining-intelligent-content.html

Workflow and Governance

What does a content strategist do?

Point of View: Content Strategy by Kevin Nichols

What is the content strategy process?

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What is “a content strategy”?

• A content strategy—any strategy—is the path you’ll take towards meeting your goals and fulfilling your vision. It may be one of a few parallel paths towards the same goals.

• A content strategy helps define what you WILL do and what you WON’T do.

• All tactical content initiatives must map back to your strategy.

• Your content strategy should force you to prioritize and to say “no.”

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How To Get There

1 : Assessment, Analysis, and Strategy

2 : Architecture and Editorial

3 : Implementation

4 : Maintenance

1 : Assessment, Analysis, and Strategy

2 : Architecture and Editorial

3 : Implementation

4 : Maintenance

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Business objectives Current technology

Project objectives Functional requirements

User research Cross-platform initiatives

Stakeholder interviews Industry trends

Usability testing Competitors

Design research Content inventory

Typical Discovery Checklist

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Content ROT Stakeholder agenda

Current style guide Content owners

Content readability Workflow and timelines

Search analytics Metadata integrity

Legal requirements Translation requirements

Channel requirements Accessibility requirements

Content Strategy Checklist

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After the Assessment: Your Analysis Report

EXAMPLE ONLY

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EXAMPLE ONLY

EXAMPLE ONLY

EXAMPLE ONLY

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Example: Content Strategy Framework

CORE STRATEGY

Evolve our print production model to deliver single-source, omnichannel content.

We communicate effortlessly with priority audiences everywhere.

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Example: CS document intro

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Example: CS Guiding Principles

1 : Assessment, Analysis, and Strategy

2 : Architecture and Editorial

3 : Implementation

4 : Maintenance

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“Define and Design”

Project plan High level architecture

Success metrics Content requirements

Dependencies Features definition

Branding elements Development plan

Design mock-ups User testing/QA

SEO guidelines Launch plan

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Messaging Content models

Topic maps Content types

Style guide Taxonomy

Page tables Editorial calendar

Architecture and Editorial

You can find all sorts of tools and templates here.

1 : Assessment, Analysis, and Strategy

2 : Architecture and Editorial

3 : Implementation

4 : Maintenance

Example: Content Strategy Roadmap

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Example: Editorial Workflow

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Example: Enterprise Workflow

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Example: Team Structure

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How do you make the case for content

strategy?

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Pain Points

• “We’re struggling with too much content across our digital properties, with more being produced every day.”

• “We don’t know who owns the content.”

• “Our content is inconsistent, off-brand, outdated, even incorrect in places.”

• “We’re partway through a website redesign and suddenly have major content problems.”

• “We’re duplicating work efforts in digital and print content.”

• “People in our company all talk about content and content strategy in totally different ways.”

• “There are lots of politics and opinions that make progress very difficult.”

Unanswered Questions

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Opportunities DIGITAL SERVICES IMPROVEMENT

• Reduced content operations cost

• Reduced content approval cycle time

• Decreased content redundancy

• Increased flexibility of content production and distribution

CUSTOMER VALUE IMPROVEMENT • Higher content quality, lower error rates

• Increased customer satisfaction

• New customer interactions

• Increased direct bookings

How can you make content strategy a part

of your world?

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Smart Next Steps*

Read:

Attend:

Work with:

* I am biased.

Content Strategy for the WebThe Content Strategy Toolkit

Any Confab content strategy conference

Brain Traffic

CONTENT STRATEGY FOR THE WEB You!

Kristina @Halvorson

Coauthor, Content Strategy for the Web

CEO, Brain Traffic

Founder, Confab Events

More Ideas: Books and Articles

- How To Create a Clear Project Plan

- Auditing Big Sites Doesn’t Have To Be Taxing

- Audit Sampling: It’s a Numbers Game

- Good Kickoff Meetings, by Kevin Hoffman

- Moments of Impact: How To Design Strategic Conversations that Accelerate Change

- “Interviewing Humans”

- Just Enough Research

- Good Strategy, Bad Strategy

- What Is Strategy and Does It Matter?