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A"ract & Retain Members with Content Strategy
RealMatch webinar, Jan. 29, 2015
About me
Helping organiza<ons communicate online more effec<vely since 1996
ABA HIMSS COMPT
IA Florida Realtors
FINRA Oswego
308 NAR
Cal State
Community
Health
Some orgs we’ve worked with
1. What is content strategy? 2. Which problems can it solve
for associaBons? 3. What to do? 4. Where to start?
What we’ll answer in this webinar
Why do people visit your website?
Design? Graphics? Widgets?
The carousel on your homepage?
hMp://shouldiuseacarousel.com/
Content lets users do what they need to do
• Take advantage of what you offer • Find out why they should join or stay • Learn how your associa<on helps them in their profession
• Not need to call you to answer a ques<on
Content lets you achieve your goals
• AMract prospec<ve members • Retain and engage current members • Increase use of programs, resources, tools, and informa<on
• Increase awareness of and par<cipa<on in poli<cal advocacy efforts
• Increase non-‐dues revenue
hMp://envisioningtheamericandream.com/
Department
Message
Audience
Department
Message
Department
Message
Department
Message
Audience Audience Audience
The number one challenge to membership growth is “difficulty in communica<ng value or benefit.”
—2014 Membership Marke<ng Benchmarking Report
hMp://www.marke<nggeneral.com/resources/benchmark-‐report/
What is content?
Many types of content • Policies • Session descrip<ons • Product details • Course catalog lis<ngs • Execu<ve biographies • Press releases • NewsleMers • Magazine or journal ar<cles • Program informa<on • Etc., etc., etc.
Content takes different forms
• Web pages • Blog posts • Infographics • Images • PDFs • Video • Audio
What is content strategy?
Who What When of publishing Where content online WHY How How
What is content strategy?
• Who, what, when, where, why, and how of publishing content online
• A strategic statement tying content to business goals • The people, processes, and power to execute that
statement
Defini<on
• How does content get to the site? • How long should content stay live? • How can we make sure that people create content so it can be found and used?
• How much content is there in each sec<on and how oeen it gets added to?
• How can we bring together similar content from different parts of an organiza<on?
Content strategy ques<ons
• How good is the content that currently exists – how relevant is it to the audience, does it help the organiza<on meet its goals?
• What’s missing? • Who is pos<ng the content, vs who’s crea<ng it? • Is the system working to help make publishing and finding content easier, or is it making things more difficult?
Content strategy ques<ons
• How can we make sure people can get what they’re looking for on any device?
• How can we proac<vely share informa<on with our audience most effec<vely through ever-‐increasing digital channels?
Content strategy ques<ons
What problems can content strategy solve for associa<ons?
Content problems • Language/jargon • Priori<zed promo<on • Content hoarding • Bad editorial processes • New content missing • Different content on different channels
More content problems • Hard to find informa<on • Too many publishers • Who’s in charge of the home page? • “4002.pdf” • Website is based on our org chart • Not accessible from a mobile device • “We should be on YouTube”
hMp://xkcd.com/773/
What to do?
Department
Message
Audience
Department
Message
Audience
Department
Message
Audience
Department
Message
Audience
Old thinking
36
hMp://www.amazon.com/Have-‐Always-‐Done-‐That-‐Way/dp/184728857X/
Organiza<on: Programs, offerings
Audience
Messages
Audience Audience Audience
New thinking
Associations are complicated
Content
strategist as
orchestra
conductor
Content strategy is change management
Myths your members think about digital
• It’s free, instant, and you can do it in your spare <me
• Search engines will find your informa<on instantly and display it at the top of the first page of what anyone searches for
• Any video they make will go viral
• Every member wants to share informa<on about the board’s latest ini<a<ve
• Your home page and social media posts should be primarily about your associa<on
The real facts
• Every digital channel needs a strategy and the right iden<ty. The more channels, the more <me and complexity.
• Page views are not a goal – the goal is the goal.
• You can’t succeed in your goals unless your users succeed in theirs
• Success builds over <me
• Think > plan > do – all three steps are required
Quality takes <me Good web wri<ng is
• Short • Ac<ve • Scannable: uses bullets and subheads • Leads with the most important informa<on
• Readable – aim for 9th grade
– test at read-‐able.com
• Free of jargon • Has compelling headlines that will make sense even out of context
“I have made this [le.er] longer than usual because I have not had 7me to make it shorter.” Blaise Pascal, 1657"
Content needs a measurable goal • What the user should do aeer reading the content
• What the user should know or feel aeer reading the content
– Download
– Register
– Understand
– Perceive
– Succeed
Content results come from… • Quality wri<ng
• User-‐centric terms
• Promo<ons
Measure and learn
It’s about them, not you
• To convert a larger share of your site visitors, the content must focus more on the visitors than on the business.
• Customer Focus Calculator hMp://www.customerfocuscalculator.com/
It’s about them, not you
It’s about them, not you
It’s about them, not you
It’s about them, not you
Content Lifecycle
Conceive Create Publish Promote Maintain Re<re
Conceive and create • Conceive • Set goals • Business: make or save money • User: increase sa<sfac<on/encourage use or decrease
dissa<sfac<on/reduce customer service needs & costs
• Create • Op<mize • On-‐site • Search engines • Other outlets
Publish and promote
• Publish • Review process: quality, facts • Content Management System (Wordpress)
• Promote • On-‐site: home page, landing pages, topics • Off-‐site: e-‐newsleMers, social media, adver<sing
hMp://www.lightboxcollabora<ve.com/2014-‐editorial-‐calendar
Maintain and re<re
• Maintain • Measure • Test and tweak • Refine
• Re<re • Archive/Delete/”Unpublish” • Renew
Governance
• Who is in charge of your content? • Who reviews and approves it? • Who makes sure it is tagged correctly? • Who can say “no”? • What processes do (or should) exist to ensure that the right content is published?
• How will content be archived, and what does “archived” mean?
Be a “deejay” for your content • Save <me • Save $$ • Help members help themselves
Act like a user • Do the top searches yourself and see what you see
• Go beyond the first few pages, and you’ll see problems
hMp://loremoopsum.tumblr.com/post/37034901905/tweeted-‐by-‐my-‐friend-‐and-‐fellow-‐content-‐strategist
Priori<ze • Put the most important things at the top of your content – Users’ goals – Business goals
• Work with designers to make them prominent
Where to start?
• Benchmark where you are today • Focus on one thing • Ask “why?”
Start today
• Eliminate ROT (redundant, outdated, or trivial) • Put your content through the “we we” test • Use their words
Give the users what they want
Does your site have ROT?
Taken Jan. 27, 2015
• Eliminate jargon • Increase readability
Improve the quality
• Ensure that content has a goal • Show budget-‐holders that your content strategy is working
• Help content owners share their successes
Get and keep buy-‐in
• Content strategy checklist hMp://www.hilarymarsh.com/content-‐strategy-‐libraries/content-‐strategy-‐checklist/
• Content strategy roadmap hMp://www.hilarymarsh.com/?aMachment_id=880
• Content assessment scorecard hMp://www.hilarymarsh.com/?aMachment_id=879
Some useful tools
Thank you! To reach me: Hilary Marsh hilary@hilarymarsh.com 312-‐806-‐7854 www.hilarymarsh.com Also: twiMer.com/hilarymarsh slideshare.net/hilarymarsh linkedin.com/in/hilarymarsh
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