What Do We Mean When We Talk About Content Strategy?

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What do we mean when we talk about content strategy?

Internet User Experience ‘10 – July 26, 2010

Ami Walsh

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Backstory Keep in mind

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Where to start

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Content strategy emerged as a field of practice fifteen years ago to help manage content creation, publication and governance for large websites.

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“Content strategy is brand new

and we’ve been doing it for 15 years.”27…560…2350…

* Refrain at Chicago Web Content 2010 conference.

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storyboards | feature set | decision trees

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content inventory | user personas | product/service matrix | cms content modeling | integration strategy | high-level IA | page specs | messaging framework | editorial guidelines

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When building large websites, we planned for the design, creation and maintenance of content as part of our Define Phase. Different team members (strategists, IAs, writers, engineers, PMs) played the role of content strategist.

What do we want to say?Who do we want to say it to?How do we want to say it?How much will be spent to say it?Where do we say it?When do we say it?What form will it take?How will the parts fit together?

Who will create the parts?In what order will the parts be created?When will it be published?

Who will maintain it? How do we monitor and measure it?

Cont

ent S

trate

gy

Substance & Structure

Workflow

Governance

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Advertising media and social media introduced new content planning complexities. The demand for content strategy explodes as more and more organizations transition from building simple marketing websites to more complex ones and online advertising takes off. Content increasingly seen as a “critical business asset.”

The phrase “content is a critical business asset” is attributable to Halvorson.

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Key SEO Optimization Tactics

The following presents the key criteria that contribute to optimizing SEO:

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Submit to Search Engine Spiders

Site Content & Links

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Page Layout & Technical

Considerations

Metadata:Page Title

Page DescriptionKeywords

Keyword Analysis

Design Build Post-Launch

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Maintenance: Run Reports & Modify Content

seo strategy | media plans | workflow | digital channel strategy | digital channel content mapping | marketing campaign calendar | editorial calendar | mobile content requirements | app integration plan

“You may not have heard of them

yet, but you will. They're called

Content Strategists, and they're

fast becoming the most in-

demand advisers for Web sites

and corporate customers looking

for a way to evolve into content

makers and curators.”

-- Fast Company

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WHAT WE DO content inventory | gap analysis | user personas | product/service matrix | cms content modeling | content migration plan | messaging framework | feature set | high-level IA | site spec | seo strategy | media integration planning | banner content requirements | workflow | digital channel content mapping | marketing campaign calendar | editorial calendar | mobile content requirements | app integration plan | editorial guidelines

EMERGING SERVICESmetadata framework |

taxonomy strategy | user tagging (folksonomy)

strategy | semantic media monitoring | semantic ad

targeting | linking strategy | site search analytics | content licensing evaluation reporting

| cms task flow analysis | content logic configuration |

digital asset tracking | curation strategy | social media monitoring | social

media governance

Content strategy is evolving quickly to keep up with changes in technology. We must continue to do what we’ve done in the past and add services to address new challenges.

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1

Backstory Keep in mind

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Where to start

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There are many ways to organize a content strategy practice, from models focused on large marketing websites (Halvorson) to those targeted to publishing and editorial enterprises (MacIntyre), curation (Scime) and usability (McGrane).

Halvorson

Scime

McGrane

MacIntyre

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B2C

B2B

Advertising campaignsMarketing platforms

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strategic inputs strategic outputs

contentstrategy

?

To determine your set of core services, ask two key questions: 1) Where is the greatest business opportunity? 2) Where is the greatest risk?

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strategic brief

existing content inventory & audit

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campaign integration planning

channel content mapping

conversation monitoring & management

messaging framework

seo strategy

high-level feature set definition

master calendar (social, promotional, media)

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1. Strategic Brief: Necessary for validating all strategic inputs captured during discovery (either provided directly by clients or defined by your strategy team).

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2. Messaging Framework: Necessary for prioritizing brand attributes and creating a strategic messaging hierarchy.

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3. Existing Content Inventory & Audit: Most important activity for scoping. At minimum do a spot check and collect core sample.

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4. SEO Strategy: Most critical activity to improve low-cost lead generation.

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5. Campaign Integration Planning: Most important activity for building integrated digital campaigns. Increasingly important as the digital landscape gets more fragmented.

WWW

Off

-Lin

eW

alk-

In P

roce

ssO

n-L

ine

Web

Pro

cess Select Model

HomeRegister

with Pulte Sign Sales Contract

Understand Options Online

Decide to Buy

Visit a Model Home

Register with Pulte

Visit a Community

Choose Options

Decide to Buy

Virtual Home Tour

Pulte Systems

Customer Process

Home Buying Process

Milestones

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6. High-Level Feature Set Definition: Most important activity for ensuring that the prioritized list of content features and functionality meet defined business objectives and user needs.

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7. Channel Content Mapping: New social media channels pose same content mapping challenges as a CMS. Need to apply same rigorous planning to new digital spaces.

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8. Master Calendar: Critical for managing the planning, sharing, monitoring and continuous creation of content in today’s publishing environment.

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9. Conversation Monitoring & Management: Necessary for continuously improving the value of content and ensuring it remains relevant to customer conversations.

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Backstory Keep in mind

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Where to start

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Content strategy is a multidisciplinary effort.

Determine whether your organization has the need for one or more dedicated content strategists or whether different individuals will play the lead role on a project by project basis.

These individuals oversee the core set of services on every project (even if they are not personally responsible for creating all of them), ensuring that the plans are integrated and clearly communicated to the project team.

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We recommend that your core set of content strategy services happen on every project, even if only a checklist to validate answers to key questions (what, who, where, when, how, why).

Your core set of content strategy services is not an exhaustive list but highlights what’s most consistently needed across all your project work. You will expand or contract what you and your team does on a project by project basis.

31Illustration credit: A List Apart. Photo credit:http://www.flickr.com/people/slyder/

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Establishing a content strategy practice will help you to consistently create more beautiful content and structures to house that content.

Architect Peter Zumthor: Kunsthaus, Bregenz, Switzerland (left); Saint Benedict Chapel, Sumvitg, Switzerland (right)

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Let’s Talk

Ami Walsh :: Senior Content Strategist

Enlighten :: 3027 Miller Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48103

awalsh@enlighten.com

Presentation on slideshare:: http://www.slideshare.net/amiwalsh