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Hello... Robert Mills Content Strategist, GatherContent @RobertMills [email protected]

Content Strategy & Content Planning and Understanding Your Audience

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Hello...

Robert MillsContent Strategist, GatherContent@RobertMills [email protected]

1.

What is content strategy?

“Content strategy plans for the creation, publication and governance of useful usable content.”

- Kristina Halvorson

“Content strategy deals with the planning aspects of managing content through-out its lifecycle, and includes aligning content to business goals, analysis and modeling, and influences the development, production, presentation, evaluation, measurement, and sunsetting of content, including governance”

- Rahel Anne Bailie

“Content strategy helps organisations provide the right content, to the right people, at the right time, for the right reasons.”

- Meghan Casey

“Content strategy is a repeatable method of identifying all content requirements up front, creating consistently structured content for reuse, managing that content in a definitive source, and assembling content on demand to meet your customers’ needs.”

- Ann Rockley

What do those definitions have in common?

★ Upfront/planning★ Business goals★ User needs/journeys★ Lifecycle★ Consistency

And one more thing ...

★ Collaboration

The Core Model

2.

Content lifecycles & production planning

Content lifecycles

“It is less important what the stages are called and more important that the practitioner have a unified process for managing the entirety of the lifecycle.” - The Language of Content Strategy

“Recognising a content lifecycle means recognising that the business of creating and publishing content follows a recognisable, predictable, repeatable process” - Rahel Bailie

Strategy &

Planning

Measurement Publishing

ProductionRefinement

5 core stages of any content lifecycle

Stage 1:Strategy and Planning

1. Strategy & Planning

What happens when you don’t give content the attention it needs and deserves?

★ You have to change the design to fit the content★ Content is ‘cut and shut’ to fit design★ The site lives in limbo whilst you wait for contents

1. Strategy & Planning

Content Audits and Inventories:

★ Inventory - spreadsheet accounting for all content on site★ Audit - Review of your content and recommendations★ Must read - Content Audits and Inventories: A Handbook

1. Strategy & Planning

Scaling Content Strategy to suit different budgets:

Inventory:★ Pick a section of site rather than complete site★ Or use a tool to remove manual work

Audit:★ Priority section. ROT Assessment (redundant, outdated,

trivial)★ Entire site, start matching to business goals

Stage 2:Production

A Typical Content Production Process(for website content)

2. Production

2. Production

Establish a Clear Workflow:

★ What stages do you need? ★ Who is responsible for each stage?★ Are the stages linear or fluid?

2. Production

2. Production

Effective Content Collaboration:

★ Define roles (copywriter, editor, etc)★ Confirm responsibilities (approval, editing, production)★ Communicate where they fit into the workflow★ Ensure there’s an effective way to provide feedback★ Manage expectations - what is due and by when

2. Production

Other Considerations:

★ SEO/Meta titles and tags★ Enforcing content style guide★ Tagging and categories★ Technology★ Accessibility★ Maintenance/Governance

2. Production

Proto-content:

★ Existing content★ Competitor content★ Write your own content★ Draft content★ Commission sample content

2. Production

Pair-writing:

★ Two people sit together to write★ Content specialists collaborate with stakeholders★ Speeds up production and publishing process★ Guarantees input from subject matter experts

Stage 3:Publishing

3. Publishing

Editorial Calendars:

★ Plan what is being published and when★ Allows you to ‘stuff the pipeline’★ Who, what and when★ Measure resource needed and what impact increasing

frequency will have★ Visual overview

3. Publishing

Technology Requirements:

★ What do you need to get the content published?★ Important to involve devs in the content process (asap!)★ Who is responsible for publishing? (do they need training?)d

3. Publishing

Testing Content:

★ Links to measurement section of lifecycle★ User testing/observation★ A/B testing

3. Publishing

Content Promotion:

★ Content isn’t ‘done’ once published★ Needs to reach the desired audience(s)★ Start of the maintenance/governance phase

4. Measurement

Stage 4:Measurement

4. Measurement

Is Your Content Working?

★ Define what you want to measure and how★ Did it achieve desired result? E.g. fewer support tickets★ Tools and data★ Engagement (social)★ Frequency of measurement, how long after publishing★ Before/after. What can you learn?★ Disseminate findings

4. Measurement

Dissemination:

★ Get the information to the people that matter★ Deliver it in an appropriate way★ Make sure the information is used

5. Refinement

Stage 5:Refinement

5. Refinement

What Are You Refining?

★ Content or strategy?

5. Refinement

Action the insights:

★ Spectrum: copy tweaks to adding/removing sections★ Content inventory - living document, record actions here★ Measure the refined/changed content (repeat as needed)

5. Refinement

Maintenance and Governance:

★ Not necessarily based on measurement insights★ Plan for on-going content production★ Putting a new site live is just the beginning★ What resources are needed post-launch?★ New/different workflow/roles and responsibilities

“Reassessing your strategy regularly is important, especially as your business model or priorities change, new competitors come on the scene, or your target audience shifts.” - Meghan Casey, The Content Strategy Toolkit

3.

Understanding your audience

Iceberg

21,000 email subscribers

65% content strategists

52% in-house

46% customersPain: content

collaboration

13% marketers

Prefer ‘How to’ content

8% currently in MOFU

Why strive to understand - business benefits

★ Position marketing and content so it is more likely to reach the intended audience

★ Forming a vocabulary that will resonate with customers

★ Have the know-how to create meaningful content★ Able to talk to customers in an authentic voice

and tone that supports your brand identity

Why strive to understand - customer benefits

★ They get the content they need, when and where they need it

★ They are spoken to in a manner that appeals to them

★ Their user experience is better because all content decisions have been informed

What do we mean by audience?

★ Your customers★ Prospective users/customers★ Your client’s customers★ Previous users/customers

Audience challenges

★ Our audience is everyone★ Lots of different audience segments★ No resource to do audience research★ It’s not my job★ Piecing it all together

What do you want to understand?

★ Content pains★ Process (existing and pre-GatherContent)★ Who is involved in content lifecycle★ Challenges/obstacles to signing up★ Experience of using us★ Thoughts on frequency of publishing

Treat the research like you would any project

★ Write a brief★ Consider resources needed★ Get stakeholders on board★ Put a timeline in place★ Outline a post-research plan to ensure

investment isn’t wasted

Purposeful research statements

I want to know ...

So that I can understand ...

Purposeful research statements

I want to know how people describe their content production process, so that I can understand the common pains that content teams experience.

How will you get the data?

★ A big upfront research project★ Little and often (across the team)★ Both (big followed by little)

How will you get the data?

★ What information already exists★ What you need to commission/obtain★ What tools can help you★ What resource is required

● Major responsibilities● Pains● Solutions● Common objections● Where they find information

● Media consumption● Demographics● Income● Home life● Photos

Focus on the right things

Results of audience research

★ Personas/customer profiles★ Research decks and reports★ Graphs and charts★ User journeys

So what. Now what.

The output of your research should be

★ Purposeful★ Relevant★ Usable

Piecing it all together

★ Give yourself enough time to study the data★ Use your tool inventory as a starting point★ Can you map data to customer journeys?★ Talk through data with others

Learning from your research

★ Confirm what you already understand★ Turn assumptions into knowledge★ Discount assumptions★ Gain new insights

Dissemination!

★ Get the information to the people that matter★ Deliver it in an appropriate way★ Make sure the information is used

Thank you.

Robert MillsContent Strategist, GatherContent@RobertMills [email protected]