Content Strategy at Work

Real-world Stories to Strengthen Every Interactive Project

Margot Bloomstein

• Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9780123919229
• eBook ISBN: 9780123919298
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Computer Science General
• Index: Computer Science

Content is king… and the new kingmaker… and your message needs to align with your model and metrics and other mumbo jumbo, right? Whether you're slogging through theory or buzzwords, there's no denying content strategy is coming of age. But what's in it for you? And if you're not a content strategist, why should you care?Because even if content strategy isn't your job, content's probably your problem—and probably more than you think. You or your business has a message you want to deliver, right? You can deliver that message through various channels and content types, from Tweets to testimonials and photo galleries galore, and your audience has just as many ways of engaging with it. So many ways, so much content… so where's the problem? That is the problem. And you can measure it in time, creativity, money, lost opportunity, and the sobs you hear equally from creative directors, project managers, and search engine marketing specialists.The solution is content strategy, and this book offers real-world examples and approaches you can adopt, no matter your role on the team. Put content strategy to work for you by gathering this book into your little hands and gobbling up never-before seen case studies from teams at Johns Hopkins Medicine, MINI, Icebreaker, and more. Content Strategy at Work is a book for designers, information architects, copywriters, project managers, and anyone who works with visual or verbal content. It discusses how you can communicate and forge a plan that will enable you, your company, or your client get that message across and foster better user experiences.- Presents a content strategy framework and ways to implement in both in-house marketing departments and consultancies- Includes case studies, interviews, and lessons learned from retail, apparel, network television, business-to-business, automotive, non-profit, and higher ed brands- Details practical sales techniques to sell content strategy and use content strategy processes to sell other services and larger projects

Chapter 1

How content strategy can help

Opportunity versus priority

Today, more and more brands—and individuals—embrace the role of publisher. Great, right? Content is king, everyone gets a crown, and who doesn't love a good coronation? Organizations that formerly just sold now also teach, inform, connect, and motivate in order to make a friend—and ultimately, make a sale. We share the CEO's latest insights, publicize project ideas for our products, and go on and on about the virtues of the vegetables the chef's preparing tonight.

That's fine, but a few whitepapers or recurring blog posts do not a publisher make. Kristina Halvorson, president of Brain Traffic and savvy patron saint of content strategists everywhere, offers this perspective:

“The moment you launch a website, you're a publisher. The moment you begin a blog, send an email, participate in social media, build a widget, even show up in search engine results … you are a publisher.”¹

That's heady stuff. And for millions of brands and the marketing teams and agencies that support them, that's not a bad thing. But with the opportunities of publishing come immense challenges. Don't just write; write well. Don't just blog once; maintain a schedule. Don't just launch an app; ensure your content is appropriate for the many contexts and devices through which it may appear. And goodness, don't just curate content by choosing keywords and automating aggregation; hone your perspective on the topic and continually revisit your collection to maintain its relevance.

Kristina continues (breaks are mine):

“Publishers plan far in advance which content they will create.

They have established, measurable processes in place.

They invest in teams of professionals to create and care for content.

They would never think of starting with design and then cramming content in at the last minute.”

But would you? Or would your colleagues or clients?

Whether or not you think you—or your client—is in the publishing industry, think of the content a typical marketing department might create, organize, and maintain:

User reviews for every product or venue

Top ten lists, created by the brand, their audience, or both

Blog posts, comments, and responses to those comments

Education that spans delivery channels: print, digital, and their sales associates and customer service reps

Email campaigns

Hosted conversations and virtual seminars

Location-based guides that take action from the laptop to tablet and phone

Sound familiar, or daunting? Each of these examples comes to life in the coming pages in automotive advertising, curated lists of tea, healthcare institution microsites, higher education content management, and more. In the meantime, welcome to modern-day publishing on the web—in fact, welcome to the modern web itself: it comprises content, appears on multiple devices and contexts, and demands you plan for its creation—and ongoing engagement and maintenance. So what does successful publishing look like? Whose job is it? How do you go beyond sales and brochureware with a multichannel content strategy? Sit back with a cup of coffee—or really, your favorite oolong—to take in the example of Adagio.

All the tea in China, all the content types on the web

In addition to buying tea, consumers visit Adagio.com to engage with content that explains its origins, provides a quantitative rating, and offers reviews, which appear with rankings and context. After you try that first sip, you can add your feedback, reap “frequent cup points,” “like” a favorite flavor, or easily order something entirely different. With so many options for user-generated content, Adagio welcomes its customers to the content creation process as well.

Engagement goes beyond the website, as Adagio's broader integrated web presence includes outposts on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Integration with Steepster, “an online tea community,” lets Adagio foster conversation elsewhere while it drives sales back to www.Adagio.com.

Like most web-savvy brands, Adagio doesn't limit its content—or content strategy—to just text-based copy: maps introduce us to tea rooms, video explains the blending process, and music on a community site lets fans download tracks in the “key of tea.” Content combines with frequent, brand- and channel-appropriate engagement to drive the conversation. And across channels and content types, messaging is clear and persistent. Consistent, even, as featured tea farmers appear in images on Facebook and in interviews on Adagio.com at the same time.

Tough choices require something stronger than just tea

With all these options for content, how does Adagio choose? How does it prioritize, create, measure, and maintain its content? After all, web developers—and many accessible, low-cost content management systems—support myriad features, functionality, and content types. Can do, they say, and “sure, we can do that” becomes an expensive, all-consuming death sentence.

You want a blog? We can have that running by tomorrow, says your developer.

A plug-in for comments? Easy.

Video interviews with everyone in the company? Bandwidth for EVERYONE!

Add live chat? AWESOME. Access + conversation = instant customer service, right?

With enough budget, anything is possible; even with just a moderate budget, it's easy to add enough stuff so as to overwhelm the screen (and your target audience) with options—and many grotesque websites jostle to prove this. It's a death sentence for many brands, and content managers, who suffer the death of a thousand cuts trying to keep up with all that.

If this is you, you need to prioritize. You need to say no. Whether you're raising requests for the blog, the video interviews, the user-generated top ten lists—or if you're fielding those requests—take a breath. Not everything is of equal importance, especially (though not exclusively) when you don't have infinite time, money, talent, availability, and creativity.

In coming chapters, we'll discuss how different organizations prioritize their content initiatives. Some, like AdoptUSKids, mandate internal stakeholders file creative briefs in which they must explain the communication goals and personas their prospective initiatives will serve. If those initiatives are approved, the web team fits them into a high-level editorial calendar. Other organizations, like Oregon Health and Science University, require new initiatives have both a technical owner and business owner responsible for messaging and accountable for content updates throughout the life of the section or site.

Prioritization means holding your work and efforts accountable to a bigger plan, a sort of raison d'être: why this, and why now? Content strategy focuses that plan, adding additional layers of accountability: beyond the brand or employer you serve, how will you meet the needs of your audience?

After all, just because we can add a blog or video interview series doesn't mean we should—our audience may not want it, it might not be right for the brand, or it might be wholly improper for the medium or device in which ...

Table of contents

• Cover Image
• Contents
• Title
• Copyright
• Praise Page
• Foreword
• Thank you
• About the Author
• Chapter 1. How content strategy can help
• Chapter 2. Designing cohesive experiences: Introducing content strategy to design
• Chapter 3. Embracing reality: Incorporating content strategy into project management and information architecture
• Chapter 4. Executing on content strategy through copywriting, creation, and curation
• Chapter 5. Coupling content strategy with search engine optimization
• Chapter 6. Improving content management with content strategy
• Chapter 7. Grounding social media in content strategy
• Chapter 8. Growing the business and getting to work
• Index