content gone wild!

Rachel LovingerMIMA Summit, October 5, 2009

Content Gone Wild!

Photo by wokka

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About Me: Rachel Lovinger• Content Strategy Lead, Razorfish

• Scatter / Gather, a CS blog http://scattergather.razorfish.com

• Semantic Web affinity group

• Long time content enthusiast

© 2009 Razorfish. All rights reserved.

Two Things I Want You to Learn From This Talk

1. For successful web projects, pay as much attention to the content as to the design and technology.

2. Be proactive instead of reactive.


What is Content?

• Text on your site

• Images

• Video

• Audio

• Data

• User Comments

• Email

• Online Conversations


Content is the reason people go to your site.

Photo by zandperl

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1997: Web Curmudgeon


Content Strategy in the Design Process

Discover Design

ResearchAssessConceptVoice

SourceOrganizeTaxonomy

Build Deploy

PlanStyle GuideCopy DeckSocial

MaintainMonitorRespond


Content Gone Wild?

What’s the worst that can happen if you design a site

or campaign without a clear content strategy?


Experiences that are…

Not EngagingNot Satisfying

Embarrassing for the Brand


“The best argument for content strategy is the failure of a project.”

- Elena Melendy, Minty Fresh Media


But today, let’s learn from others

Several examples of content gone wrong…

and what should have been done instead.


BrochurewareExample 1


Corporate Brochureware Site


Product Info


More Product Info


What Happened?

Discover Design



Build Deploy



Assessment and Concept: Failed to recognize what content customers and prospects might want, aside from product details


Create content that engagesContent Best Practice

Present content that is:

• Consumable

• Interactive

• Relevant

• Current


Another Corporate Site


Telling the Company Story


Sharing Information & Values


Corporate BlogExample 2


Johnson & Johnson Blog

Example via Mary McKnight, FastCompany.com

http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/mary-mcknight/internet-marketing-social-media-blogging-and-seo/10-worst-fortune-500-blogs�



Lacks Clear Message or Voice


http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/mary-mcknight/internet-marketing-social-media-blogging-and-seo/10-worst-fortune-500-blogs�



What Happened?

Discover Design



Build Deploy



Concept: Goals of the blog aren’t clearly defined

Organize: Topics aren’t clearly defined


Have a messaging strategyContent Best Practice

Content should be:

• On point (Business goals)

• Relevant (User needs)

• Authentic (Expert, passionate writers)

• Published regularly (Committed resources)


Wal-Mart: Informative, Enthusiastic, Relatable


http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/mary-mcknight/internet-marketing-social-media-blogging-and-seo/10-best-fortune-500-blogs�



MetadataExample 3


Interscope Records Artists Page: One Big A-Z List


Artist Page: Chris Cornell


Chris Cornell: Releases

Very little information

• No release dates

• No relationship between EPs / Singles and LPs

• No genres

• Not organized by bands


Album Page: End of the Line


Band Page: No Mention of Solo Work


What Happened?

Discover Design



Build Deploy



Taxonomy & Metadata: Content is not well organized; meaningful data and relationships are not being surfaced.


Dynamic & meaningful content organization based on metadata

Content Best Practice

• Define relevant facets and taxonomy

• Organize content by taxonomy

• Metadata provides valuable information

• Link to related content


All Music Guide

• Content organized primarily by genre

• The metadata IS the content

• Every word is a link to further explore


Lorem IpsumExample 4


Place Holder Text


The New York Times


What Happened?

Discover Design



Build Deploy



Plan and Copy Deck: Without a detailed plan, content producers forgot to fill in the less prominent pages and sidebar items


Carefully plan for content needs Content Best Practice

• Content Inventory

• Site Map

• Content Requirements

• Content Sourcing Plan


Content Needs Spreadsheet


Stale ContentExample 5


Featured Band: Posted February 2005


News: From 2004 & 2005

404 errors!


Coming Soon? Not Likely


What Happened?

Discover Design



Build Deploy



Ongoing Editorial Plan: They had a launch plan, but no one was responsible for regular content updates once it was live


Plan for content maintenanceContent Best Practice

• Governance

• Editorial Strategy

• Editorial Calendar

• If community based, user generated content can keep the site content fresh


Steady Stream of Songs, Bands & Playlists


User-Generated ChaosExample 6


Users Will Do Creative Things


Users Will Do Creative and Unexpected Things


Users May Do Horrible Things


Users May Do Horrible Things

WARNING: Some of what you’re about to see is

definitely NSFW


Huge Spike in Traffic (but was it worth it?)


What Happened?

Discover Design



Build Deploy



Concept & Research: Did they ever look at Twitter, 4chan, YouTube, Fark or any other Internet community?

Social: No strategy in place to mediate the conversation


Be part of the conversationContent Best Practice

But have a social media strategy. Consider that you may have to:

• Moderate

• Mediate

• Mitigate


Age Confirmation? Disclaimer?


YouTube Channel Instead of Twitter Search


Fake GrassExample 7


Poorly Rated Product


Questionable Request: Astroturfing


People Noticed


What Happened?

Discover Design



Build Deploy



Social and Respond: Response was inappropriate and unethical (and not in line with corporate standards)


Be authenticContent Best Practice

When you do participate in the conversation:

• Establish a social media policy for employees

• Be honest about who you are

• Communicate like a person


Via Gapingvoid

Cartoon © 2009 Hugh MacLeod's Gaping Void

http://gapingvoid.com/2008/10/31/mass-marketing-and-the-heroic-lone-individual/�



Check Your ToneExample 8


Fine Line Between Clever… and Flippant

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmykFKjNpdY�


Twitter: #motrinmoms


It's not easy to do snarky well when you're talking about parenting. Popular blogs like Motherhood Uncensored, Finslippy, Baby on Bored, White Trash Mom, Laid off Dad, and Metrodad to name a few, are not popular simply because they illuminate the ups and downs of parenting with brutal, hilarious honesty, but because they do it through the eyes of parents who truly, deeply love their children. It's the rare writer who can capture the negatives without bitterness,who can elaborate on the hell without sounding, well, like a 34 year-old male copywriter who's never had a kid. Whether or not that's actually the case.

http://motherhooduncensored.net/�

http://finslippy.com/�

http://babyonbored.blogspot.com/�

http://whitetrashmom.com/�

http://laidoffdad.typepad.com/�

http://metrodad.typepad.com/�

http://www.mom-101.com/2008/11/motrin-moms-ad-campaign-oy-as-they-say.html�


What Happened?

Discover Design



Build Deploy



Voice: Communication strategy conflicted with the values of the target audience

Monitor and Respond: Campaign was launched right before the weekend, when no one was around to monitor it


Know how your audience likes to be spoken to


• Tone & Voice Guide

• Brand Attributes & Values

• User Testing

• Be prepared to react


Response Was Swift and Sincere


Think GloballyExample 9


Visual Metaphor


Doesn’t Translate

Photo by Jennifer Dziura

http://www.jenisfamous.com/dev/2008/01/spanish-speakers-are-never-under.html�



Dell.com


Czech Version of Dell Home Page


Investoři – Redirects to US Site


Média – Content in English


Kariéra – Content in English


Product Information – In Czech


What Happened?

Discover Design



Build Deploy



Every stage: The concept for the MTA campaign wasn’t reevaluated for Spanish language; the content for the regional Dell site wasn’t sourced, created, and QA’d like the English content


Globalization involves more than just translation


• Content scoping

• Planning

• Creation

• Maintenance

• Experts in the language & cultural associations


HP: Acclaimed for 85 Regional Sites, in 36 Languages


Let’s end on a positive note.


Billboard Relaunch

• Not just a redesign

• Consumer oriented

• The authority on popular music

• Launched July 2009


Discovery Phase

Discover Design



Build Deploy



Research:

• For most users, the experience centers around the charts

• Active site visitors were also passionate about the editorial content


Discovery Phase

Discover


Content Assessment:

• Content not integrated with chart data

• Some charts & content types were not well defined

• Non-core content was not maintained

• Sections of the site linked off to the business property

• Search results messy, content hard to find


Discovery Phase

Discover


Concept:

• The site should enable people to discover and engage with popular music

Voice:

• The voice of the site should continue to be authoritative and unbiased, but more oriented towards consumer users


Design Phase

Discover Design



Build Deploy



Design


Content Sourcing:

• Reduce number of charts to simplify

• Show more of Billboard’s historical data

• Focus on core content types

• Remove B2B links and content

• Partner for streaming music

• Partner for additional artist, album & song info

Design



Design


Content Organization:

• Charts must be prominent

• Organize content around Artists, Albums, Songs

• Related links from charts to content and from content to charts to keep users engaged

Design Phase

Chart Song

Album

Artist


Design


Taxonomy & Metadata:

• Charts tagged as:

• Mixed Genre: Billboard 200, Hot 100

• Genre: Rock Albums, Pop Songs

• International: UK Songs, Japan Albums

• Each chart position on each chart includes Artist, Album/Song, Date and other metadata

• Editorial content tagged with: Artists, Albums, Songs, Events and Charts

Design Phase

content gone wild!

Technology

metadata page

brochureware page

defined page

related content page

line page

brand page

bands page

resources page