content strategy & content planning and understanding your audience
TRANSCRIPT
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 ROT Assessment (redundant, outdated,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
