CONTENT STRATEGY:What’s Real, What’s Relevant

Kristina Halvorson | Web 2.0 Expo San Francisco | 04.01.09

WHO AM I?• President, Brain Traffic

• Speaker, conferences

• Author, in training

WHO AM I? • Advocate, importance of planning for

content

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HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

Server Administrator

Technical Assistant

Programmer

Developer

Designer

Production Assistant

User Experience Architect

Information Architect

Usability Specialist

SEO Specialist

Web Editor

Web Writer

Content Strategist

Business Analyst

Producer

Project Manager

Web Analyst

Account Manager

New Business Developer

Content StrategistContent

Strategist

SKILLSET.ORG

Server Administrator

Technical Assistant

Programmer

Developer

Designer

Production Assistant

User Experience Architect

Information Architect

Web Writer

Business Analyst

Producer

Project Manager

Web Analyst

Account Manager

New Business Developer

SKILLSET.ORG

Server Administrator

Technical Assistant

Programmer

Developer

Designer

Production Assistant

User Experience Architect

Information Architect

Web Writer

Business Analyst

Producer

Project Manager

Web Analyst

Account Manager

New Business Developer

SKILLSET.ORG

LIES WE TELL OURSELVES

• “The copy shouldn’t be that big of a deal.”

• “We already pretty much know what we want to say.”

• “We already have most of the content.”

• “We’ll fix it post-launch.”

THIS IS COPYWRITING.

• Audit

• Analyze

• Strategize

• Categorize

• Structure

• Create

• Review

• Approve

• Publish

• Update

• Archive

THIS IS CONTENT.

CONTENT STRATEGYPlans for the creation, publication, and governance of content.

•TEXT

•GRAPHICS

•VIDEO & ANIMATION

•AUDIO

STRATEGYA plan for obtaining a specific goal or result.

NOT JUST …! A series of educational articles

! Blogs by our employees

! A sponsored channel on YouTube

! CEO Twitter account

! More cowbell

NOT JUST …! What

BUT …! What

! Why

! How

! For whom

! By whom

! With what

! When

! Where

! How often

! What next

THIS IS WEB 2.0?• Where do you start?

– Facebook (page? API?)

– Twitter

– Flickr

– YouTube

– Wikipedia

– Employee blogs

– Community forums

• Search – findable content is valuable content

• Links – guides to important content

• Authoring – ability to create constantly updatable content

• Tags – categorization of content with simple, one-word descriptions

• Extensions – automation of work/patterns in content

• Signals – RSS (Really Simple Syndication) notifies users of change in content, fast

THIS IS WEB 2.0.

HOW DOESIT WORK?

1. PRODUCT2. PROCESS3. PEOPLE

1. PRODUCT

Brands are now used more than they are preferred.

Functional benefits and relevance now outweigh the intangible and emotional allure of a brand.

— The Brand Bubbleby John Gerzema and Ed Lebar

WEB CONTENT MUST WORK FOR YOU.

WEB CONTENT MUST WORK FOR ME.

BUSINESS OBJECTIVES+ USER GOALS

USEFUL.USABLE.ENJOYABLE.

2. PROCESS

Consider the masthead. Writers, copyeditors, art director and staff, ad sales, production, managing editor, the EIC, the publisher.

Publishing is complex.

— Jeffrey MacIntyre

• Audit

• Analyze

• Strategize

• Categorize

• Structure

• Create

• Review

• Approve

• Publish

• Update

• Archive

THIS IS CONTENT.

This picture is incomplete:

The model outlined here does not

account for secondary

considerations (such as those

arising during technical or content

development) that may influence

decisions during user experience

development.

NON-CONTENT OWNER

COPYWRITER

... pause …

... pause …

PLAN.CREATE.PUBLISH.GOVERN.

PLAN.CREATE.PUBLISH.GOVERN.

3. PEOPLE

Brand/Marketing

UX/Web Strategy

CMS/ IT

The Business

???

Brand/Marketing

UX/Web Strategy

CMS/ IT

The Business

CONTENTSTRATEGY

Server Administrator

Technical Assistant

Programmer

Developer

Designer

Production Assistant

User Experience Architect

Information Architect

Usability Specialist

SEO Specialist

Web Editor

Web Writer

Content Strategist

Business Analyst

Producer

Project Manager

Web Analyst

Account Manager

New Business Developer

Content StrategistContent

Strategist

SKILLSET.ORG

PARADIGM SHIFT

THE WORLD OF MARKETING

THIS IS ALL (web) CONTENT.

TREAT YOUR CONTENT LIKE A CRITICAL BUSINESS ASSET.

Thanks.E kristina@braintraffic.com

W braintraffic.com/blog

T @halvorson

Resources• CONTENT STRATEGY

• http://alistapart.com/issues/274

• http://tr.im/lovingercs

• http://www.cmsreview.com/Stages/

• http://tr.im/CSslideshare

• http://tr.im/PublishersandCS

• WRITING FOR THE WEB• http://tr.im/redish

• ALSO MENTIONED• http://thebrandbubble.com