CONTENT WANTS TO BE FREE

(FROM PROJECTS)

@RASMUSSKJOLDAN | J.BOYE 2015

Rasmus Skjoldan

Lead content strategist of Magnolia

Founded the content strategy agency, Cope

Former brand manager of TYPO3 and UX lead of the open source Neos CMS

@rasmusskjoldan

UCD » CMS » CS

THE PLOT1. THE PROBLEM SPACE

2. COFFEE

3. TWO PRAGMATIC APPROACHES

THE PROBLEM SPACE

PROJECTS ARE GREAT

PROJECTS GIVE US…

BOXED DELIVERIES

DEADLINES

MEASSURABILITY

SENSE OF URGENCY

THE PROBLEM WITH PROJECTS

CONTENT HAS A LOVE-HATE

RELATIONSHIP WITH PROJECTS

CONTENT GETS TRAPPED IN…

SILOS

DEPARTMENTS

DESIGNS

PUBLICATION SYSTEMS

PROJECTS

THE CHANNEL-TAILORED CONTENT METHOD

OUTDATED CONTENT IS KILLING US

MORE CHANNELS

MEANS

MORE STORIES ABOUT CATASTROPHIC, OUT-OF-DATE CONTENT

THE CONTENT HUB METHOD

THE FRIDGE NEEDS YOUR

CONTENT

CONTENT HUBS ARE GREAT. BUT…

TOO GENERIC CONTENT & UX

BORES USERS TO DEATH

ZZZZZ +

CONTEXTUAL-WTF?

“SHOULD WE MOVE ALL OUR CONTENT TO A CONTENT HUB—OR SHOULD WE LET CONTENT

STAY IN EACH CHANNEL?”

CONTENT HUB

ADVANTAGES —ONLY UPDATE ONCE (ISH) —CENTRALIZED CONTROL —POTENTIAL SYNERGY: OMNICHANNEL

DISADVANTAGES —GENERIC CONTENT —POTENTIALLY BAD UX

CHANNEL-TAILORED CONTENT

ADVANTAGES —HYPER RELEVANT UX —WYSIWYG FOR CONTENT PRODUCERS

DISADVANTAGES —VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO UPDATE X CHANNELS —NO SYNERGY ACROSS PROJECTS/CHANNELS

THE (SLIGHLY UTOPIAN

DREAM OF A) CONTENT HUB

CLIENT:

“We should move all of our content to a content hub because it will let us repurpose content across different projects, channels and platforms and because it will let us produce content across internal departments and external content providers. Let’s use CMS’s such as Contentful or Woodwing’s Content Station to create, manage and store structured content and publish it all directly to each and every publication point via content delivery API’s.”

ME:

“Mmyeah, but you risk creating a new monster of a publication system that way, leading to integration nightmares. Or you risk that content will fail to communicate in a relevant manner because it was created in a system too far away from where it touches the user. “

THE (OVERWHELMINGLY

HARD CASE FOR) CHANNEL-TAILORED

CONTENT

CLIENT:

“We should keep allocating ressources for each touchpoint because that is how you produce real quality content. Only by doing so, we make sure content speaks the language of the platform, relates more directly to target groups, is framed correctly to obtain project goals—and also prevents content from becoming too generalized. Let’s try to agree on some overarching themes and goals—and then let the channel, platform or project content folks communicate them in appropriate ways, one channel at a time.”

ME:

“But hey, you won’t be able to keep up at the pace things are moving—when you’re trying to produce content for one channel at a time! What about the time it takes to translate it all, too? And don’t even get me started on personalization.”

THE CONCLUSION:

If anyone says let's do a Create Once Publish Everywhere setup and really tailor the user experiences on each touchpoint,

then start waving flags.

WHICH ONE DID YOU CHOOSE?

DOES IT HAVE TO BE EITHER—OR?

LET’S MESS WITH THE CONTENT

ECO-SYSTEM

“LET ME HAVE ONE COPE

WITH EXTRA TAILORING”

WEAVE TOGETHER ORGANIZATION-WIDE

CONTENT WITH CONTEXTUALLY

RELEVANT CONTENT

FINDING PRAGMATIC WAYS

1. CORE VS CONTEXTUAL — WORKING INSIDE A PROJECT

2. CORE VS PROJECT — WORKING ACROSS PROJECTS

CORE VS CONTEXTUAL

THE CONTENT-MIX OF A PROJECT:

Contextual Content

Core Content

Content as a business asset. Reusable, long-term content. Approved, proof-read, translated. Can never live in a single channel!

Short-lived content. Tailored to a particular touchpoint, to the project’s goal and fit to the tone of voice of the channel and the platform. Lives nicely in the publication system of a channel or a platform. Content is produced by platform experts

Hero

Core content Contextual content

Headline

Image

Payoff

Product description

Product name

Product name

Intro

CTA

Body text

A touchpoint on the web

Core content Contextual content

Product name

Background

*S*I*G*N*H*E*R*E

Standard product description

Sales contract

Standard disclaimerSpecial disclaimer

Special price for you

GETTING DEPARTMENTS TO WORK TOGETHER ON SHARED CONTENT (DESILOING)

+ BRIEFS ABOUT STRATEGY + KEEPS UP WITH CHANNELS + TAILORS THE EXPERIENCE

CORE VS PROJECT

REUSE CONTENT ACROSS PROJECTS

OH NO. WORKSHOP EXERCISES.

CORE VS CONTEXTUAL —WORKING INSIDE A

PROJECT

Look at your own organization: 1. Identify one type of content that would be better off by being handled centrally

2. Identify content that would be better off by being edited and managed in the channel

3. Combine the two in at least 2 different end results (An end result can be an intranet webpage, a product webpage, an app screen, an email, a flyer, an info screen, a fridge etc.)

4. Go through 1-3 alone, then explain to your neighbor, then iterate together

5. Present your neighbor’s end results to all

CORE VS PROJECT — WORKING ACROSS

PROJECTS

Look at your own organization:

1. Identify one project that has produced content that could be used across several projects.

2. Now imagine a new project of yours—about something else—and describe how to reuse content from 1.

3. Go through 1-2 alone, then explain to your neighbor, then iterate together

4. Present your neightbor’s project to all

@RASMUSSKJOLDAN