This is not a content marketing workshop.

About me. Elizabeth McGuane @emcguane on Twitter Director of Content Strategy FleishmanHillard London

My old life.

My new life.

What is this thing called content strategy?

ASSESSING current content for quality, volume, format and appropriateness !COMPARING content against competitors and comparators in the market

ANALYSING current content situation vs. business objectives & audience/user needs !VISION for content in the immediate and longer term

ANALYSING the structure and purpose of current content types for devices & channels !PLANNING for what content needs to get created or reworked

CREATING templates, rules and glossaries for authors to follow, in line with usability and accessibility best practice

CREATING and SUPPORTING content production with briefs, the content itself, and editorial functions

DESIGNING customised editorial workflow and role/responsibility definitions for clients to ensure content quality over time

Audits Strategy Planning & IA Guidelines

Briefing, creating &

editing

Workflow & governance

‘...anything that conveys

meaningful information to

humans is called “content.”

‘but ...[organisations] with hundreds or thousands of pieces of online

content need someone who can stand back and

figure out what all that content should

communicate.’ !

- Erin Kissane

This is your

organisation

Image: Tang Yau Hoong

Communications and marketing, traditionally = what we see above the line

Content involves the entire

organisation

Content exists in how you perform customer

service

Photo: Greg Peverill-Conti

I t comes out of your internal publishing

processes

It comes from your audience

Content’s how you tell the story of your brand.

I t ’ s h o w w e s e e y o u r b r a n d

- a n d i t ’ s t h e m e c h a n i s m s t h a t e x p r e s s y o u r b r a n d .

C o n t e n t s t r a t e g y c o v e r s t h e whole big mess

A n d i t ’ s a l l g e t t i n g m e s s i e r

a l l t h e t i m e

But new channels and formats are only one side

of the mess

Why is this a problem now?

P e o p l e a r e m e s s y

Business problems are people problems.

Photo: Greg Peverill-Conti

Content problems are people problems.

Photo: Greg Peverill-Conti

As brands,we fear

losing control

But really, t h e t y p e o f c o n t r o l

we need to exert i s jus t changing

What you can do.

As a company, choosing & planning effective content

requires you to know your user’s context.

But it’s not just about device

And devices will continue to

diversify – mobile is just the beginning

We all make assumptions

Assumptions about reader context - however well researched - will never

be perfect.

Quit thinking you can just guess what subset of content a “mobile user” wants. You’re going to

guess wrong. !

- Karen McGrane

So how do you start to get insight?

R e m e m b e r t h e s e g u y s ?

W h a t ’s a n a u d i e n c e w i t h o u t

a s t o r y ?

G o o d s t o r i e s a r e h o w y o u g e t t h e m t o l i s t e n -

a n d k e e p l i s t e n i n g . ( A n d t h a t ’s h a r d ) .

“If your idea ends with “and then we drive traffic to it,” you’ve failed.” Whatconsumesme.com

T h a t m e a n s y o u n e e d t o l i s t e n t o

t h e m , t o o

I t ’s h a r d t o l i s t e n w h e n t h e r e ’s s o

m u c h n o i s e .

I n s i g h t = d e c i d i n g what t o l i s t e n t o .

• Set goals

• Learn from your content competitors - not just those in your market

• Adapt your content to the user, don’t expect them to come to you

• Illustrate your integrity with service that matches your content promise

• Be supportive - get to the point when you need to

Rules to guide that insight:

A n d r e m e m b e r, y o u ’ r e n e v e r

c o m p l e t e l y i n c o n t r o l .

All content is inert until it is useful to someone.

Online, the content that works inspires engagement and imagination.

That makes it useful.

HOWEVER.

Understanding all of that also requires you to know

your authors’ context.

W h i c h m e a n s u n d e r s t a n d i n g w h a t g o e s

o n b e h i n d t h e s c e n e s .

W e o f t e n p r o d u c e c o n t e n t w i t h o u t t h i n k i n g a b o u t

t h e s e t h r e e t h i n g s : c o n t e x t

r e u s e & s c a l e

This is why content strategy

is an end-to-end process

We’re all publishers now

- which means our business model has to

change.

If that’s true - who defines the content

strategy?

Every business is different.

Brand Digital Marketing

But it’s a key decision, because content

doesn’t stop.

Audit Plan

Create

Measure

Adapt

First, audit thy content

• The key first step - don’t try to skirt it

• It will debunk the deepest beliefs you have about your web content (or any content you produce)

• Watch out for things like inconsistent tone of voice, and poor content structure

There are tools out there to help

Then create a plan

• People will not just come and tell you what their plans are

• Everyone thinks their content is top priority

• If you don’t have a company-wide editorial calendar or plan, you can’t show them where they fit in the hierarchy of needs

Plan inclusively•Get stakeholders to provide real goals and KPIs for their

requests !

•Give marketing and business teams clear deadlines !

•Set time aside for scoping and prioritising requests !

•Establish clear review and upgrade milestones !

•Factor in activities like asset gathering and regulatory review !

•Look at upcoming events and schedule in new content and distribution mechanisms to align

Before you create, think beyond web

• Your story is not just happening on the web, or on mobile or tablet - where could your assets be going? How much could you be saving?

• This goes two ways as well - get data to inform content planning from in store publications, from call centres, from online forums

And especially: think

beyond campaigns

Measure and analyse

• Get to know Google Analytics - or whatever tool you use

• But remember, it’s not really about the numbers

• It’s the insights they reveal

• And above all, the changes you make as a result

Test and adapt• Do this as lightly as you have to (A/B tests)

or as thoroughly as you can (constant MVTs)

• Use testing during design to define your users - and develop personas, if you like

• Try to set personas for each organisational area so you have something external to measure content against

And l isten• Still using social media just for PR?

(Your audience can tell)

• Use it to talk directly people, to find out where & how they’re talking to each other

• Monitor the conversations you want to lead

What this boils down to

• Figure out what you have

• Plan ahead

• Listen to the public

• Talk to your users

• Analyse their responses

• Write for them, not at them

Let’s get planning.

Three groups. Three tasks.

• Publishing a piece of web content

• Creating a company-wide editorial calendar

• Sourcing or commissioning new images