Predicate | When Content Management Needs a Content Strategy

When Content Management Needs a Content Strategy Jeﬀrey MacIntyre Gilbane 2009 Predicate, LLC Boston, MA

Introductions I’m an independent content strategist in NYC. My practice focuses on: ‣ Digital product strategy; ‣ Media and entertainment clientele; and ‣ Contributing to the CS body of knowledge.

Today’s Objectives ‣ Relevance. What does a rising ﬁeld of practice in web design mean to the content management community? (A lot.) ‣ Applicability. How can you get to work on a content strategy for your own organization or clients?

The Rise of CONTENT STRATEGY

The Story So Far ... In web design, 2009 is the breakout year for content strategy.

No. Really.

“Design without content is decoration.” Jeﬀrey Zeldman

Credit: “Redesign Must Die” , louisrosenfeld.com Louis Rosenfeld: Kill Redesign ‣ “Every large website is a complex adaptive system.” ‣ “A platform that’s supple and ﬂexible, lends itself to tuning, and supports multiple levels of engagement.”

The Rationale for CONTENT STRATEGY

Remember the Good Old Days?

Or, shovelware.

“Tragedy = comedy + time” Woody Allen

How the Content Strategist Still Sees (a Lot of) the Web.

Why? Part I A generation into the web, we still don’t do content right. It’s our open secret. And it shows. Credit: Blogger.com circa 1999

Why? Part II Old problems. No ownership or expertise. CMS. Archive. Postlaunch erosion. Lack of standards. New problems. Deeper and wider inventories. Richer oﬀerings. Revenue models. SEO. Social. Multichannel. Partners. UGC. Technologies galore.

Introducing Content Strategy ‣ What? Product development for content. ‣ How? CSes, like product developers, sit between “product” and “plumbing”.

The INTERSECTION of Content Management + Content Strategy

“[Y]ou need a product manager.” ‣ “I am interested in the forest and the trees of large Web sites, not solely strategic and not solely in the weeds.” David Hobbs, hobbsontech.com

Content Management Methodologies ‣ Various models--from Boiko to Byrne, Rockley to AIIM--strive for exhaustiveness. ‣ CMS Review’s 7 Stage Lifecycle calls them to account.

CM Methodologies: CMS Review Credit: CMS Review 7 Stage Lifecycle

And Yet... “Content”

“Content Needs a New Home” Credit: Kristina Halvorson

The CONTENT STRATEGY Body of Knowledge

Getting Oriented: CS is Multidisciplinary Credit: Richard Ingram At minimum, it’s adjacent to interaction design, development, copywriting, information architecture, business analysis and content management.

Getting Oriented: CS is a Lifecycle “Content Strategy plans for the creation, publication, and governance of useful, usable content.” --Kristina Halvorson “If information architecture is the spatial design of information, I see content strategy as the temporal side of that same coin.” --Louis Rosenfeld

Old Testament ‣ The web is a publishing medium. ‣ Content is integral (to experience). ‣ Content producers = de facto publishers. ‣ To users, the web is awash in content. Site owners feel the ﬂoodwaters, too. So, sink or swim. Filter or be ﬂooded.

New Testament ‣ Why? Because publishing is hard. Credit: Jessica Hagy Consider the masthead. ‣ Curation is king. The ﬁlter on the ﬁrehose as an editorial function.

“The Day 2 Problem” Postlaunch is a project phase. Nothing shines a light on the good faith agreement between client and consultant than thoughtful aftercare. Editorial strategy is about caring for content after launch day. Credit: Flickr Commons

Our Methodology 1. Audit 2. Plan 3. Build 4. Grow product content editorial content audit strategy speciﬁcation calendar content migration plan copy deck style guide inventory content gap analysis development

Problem Solving with Content Strategy

Process and workﬂow design ! !

Standardized content oﬀerings !

Template mapping Production plans

Content schematic

! Decision tree

Style guide

Editorial calendar

Management tools

Product Strategy Sourcing, licensing, perishability, inventory banking, archiving, linking, multimedia guidelines

A community of intellectual property...

The Payoﬀ of Content Strategy

What’s in it for CM? Content strategy is meaningful when... ‣ The potential of your deliverables is marred by poor execution, inconsistency & inaction ‣ New tools require process & org. change ‣ Measurement matters ‣ You need the big picture ‣ Governance & standards are incomplete ‣ It’s time to tune, not redesign

DIY Content Strategy Ask the tough questions. When you care about a client’s content, you are doing content strategy. Credit: Flickr Commons “[A] CMS without a content strategy leads to shovelware or worse.” Jonathan Kahn, lucidplot.com

Where It Will Take You Instilling a new postlaunch pride: ‣ bolder measures of success ‣ enduring results for your clientele; lasting inﬂuence for your vision ‣ vanguard case studies

Content Strategy FYI ‣ CS, the Knol ‣ CS, the Google Group ‣ #contentstrategy on Twitter ‣ I’m @jeﬀmacintyre and @PredicateLLC ‣ Content Strategy for the Web, Kristina Halvorson (New Riders, 2009)

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Predicate | When Content Management Needs a Content Strategy

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