Emerging a Content Strategy from User Research
by Scott\ Bryant
- 6,779 views
Presented at UX Australia 2010. ...
Presented at UX Australia 2010.
http://www.uxaustralia.com.au/conference-2010/
Emerging a Content Strategy from User Research
http://www.uxaustralia.com.au/conference-2010/emerging-a-content-strategy-from-user-research
For a long time we have been repeating the mantra “Content is King” but how much of our UX work actually has impact on content?
User research is excellent at identifying user needs and information seeking, sharing and consumption behaviour however clients, stakeholders and development teams (and even UX professionals) tend to concentrate on testing and recommending solutions to design, navigation, interaction, and technology problems. Even after user research has discovered content “opportunities” what is the transition or deliverable that needs to occur for the research to activate a content strategy. How many of us actually test “content prototypes” with users or have sophisticated content measurement tools? How influential can we be with our clients “the content experts”?
In this presentation Scott Bryant of News Digital Media (NDM) will explain how the NDM USiT team are trying to understand and test content consumption. He’ll share some insights gained from interviewing the people “who make content” happen in both news and product focused contexts and the practicalities they face when considering content strategy and using user research inputs. He’ll also discuss approaches to being influential with the content experts and ask you to share some of your content strategy tips.
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Chris Schmechel
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So first a little disclaimer… I’m not a “Content Strategy expert…but I’m a working as a Senior Experience Architect for News Digital Media and we are predominately a company in the business of content.
So in this presentation I’m not going to really cover the nuts and bolts and detail of “developing a content strategy” (there’s lots of presentations, articles online and books that can help you do that). This talk is more about that shift toward a strategy in the context of my experience “with user experience design”).
So a little background on what got me thinking about Emerging a Content strategy from user research...
But we tend to focus a lot of our efforts at the user end of the spectrum.
I however like what one of my colleague’s Melissa Cooper said about what we do...
But we tend to focus a lot of our efforts at the user end of the spectrum.
I however like what one of my colleague’s Melissa Cooper said about what we do...
But we tend to focus a lot of our efforts at the user end of the spectrum.
I however like what one of my colleague’s Melissa Cooper said about what we do...
So this project involved over 10 in-depth interviews, diary studies, two sets of focus groups and a large survey at the end to validate what was coming out of the qualitative research. Along the way we talked to some of people from News Limited’s Intelligence area and they also ran some attitudinal segmentation for us to add to the mix. It was really interesting, and lots of data was collected. In the end Patrick developed what he cleverly called a “Needs vs. Attitudinal Matrix Audience SegmentationTM.
So this project involved over 10 in-depth interviews, diary studies, two sets of focus groups and a large survey at the end to validate what was coming out of the qualitative research. Along the way we talked to some of people from News Limited’s Intelligence area and they also ran some attitudinal segmentation for us to add to the mix. It was really interesting, and lots of data was collected. In the end Patrick developed what he cleverly called a “Needs vs. Attitudinal Matrix Audience SegmentationTM.
So this project involved over 10 in-depth interviews, diary studies, two sets of focus groups and a large survey at the end to validate what was coming out of the qualitative research. Along the way we talked to some of people from News Limited’s Intelligence area and they also ran some attitudinal segmentation for us to add to the mix. It was really interesting, and lots of data was collected. In the end Patrick developed what he cleverly called a “Needs vs. Attitudinal Matrix Audience SegmentationTM.
So this project involved over 10 in-depth interviews, diary studies, two sets of focus groups and a large survey at the end to validate what was coming out of the qualitative research. Along the way we talked to some of people from News Limited’s Intelligence area and they also ran some attitudinal segmentation for us to add to the mix. It was really interesting, and lots of data was collected. In the end Patrick developed what he cleverly called a “Needs vs. Attitudinal Matrix Audience SegmentationTM.
So this project involved over 10 in-depth interviews, diary studies, two sets of focus groups and a large survey at the end to validate what was coming out of the qualitative research. Along the way we talked to some of people from News Limited’s Intelligence area and they also ran some attitudinal segmentation for us to add to the mix. It was really interesting, and lots of data was collected. In the end Patrick developed what he cleverly called a “Needs vs. Attitudinal Matrix Audience SegmentationTM.
So this project involved over 10 in-depth interviews, diary studies, two sets of focus groups and a large survey at the end to validate what was coming out of the qualitative research. Along the way we talked to some of people from News Limited’s Intelligence area and they also ran some attitudinal segmentation for us to add to the mix. It was really interesting, and lots of data was collected. In the end Patrick developed what he cleverly called a “Needs vs. Attitudinal Matrix Audience SegmentationTM.
So this project involved over 10 in-depth interviews, diary studies, two sets of focus groups and a large survey at the end to validate what was coming out of the qualitative research. Along the way we talked to some of people from News Limited’s Intelligence area and they also ran some attitudinal segmentation for us to add to the mix. It was really interesting, and lots of data was collected. In the end Patrick developed what he cleverly called a “Needs vs. Attitudinal Matrix Audience SegmentationTM.
So this project involved over 10 in-depth interviews, diary studies, two sets of focus groups and a large survey at the end to validate what was coming out of the qualitative research. Along the way we talked to some of people from News Limited’s Intelligence area and they also ran some attitudinal segmentation for us to add to the mix. It was really interesting, and lots of data was collected. In the end Patrick developed what he cleverly called a “Needs vs. Attitudinal Matrix Audience SegmentationTM.
So this project involved over 10 in-depth interviews, diary studies, two sets of focus groups and a large survey at the end to validate what was coming out of the qualitative research. Along the way we talked to some of people from News Limited’s Intelligence area and they also ran some attitudinal segmentation for us to add to the mix. It was really interesting, and lots of data was collected. In the end Patrick developed what he cleverly called a “Needs vs. Attitudinal Matrix Audience SegmentationTM.
A workshop was run with stakeholders to brainstorm what this model might mean for the business going forward. After that I couldn’t help thinking our handover of findings to the business missed something even though we’d outlined some content opportunities. I wondered how much impact the findings from the user research had on the direction for content of the product?
I became paranoid, was I failing as an EA to keep the findings of the user research alive? Was I not influential enough?
How can the findings from user research really make an impact on content as opposed to design, navigation and labelling (the stuff we are really good at).
(click)
I think the biggest realisation I had was that you cannot influence content from user research alone…
That’s not going to emerge the content strategy! I realised I didn’t really know enough about what was in those business and context circles. For example what is the content workflow? What are the current motivations for content creation…I realised you’ve got to talk to the people working with content
around this time also came across this book by Kristina Halvorson…
Anyhow the title itself is kind of radical because for a long time I think we’ve been trying to do “Web Strategy for Content”
Who’s read it?
It’s the type of book that’s really quite easy to read and there’s fundamental stuff in there that you just go…”wow…why aren’t we thinking of that stuff…” It’s also the type of book that gets shared around…I’ve been passing it over my pod to the business analyst I work closely with… and now he’s read it and shares my enthusiasm.. it’s starting to creep further down our row…
anyhow there is revolutionary stuff in this book for a start…be scared people because Kristina says....
Anyhow the title itself is kind of radical because for a long time I think we’ve been trying to do “Web Strategy for Content”
Who’s read it?
It’s the type of book that’s really quite easy to read and there’s fundamental stuff in there that you just go…”wow…why aren’t we thinking of that stuff…” It’s also the type of book that gets shared around…I’ve been passing it over my pod to the business analyst I work closely with… and now he’s read it and shares my enthusiasm.. it’s starting to creep further down our row…
anyhow there is revolutionary stuff in this book for a start…be scared people because Kristina says....
Anyhow the title itself is kind of radical because for a long time I think we’ve been trying to do “Web Strategy for Content”
Who’s read it?
It’s the type of book that’s really quite easy to read and there’s fundamental stuff in there that you just go…”wow…why aren’t we thinking of that stuff…” It’s also the type of book that gets shared around…I’ve been passing it over my pod to the business analyst I work closely with… and now he’s read it and shares my enthusiasm.. it’s starting to creep further down our row…
anyhow there is revolutionary stuff in this book for a start…be scared people because Kristina says....
PUSH “USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN” OFF THE PEDASTOOL” p. 164
and
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4UtOUhm_0LM/ShOMBmWPymI/AAAAAAAAATY/Qu8UfNFlNzA/s1600-h/image_of_Kristina_Halvorson_byWarrenParsons.jpg
And goes on to say…
And collaboration is the answer “
So what she means is…
So all of this really resonated with me…
for years I’ve been Lorem ipsum-ing in place of real Content features into boxes on wireframes
And dilemma-ing on how to really test content in a usability testing session…other than skirt around it testing how people get to it via navigation and labelling
Even when you suggest testing content with teams it makes people nervous…
“it’s too hard”
“theres’ too many voices to consider”
“there’s too many variables”
“what are we trying to achieve with this”
“how can we test every single piece of content”
“it’s too hard”
“theres’ too many voices to consider”
“there’s too many variables”
“what are we trying to achieve with this”
“how can we test every single piece of content”
“it’s too hard”
“theres’ too many voices to consider”
“there’s too many variables”
“what are we trying to achieve with this”
“how can we test every single piece of content”
“it’s too hard”
“theres’ too many voices to consider”
“there’s too many variables”
“what are we trying to achieve with this”
“how can we test every single piece of content”
“it’s too hard”
“theres’ too many voices to consider”
“there’s too many variables”
“what are we trying to achieve with this”
“how can we test every single piece of content”
Something else I came across in relation to all the content strategy hype recently really struck a cord with me also…
http://www.kickerstudio.com/blog/2010/03/content-not-always-king/
Content consumption – Content Creation
For example many of the products we use online fall somewhere on this continuum…
Even in our own company there are varying degrees of where are products fall in NDM on the content continuum…and we are in the Content business = News digital media. Is this “Content strategy stuff” something we should be thinking about more even though we are in the content business.
You could argue though that even with products that are content creation focused, content plays an integral role to interaction. i.e. instructional text, labelling, distribution and sharing strategy.
She’s says in essence it’s a strategy that is carefully considered, a well articulated plan of action,
click
achievable and executable...Content strategy plans for...
(Click for points...)
Creation: (what and why? how will it be structured and found? from where? who’s in charge of it?
click
Delivery: How does it get online? who will Review, edit approve and load it. What are the Phases? User requirements, tools and data to find it by users
click
Governance: What happens once it goes live? plan for adding, updating and archiving? Policies, standards, guidelines and evaluation.
She’s says in essence it’s a strategy that is carefully considered, a well articulated plan of action,
click
achievable and executable...Content strategy plans for...
(Click for points...)
Creation: (what and why? how will it be structured and found? from where? who’s in charge of it?
click
Delivery: How does it get online? who will Review, edit approve and load it. What are the Phases? User requirements, tools and data to find it by users
click
Governance: What happens once it goes live? plan for adding, updating and archiving? Policies, standards, guidelines and evaluation.
She’s says in essence it’s a strategy that is carefully considered, a well articulated plan of action,
click
achievable and executable...Content strategy plans for...
(Click for points...)
Creation: (what and why? how will it be structured and found? from where? who’s in charge of it?
click
Delivery: How does it get online? who will Review, edit approve and load it. What are the Phases? User requirements, tools and data to find it by users
click
Governance: What happens once it goes live? plan for adding, updating and archiving? Policies, standards, guidelines and evaluation.
She’s says in essence it’s a strategy that is carefully considered, a well articulated plan of action,
click
achievable and executable...Content strategy plans for...
(Click for points...)
Creation: (what and why? how will it be structured and found? from where? who’s in charge of it?
click
Delivery: How does it get online? who will Review, edit approve and load it. What are the Phases? User requirements, tools and data to find it by users
click
Governance: What happens once it goes live? plan for adding, updating and archiving? Policies, standards, guidelines and evaluation.
She’s says in essence it’s a strategy that is carefully considered, a well articulated plan of action,
click
achievable and executable...Content strategy plans for...
(Click for points...)
Creation: (what and why? how will it be structured and found? from where? who’s in charge of it?
click
Delivery: How does it get online? who will Review, edit approve and load it. What are the Phases? User requirements, tools and data to find it by users
click
Governance: What happens once it goes live? plan for adding, updating and archiving? Policies, standards, guidelines and evaluation.
She’s says in essence it’s a strategy that is carefully considered, a well articulated plan of action,
click
achievable and executable...Content strategy plans for...
(Click for points...)
Creation: (what and why? how will it be structured and found? from where? who’s in charge of it?
click
Delivery: How does it get online? who will Review, edit approve and load it. What are the Phases? User requirements, tools and data to find it by users
click
Governance: What happens once it goes live? plan for adding, updating and archiving? Policies, standards, guidelines and evaluation.
She’s says in essence it’s a strategy that is carefully considered, a well articulated plan of action,
click
achievable and executable...Content strategy plans for...
(Click for points...)
Creation: (what and why? how will it be structured and found? from where? who’s in charge of it?
click
Delivery: How does it get online? who will Review, edit approve and load it. What are the Phases? User requirements, tools and data to find it by users
click
Governance: What happens once it goes live? plan for adding, updating and archiving? Policies, standards, guidelines and evaluation.
So I did some internal research. I interviewed four people who were in key positions at the coal-face of content, I thought these people would be the closest I would come to content strategy. They were suggested to me by my USiT colleagues, each of us has worked with at least one of them.
My aim was to also interview them from a range of products in the media spectrum. Somewhere on the content continuum…I also now have again lots of material..Tonnes of Content about content, four hours worth that I’ve had to somehow distil down into some relevant snippets for this presentation so the whole thing has been somewhat of a mini content strategy deployment on my part.
One of the things that might be unique to us in comparison to your organisations is we have no lack of resources in terms of people dealing with content.
So here are my four content experts
-What is the context of content for your business
-Measuring content/understanding audience, and
-Influence
So I’ll play some segments on these themes, we’ll stop along the way so I can share a bit of a summary on the takeouts I got out of each section…
-What is the context of content for your business
-Measuring content/understanding audience, and
-Influence
So I’ll play some segments on these themes, we’ll stop along the way so I can share a bit of a summary on the takeouts I got out of each section…
-What is the context of content for your business
-Measuring content/understanding audience, and
-Influence
So I’ll play some segments on these themes, we’ll stop along the way so I can share a bit of a summary on the takeouts I got out of each section…
It’s clear these content experts are very focussed on the “creation” end of content strategy…they don’t really emphasise governance
There’s a clear difference between the more news focussed vs. classifieds' approach to content strategy and user research
They are pre-occupied by telling the story and breaking the news fast.
They don’t really think of content strategy in the same way Halvorson describes they are focussed on editorial.
The market is changing and so they are having to adapt to that.
They value experience of others i.e. user experience but work fairly independently from product teams.
I think things like originality is something UX professionals can help with as well as the market changes that effect editorial value and original ideas
Tip: Adjust your content strategy to the context of where your business may have planning gaps
I’d imagine in government you’d expect their to be heaps of governance but maybe not great expertise in copyrighting or creation?
Engagement time is stop start, doesn’t include dormant time.
Engagement time is stop start, doesn’t include dormant time.
Sensitivity can be the issue, we don’t know why they like it or what about it they like or recommend. Supposedly you can use facebook insights to gain more demographic info about people who have liked or recommended.
copy referrers to search engines
copy and pastes from documents
You can set it up to gather feedback on anything from content to design.
very flexible to set up.
Be wary of highly engaged minority!
OK so just a final clip now on influence...
Treat your content experts as your users, listen to them - understand their context
User research isn’t going to be the major influence
To be influential you need to recommend balancing the three circles of users, content and context. Demonstrate you understand
Collaboration is the key