Augmenting your Technical Documentation with User-Generated Content

Augmenting Your Documentation With User-Generated Content By Scott Abel, The Content Wrangler

What Is User-Generated Content? Blog Posts, Comments, Ratings, Reviews, Videos, Podcasts, Proﬁle Info, And More!

Blogs Allow Anyone To Become A Publisher And Develop Audience Shifts Balance Of Power From Traditional Publishers To Individual Voices

Consumers Of Blog Content Can Participate In The Conversation The Rules Of The Game Have Changed: Engaging Content Consumers Is Key

You May Be Many Things: In Control Is Not One Of Them Radical Changes In Enabling Technologies Has Shifted The Balance Of Power

Technology Has Made It Possible For All Users To Participate Prior To Web 2.0 Technologies, The Cost Of Participation Was Too High For Consumers

Shamless Self Promotion Alert! http://thecontentwrangler.ning.com

Creating Communities Used To Be The Job Of Associations Cost Was Prohibitive. No Longer Do We Need Ofﬁces, Staff, Phone, Postage...

In As Little As 7 Minutes You Can Set Up A Global Network Software-As-A-Service Offerings Provide Drag-And-Drop Interfaces. Set-Up Is A Snap!

Build It And They Will Come Is Seldom A Successful Strategy It’s All About The Audience: Either You Have One, Or You Don’t

Social Networks Allow Us To Join Groups Of People Like Us Birds Of A Feather Flock Together Online - Networks Provide Missing Human Element

Personal Preferences Prevent Us From Seeing The Possibilities Forcing An Organizational Structure On Others Is Contrary To The World We Live In

Our Approach Is Incongruent With Changing User Expectations We Can No Longer Rely On Principles Designed For Use In A World Limited By The Laws Of Physics

Not Everything Has Its Place ... Everything Has Its Places We’ve Mistakenly Continued To Use Physical Models To Develop Digital Solutions

Pieces Of Digital Content Can Exist In Multiple Places Dump Content Into A Digital Pile And Let The Computer Handle Placing It Where It Needs To Go

Dynamic Personalized Content Ensures More Relevant Experiences Content Component Management, XML, Structured Content Make It Possible, Affordable

Rich Metadata Makes It Possible To Associate Content With People Social Networking Technologies Can Match People With Content Of Interest In New And Exciting Ways

Lesson 1: There’s No One Best Way To Organize Information What Consumers Want And What We Give Them Are Two, Often Totally Different Things

Apple Changed The Rules And Took 70% Of The Market Old School Business Models And Wishful Thinking Opened The Door For Competition

User-Generated Ratings Are Part Of Everyday Life For Consumers 8 of 10 Online Transactions Are Directly Inﬂuenced By User-Generated Ratings

iTunes Is Also Home To One Of The Largest Podcast Networks Anyone Can Upload Podcasts And Start Their Own Podcast Channel

Lesson 2: Users Don’t Care Where They Get Help From They Just Want To Find The Answer To Their Problem When They Encounter It

HEY, CONTENT WRANGLER: TRY ALT F8+SHIFT+ESC. THEN, CLICK YOUR HEELS THREE TIMES :) IF YOU’RE LUCKY.... THANKS POWERUSER101. IT WORKED AND I DIDN’T EVEN HAVE MY RUBY SLIPPERS ON. Learning From PowerUser101 And The 4:30 AM Flight While Users Helping Users Can Be Risky, It Can Also Extend Your Customer Service

Product Reviews Are Often Described As “More Authentic” Providing Users With Different Views Of The Information Provides Relevant

62% Of Consumers Say They Read User-Generated Reviews Reviews Help Consumers Conﬁrm Purchase Decisions ... Or Change Them

Lesson 3: Users Are Not A Homogeneous Group Of Clones We Know This Is True. So, Why Do We Continue To Pretend Otherwise?

Community Members Need To Be Able To Form Targeted Groups Give Them Control: Unless You Have Psychic Powers, You’ll Fail Miserably, Anyway

Lesson 4: Users Are Talking About You Right Now! Ignoring These Conversations Is Stupid: They Provide Valuable Information and Insight

If You Pay Attention, You Can Learn A Lot About Your Users Listening Can Help You Better Serve Them, Increase Satisfaction, And Make New Sales

Forums Are Web Applications That Support User Interaction Peer-To-Peer Interaction Is Valuable Source Of Rich Information About User Needs

Forums Provide Additional Access Points For Customers Discussions, Help, “How To” And Training Provided By Customers For Customers

Forums Provide A Way For Users To Interact, Share, And Learn The Long Tail: The Fact That They Are On The Web Makes Them Even More Valuable

Forums Provide A Voice For Users Who Hope You’re Listening When You’re Not, You’re Leaving The Door Open For The Competition

Lesson 5: Consumers Love Video And Increasingly Expect It We All Know That Some Tasks Are Simply Easier To Understand When We Watch Them

Users Don’t Want To Read Your Manual Nor Download Your PDF What They Want Is A Quick And Easy Solution To Challenges That Impede Them

While You Were Writing, User Expectations Changed You Can Pretend They Didn’t, But, They Did. What Are You Going To Do About It?

A Few Suggestions For Those Interested In Leveraging UGC Join The Content Wrangler Community, Explore YouTube, SlideShare.net, scribd.com

Carefully Develop Your Professional Online Proﬁle Don’t Litter The Information Superhighway With Useless Information: Make It Count!

Learn To Use “Embedd” Code And Repurpose Content Find Places To Upload Your Content And Share It With Others

<---- REQUIRED READING “Document Engineering” By Bob Glushko And Tim McGrath The Next Step For Technical Communicators Who Don’t Want To Be Left Behind

<---- REQUIRED READING “Here Comes Everybody” By Clay Shirky Discover The Power Of Organizing Without Organizations

<---- REQUIRED READING “Everything Is Miscellaneous” By Dave Weinberger Learn to Understand The Power Of The New Digital Order

<---- REQUIRED READING “Getting To First Base” By Darren Barefoot And Julie Szabo A Social Media Marketing Playbook For Those New To The Social Networking Arena

PHONE:+1 317.466.1840 EMAIL: SCOTTABEL@MAC.COM TWITTER: WWW.TWITTER.COM/SCOTTABEL BLOG: WWW.THECONTENTWRANGLER.COM LINKED IN: WWW.LINKEDIN.COM/IN/SCOTTABEL COMMUNITY: HTTP://THECONTENTWRANGLER.NING.COM Questions? Feel Free To Email, Call, Comment Or Tweet Me With Questions In The Future

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Augmenting your Technical Documentation with User-Generated Content

by Scott Abel on Jun 02, 2008

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Augmenting your Technical Documentation with User-Generated Content — Presentation Transcript