Three Keys to
Successful
Content Inventories
and Audits
Rich Schwerin
Bay Area Content Marketing Meetup
March 19, 2019
Rich Schwerin photo

Welcome and thanks for the dialog
Agenda
▪ Introductions: Sharing collective knowledge
▪ Eight reasons to inventory & audit content
▪ Step 1: Inventory—What do you have?
▪ Step 2: Audit—How is it performing?
▪ Step 3: Execute—Does it spark joy?
▪ Buyer’s journey meets content lifecycle
▪ Content inventory & audit resources
Rich Schwerin
• Autodesk content strategy
• VMware digital strategy
• Oracle social media
marketing, brand &
creative, video, product
marketing, publishing,
events, live broadcasting
• Two dot-bomb startups
• Ziff-Davis tech magazines
editorial (back in the day)
Husband, dad, mountain biker,
Grinduro/Dirt Fondo racer,
@Greencognito

Creative Commons, Pinwheel Galaxy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:M101_hires_STScI-PRC2006-10a.jpg
Who are you?
Why are you here?

Eight reasons to inventory & audit your content
1. SWOT: Understand your content strengths and weaknesses
2. Gain a horizontal view across all channels (transcend silos)
3. Help align goals, guidelines > Identify inconsistent content
4. Improve internal efficiency, effective reuse; mitigate duplication
5. Improve external efficacy, accelerate audience journey
6. Raise content quality, performance; fill content gaps
7. Help create/reinforce a content lifecycle and overall strategy
8. Move from reactive, random acts of content to a purposeful publishing plan that
drives business outcomes through a consistent content experience
Start with Why, Simon Sinek https://startwithwhy.com/

First inventory, then audit
▪ Start with a content inventory
▪ Understand what content you have
▪ Quantitative, comprehensive spreadsheet
▪ Consolidated collection of content data
▪ Assets, types, formats, channels, audiences
▪ Then, based on that inventory, do a content audit
▪ Understand how your content is performing
▪ Qualitative evaluation; analytical assessment
▪ Delivering audience needs/business goals?
▪ Weigh against content KPIs, quality criteria, editorial standards, lifecycle
▪ Scope and cadence? Depends on content volume, velocity, your situation, and SMART goals
▪ Full vs. sample vs. partial (date range, directories, types, formats, channels, audience)
▪ Annual overhauls; quarterly cleanings; situational (anomalies, GTM/new initiatives, new client)
Two different, complementary, sequential, perpetual efforts go hand-in-hand
Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license, Pixabay https://www.pexels.com/photo/pile-of-covered-books-159751/

Step 1: Inventory—What do you have?
▪ Think like a retailer: Take stock of what you’ve got
▪ Collect and consolidate data about your content, usually in
spreadsheets, capturing data you deem critical such as:
▪ Your mileage will vary: Data depends on goals/objectives
▪ Only capture data that offers insights which lead to action
REI.com #OptOutside; Rich Schwerin .xls screenshots

Step 2: Audit—How is it performing?
Effective content addresses audience needs and meets business objectives
▪ Collect and consolidate qualitative performance data
you deem critical such as:
▪ Attention > Engagement > Action
Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license, Pixabay https://www.pexels.com/photo/abstract-bright-close-up-color-268460/
Target
Audience
Engagement /
Consumption
Channels
Journey
Stages
Next
Steps
Content

Step 3: Execute—Does it spark (audience) joy?
Analyze results, assess performance, and assign content grades based on your goals:
▪ Keep (Grade A)
▪ Sparks audience joy, meets business goals
▪ How might we amplify, boost, reuse, syndicate?
▪ Revise (Grades B and C)
▪ Might need a refresh/update/consolidation
▪ What does the “comeback” tour look like?
▪ Delete (Grades D and F)
▪ Remove the ROT (Redundant, Outdated, Trivial) to reduce internal/external costs
▪ “Born on” dating and expiration dates | technical/factual accuracy/currency
▪ Annual amnesty day for content hoarders, curmudgeons, deniers
▪ Deletion compliance issues? Partner with Legal; archive and hide from search?
▪ Extra Credit: Fill the Gaps Identify, prioritize new content (persona, stage, topic, type)
Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, Netflix https://www.netflix.com/title/80209379

Buyer’s journey meets content lifecycle
▪ Content inventories and
audits help inform content
lifecycle from discovery to
deletion
▪ Audience-centric content,
the KPIs to measure content
performance, and content
lifecycle vary by journey
stage
▪ Map your content and its’
lifecycle to your buyer’s
journey
▪ It’s an infinite loop, not a
funnel. Discuss.
PurchaseDrive
Demand
Scale
Success
Awareness
Consideration
Preference
Onboard
Master/Advocate
Renew / Expand

Content inventory and audit resources
▪ How to Conduct a Content Audit | Melissa Harrison, Allee Creative | #CMWorld chat 1.15.19
twitter.com/i/moments/1085239606595985409 twitter.com/MHBossLady
▪ Content Audits and Inventories | CAT | Paula Land, Strategic Content
xmlpress.net/content-strategy/audits-and-inventories/ content-insight.com/resources
twitter.com/content_insight
▪ 33 Amazing Content Audit Tools for Easy Content Analysis | DynoMapper
dynomapper.com/blog/12-content-audits/283-top-content-audit-tools
▪ How to Stop Worrying and Love Content Inventories and Audits | Marcia Riefer Johnston
(Paula Land Q&A)
contentmarketinginstitute.com/2015/12/content-inventories-audits/ twitter.com/MarciaRJohnston/
▪ How to Audit Big Websites | Brain Traffic blog (Kristina Halvorson)
braintraffic.com/blog/how-to-audit-big-websites
▪ URL Profiler | Tool audits links, content, social data
urlprofiler.com/
Thank you!