Loras College 2014 Business Analytics Symposium | Gebhard Rainer: Building a ...
Content and strategy- Information Energy
1. The energy of content:
harnessing its power using strategy
Kate Thomas
Information Energy, 8-9 June 2016, Utrecht
2. Content is the currency of digital
Literally – sites and apps need content
to make money
Figuratively – without content, digital is
a sad, grey place
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9. More than currency, content is
digital’s who, what, why and when
No one would disagree with this.
Everyone knows content is important
But why is it so hard?
Because content is the
energetic lifeforce of digital.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14. Taking this approach creates order,
harmony, satisfaction, a positive
atmosphere where people can
prosper
Get it wrong, and progress and
possibility is hamstrung. The world is
chaotic, inefficient, frustrating and
sad
15. Energy defined:
“Energy can be transformed into
another sort of energy.
Energy has always existed in one form
or another.
It cannot be created and it cannot be
destroyed.”
Stored energy is called
potential energy
Moving energy is called
kinetic energy
16. So think about content in this way:
• Evergreen content is stored energy, energy that sits there fulfilling a quiet role
of a potential <something>
• Or the more eye-catching, moving energy of well written headlines, pull quotes,
compelling images, news items… that creates kinetic energy
17. Energy buzzes around content all the time.
• It can overwhelm people and
organisations
• Cognitive frameworks (plus systems
and processes) aren’t used to
thinking beyond the present and
immediate future
• The (almost) palpable frustrations
where people can’t see a way out of
their fog of confusion
But it’s also the
positive energy that
fizzes when a project
finally gets its legs and
things are coming
together
18. Why content strategy?
What qualifies content
strategists?
Lots of people do content these days:
• (content) marketing
• SEO
• copywriters
• project managers
• account managers
• designers
19. To answer that, let’s step back in time.
Content wasn’t always this energetic or complex
Prior to 2007 and the iPhone, digital existed – for most people – on a desktop or
big laptop
• No apps
• No portability (as we know it now)
• No mobile (at scale)
There were big screens, limited interaction, no (well, not much) transactional content
22. In 2006…
• Publishing to a website =
book/magazine publishing – one
thing was published at one time
• No always-on publishing – people
weren’t connected 24/7
• Content’s energy was contained in a
‘page’
• It was a singular object, controlled
by the publisher
• It wasn’t designed for ease of re-use
(exception here of tech publishing)
23. We controlled the message -
the content.
But not the medium:
In 2006…
• Web content used to be done in good
faith
• Web editors, content managers, editor
- we were the experts
• We understood publishing, how
people read, how the message
needed to be structured for maximum
effect
• IT / tech team owned this
(and often still does)
• then IA / UX took the
spotlight
Then in Feb 2011, a certain
search engine updated
their algorithm.
24.
25. Content strategy =
business strategy
The digital energy genie is out of
the bottle
• We need more than our
good word to justify our
actions
• Content is too expensive
and important to not be
managed properly
26. Content strategy: the framework that delivers energy for digital
Planning
• analysis
• requirements
gathering
• editorial
calendars
Systems
• governance
• content models
• content plans
• translation
frameworks
Resources
• people
• content
• budgets
Technology
• paper
• spreadsheets
• software
• hardware
27. So why content strategy and not:
• (content) marketing
• SEO
• copywriters
• project managers
• account managers
• designers
Because strategy.
Because:
• planning
• systems
• resources
• technology
29. Create a gap analysis, post-team brainstorm
to identify opportunities to leapfrog
competitors, top-performing content (via site
data) and requirements.
Then, we look at the competitive landscape to understand
benchmarks and how we can set them.
We try to understand organizational pain points and readiness and users’ online
behaviour, needs, frustrations etc.
What informs a holistic content strategy?
Begin development phase
Stakeholder interviews
User research
Competitive audit
Content audit
Next, we evaluate current content for quality or begin to
gather the raw material for scripts, articles, video,
and/or copy creation.
Content strategy
Develop a content strategy that makes
recommendations around formats, topics,
sourcing, distribution, delivery
mechanisms, tagging, etc.
Gap analysis
1
2
3
4
5
35. Use content strategy to channel content’s energy
• Content is here to stay
• Content strategies are diversifying
• Content should be discoverable and operate at scale
• Success requires long-term thinking
Good morning
Thank you Wim for inviting me to speak.
And to Paolo and Eva for your talks.
OK… Let’s talk about content and why you need strategy to manage it.
e.g. we have eBay that has shifted millions of pounds out of the retail economy into personal pockets.
But also figuratively…
Buzzfeed - a favourite internet time sink where we can be frivolous and procrastinate
With quizzes and celebrity gossip that means we don’t have to do what we really should be doing…
But not without content.
More seriously, we can&apos;t understand what&apos;s going on in the world, or learn.
More seriously, we can&apos;t understand what&apos;s going on in the world, or learn.
And we can&apos;t get by.
To open a bank account or do online banking
To sign up for a gas or electricity accountTo apply for a visa, organise grocery deliveries, buy an airline ticket…
Everything today is presumed to be happening online. And if it’s happening online, it’s happening with content.
And we can&apos;t get by.
To open a bank account or do online banking
To sign up for a gas or electricity accountTo apply for a visa, organise grocery deliveries, buy an airline ticket…
Everything today is presumed to be happening online. And if it’s happening online, it’s happening with content.
Why is every content project unique? Why do I have a job called content strategist?
Why can’t people work out their own content? Why are they all singularly challenging?
Why is it so rare that a client is on top of their content?
Because content is the energetic life force of digital.
And just like energy, if left uncontrolled, it&apos;s inefficient, expensive, and hamstrings and frustrates people and progress.
Let’s take a look at real energy and see what parallels we can learn for the energy of digital
This is energy out of control and unchecked. A bushfire in Australia – very destructive, very powerful and impossible to contain. It’s an extreme example of uncontrolled energy.
[bushfire image http://www.blacksaturdaybushfires.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Black-Saturday-Bushfire.png]
Less sensationally, energy can often just be wasted.
In an average house, particularly in the UK, unless specific preventative steps are taken, energy seeps out of the ceiling, walls and floor, resulting in increased energy use and higher bills.
So what’s a better way to manage energy - to keep it under control?
[house - http://archinspections.com/nj-home-inspection-helpful-home-owner-information/nj-reduce-home-energy-bills/]
Getting it right first takes planning. Every government has an energy policy.
This is a press release about the UK government’s vision for the UK’s energy system.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-direction-for-uk-energy-policy
Second, it needs systems and resources, infrastructure.
(Solar panels, such as these in Nevada, would be part of an overall energy plan or strategy.)
[solar panels https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_Nevada]
Third, energy needs smart technology. Energy crises loom on the horizon and threaten our wellbeing.
We need to be smart about the tech we use.
So for something to happen when we flick a light switch, we need:
Policy
Resources and infrastructure
Smart technology
With energy - we&apos;re warm, well fed, able to function after the sun’s gone down.
Without it... well.
[energy efficient globes http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/domestic/energy-efficient-lighting]
As content strategists, if we recognize content as energy,
it gives us a framework we can use to guide clients
out of their digital confusion.
There is sometimes the (almost) tangible energy in the meeting room of frustration and impotence when discussing a client’s content problems and it feels like there’s no way out. Problems seem insurmountable, the content can’t be tamed. This energy feels so real it’s as if you can almost reach out and grab it.
On the right, more positively, there’s also the energy that buzzes when things go right.
How are we going to make the most of this energy?
Why, with content strategy of course!
Why content strategy... let&apos;s step back in time.
Mobiles did exist - but we used them to make calls.
Thanks to the Web Archive, we can see exactly how the Internet looked 10 years ago.
Blocks, squares, no fluidity to the interface or experience. no swiping.
John Lewis’s site is a print brochure transformed onto the web - there’s no immediately obvious way to buy from the website.
On second glance however, there is - but it’s a bit subtle. The top right nav has Your orders and Checkout. Web design circa 2006 isn’t about making it easy to transact; people had to click through several pages first. Amazon’s one-click purchase feels a long way from this page.
And Direct.gov, the precursor to Gov.uk is all about the links.
This is on its way to being user centred; the language and labels largely reflect people and their needs, not government departments.
But the content hierarchy is flat - all information is equally important
Our judgement, expertise gave us the authority we needed.
Many of the web editors from 2006 are the content strategists of today
The days of low quality content - content that helped SEO, but not the user - were over.
[source: http://thekingmaker.me/google-algorithm-change-timeline/]
Content is being treated as the star it always was.
Happily, over the past few years publishing hurdles have tumbled, boundaries between tech and ux and content are dissolving and suddenly content, at last, is being treated as the star it always was.
[Hollywood walk of fame image http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Hollywood_Walk_of_Fame]
And like any energy, to do its job it needs planning, systems, resources, technology
Competition is tight - we have other disciplines nipping at our heels. These all have a vested interest in content
Why content strategy?
Because we work on the entire content lifecycle by designing the systems that help harness the energy of content.
And we do that via deliverables and artifacts. Let’s take a closer look at these now.
A content strategy – normally a PPT presentation. The culmination of research, insight, knowledge that tells us:
The new vision
Recommendations for current content
How to achieve a new structured approach that will work today
What standards and practices are needed to deliver content
First, you start with interviews and user research - what is the problem you&apos;re trying to solve
Next - competitor review. Who&apos;s doing this well? Or badly? Doing this helps make a stronger case
Third - what content exists? Not just their website, but the whole digital ecosystem
Fourth - gap analysis. What&apos;s missing. By this point, you can start to spot the holes
Last but not least - the actual strategy, where you bring these four things together, tie them with your expertise and start making recommendations
This is an example of a plan to track page-level content changes during a site overhaul.
The mechanism to make page-level decisions about what has to happen to each piece of content.
Columns J to O indicate intersection with related projects. Columns P to V indicate where a page is part of a user journey.
Column AA is a link to the related content brief for that page. In this project, briefs were managed using JIRA, the issue and project tracking tool.
On the left, a calendar showing activity for one quarter in five specific areas:
Information architecture changes
Design and component issues/updates
Content hygiene e.g. broken links
SEO
Content creation
On the right, the editorial calendar for CMS Wire for Jan-Aug 2016 showing the themes they’ll cover each month.
And a copy template, reflecting structured content fields that will be mapped to the templates in the CMS.
The cover sheet links through to related and supporting content.
These deliverables - and others - are used at different points in a content strategy process/project. To maximise effectiveness, they need to relate and link e.g. by using the same field names, file naming convention etc
Two resources I know of.
Both full of helpful advice and practical tools
