Content Strategy: Why Now?

Content Strategy: Why Now? Content Strategy Seminar 2012 8 February 2012 Rachel Lovinger @rlovinger

RACHEL LOVINGER 2 • Associate Content Strategy Director, Razorfish, New York • Co-editor of scatter/gather, a content strategy blog: http://scattergather.razorfish.com • Author of Nimble: A Razorfish Report on Publishing in the Digital Age (June 2010): http://nimble.razorfish.com (@NimbleRF on Twitter) ©2012 Razorfish. All rights reserved. Photo by Rohanna Mertens

WHERE WE’VE COME FROM

First, a definition WHAT IS CONTENT STRATEGY?

“Content Strategy plans for the creation, delivery, and governance of useful, usable content.” - Kristina Halvorson

CONTENT IS THE REASON PEOPLE GO TO YOUR SITE 8 Photo by zandperl

CONTENT STRATEGY RESPONSIBILITIES 9 • Messaging: What are we trying to say, and to whom? • Sourcing: Where is our content coming from? • Management: How are we going to deliver and maintain it? • Engagement: How do people find and connect with our content? ©2012 Razorfish. All rights reserved.

CONTENT STRATEGY ACTIVITIES 10 • Messaging • Content evaluation • Editorial strategy • Content/Brand alignment • Features & formats recommendations • Sourcing • Gap analysis • Content specifications • Content creation guidelines • Governance plan • Syndication strategy ©2012 Razorfish. All rights reserved.

CONTENT STRATEGY ACTIVITIES 11 • Management • Content Model • Editorial workflow • Metadata & Taxonomy • CMS consulting • Engagement • Platforms/channels recommendations • Search strategy • Social strategy • Mobile strategy ©2012 Razorfish. All rights reserved.

THESE ACTIVITIES ARE INTER-RELATED 12 Messaging Sourcing What are we trying to say, Where is our content and to whom? coming from? Engagement Management How do people find and How are we going to deliver connect with our content? and maintain it? ©2012 Razorfish. All rights reserved.

CONTENT STRATEGY IS INTERDISCIPLINARY 13 marketers writers designers editors Messaging Sourcing What are we trying to say, Where is our content and to whom? coming from? strategy & planning Engagement Management How do people find and How are we going to deliver connect with our content? and maintain it? developers search information social media architects ©2012 Razorfish. All rights reserved.

A bit of history HOW DID WE GET HERE?

2000: CHECKLIST FROM INC. 16

2001: JAKOB NIELSEN – “WRITING FOR THE WEB” 17

2002: PAUL FORD OFFERS HIS SERVICES 18

2003: ANN ROCKLEY – MANAGING ENTERPRISE CONTENT 19

2004: CS FOR EMAIL NEWSLETTERS 20

2005: AMY GAHRAN STARTS A SERIES 21

2006: RSS IS THE “HOT NEW THING” 22

2007: RACHEL LOVINGER – BOXES & ARROWS 23

2008: KRISTINA HALVORSON – A LIST APART 24

MENTIONS ON THE WEB: 2000-2011 27 Results for "Content Strategy" SOMETHING HAPPENED HERE Google Results 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Year ©2012 Razorfish. All rights reserved.

CONTENT STRATEGY CONSORTIUM: 19 MARCH 2009 28 At the IA Summit, organized by: Kristina Halvorson @halvorson and Karen McGrane @karenmcgrane Attended by: Ian Alexander @eatmedia Rachel Lovinger @rlovinger Margot Bloomstein @mbloomstein Jeff MacIntyre @jeffmacintyre Jennifer Bohmbach @evoljennifer Keri Maijala @clamhead Shelly Bowen @shelbow Laura Melcher @lmelcher Lorelei Brown @beezy Elena Melendy @emelendy Christopher Collette @collettico Chris Moritz @chrismoritz R. Stephen Gracey @RSGracey Melissa Rach @melissarach Stephanie Hale @HaleStephanie Erin Scime @erinscime Margret Hanley @magshanley Gene Smith @gsmith Colleen Jones @leenjones Samantha Starmer @samanthastarmer ©2012 Razorfish. All rights reserved.

CONTENT STRATEGY FOR THE WEB: 22 AUG 2009 29

THEN: UNPRECEDENTED GROWTH 30 Photo by Jeff Myers

CONTENT STRATEGY COMMUNITY 31

CONTENT STRATEGY CONFERENCES 32 CS Forum 2010: Paris, France 2011: London, England 2012: Cape Town, South Africa CONTENT STRATEGY APPLIED 2011 & 2012: MINNEAPOLIS, MN

ARTICLES & BLOG POSTS 33

OTHER CONTENT STRATEGY BOOKS 34

CONTENTS MAGAZINE 36 http://contentsmagazine.com/

A bit about me HOW DID I GET HERE?

RACHEL LOVINGER 38 • Associate Content Strategy Director, Razorfish, New York • Co-editor of scatter/gather, a content strategy blog: http://scattergather.razorfish.com • Author of Nimble: A Razorfish Report on Publishing in the Digital Age (June 2010): http://nimble.razorfish.com (@NimbleRF on Twitter) ©2012 Razorfish. All rights reserved. Photo by Rohanna Mertens

EDITORS: HOME PAGE 39 Screenshot via Wayback Machine

THE OTHER 10,000+ ARTICLES 40 Screenshot via Wayback Machine

APPROACHES TO WEB CONTENT STRATEGY 43 Richard Ingram made this diagram to show how people bring different skills, backgrounds, and experiences to their work in Content Strategy, and this impacts the way they practice, and the aspects they focus on. Diagram by Richard Ingram

HOW DID WE ALL GET HERE? 44 The following year, Ingram surveyed content strategists about their educational and professional backgrounds. He mapped the answers from 265 respondents to get an even more detailed view of the paths we took to get to Content Strategy. Diagram by Richard Ingram

It’s not necessary to have “Content Strategist” in your title in order to practice content strategy.

WHY CONTENT STRATEGY MATTERS

Content Grooming CLEARING OUT THE R.O.T.

CONTENT ANALYSIS & CREATION GUIDELINES 49 • Evaluate content quality • Remove or revise content, as needed • Prevent ROT in new content • Relevant • On-brand • Periodic review ©2012 Razorfish. All rights reserved.

Content Creation “EVERYONE’S A PUBLISHER”

EDITORIAL STRATEGIES 52 • Define messaging goals “Encourage exploration and build brand loyalty. Foster discussion among existing and prospective customers.” • Optimize the organization and operational practices workflow diagram by Richard Ingram, via Intentional Design

Content Business Models “PRINT IS DEAD”

PRINT IS AT RISK 54 Photo by inky

Content Delivery DISRUPTIVE PERSONAL TECH

Multiplatform publishing follows the principle: Produce once, use multiple times.

OPTIMIZE: CONTENT CREATION & EXPERIENCE 64 Photo by cvander

Content Communications THE UBIQUITOUS CONVERSATION

WHERE WE’RE HEADED

FUTURE TRENDS & NEEDS

INCREASED CONTENT STRATEGY COLLABORATION 71 Marketing Social • Integrated Processes • Commercial Tools

STRUCTURED DATA 72 • Markup that provides more meaning and context • Ad hoc and standard methods of adding structure <b>Madonna</b> Indicates that the text within the tags should be bold. <H1>Madonna</H1> Indicates that the text within the tags is a headline. <foaf:name>Madonna</foaf:name> Indicates that the text within the tags is a name, as defined in the “Friend of a Friend” vocabulary. <amgID=64565>Madonna</amgID> Indicates that the text within the tags refers to the recording artist Madonna, as described on AllMusic. ©2012 Razorfish. All rights reserved.

SEMANTIC TECHNOLOGY 74 Connect your content and data to other rich data sources <IMDbID=tt1193138>Up in the Air</IMDbID> ©2012 Razorfish. All rights reserved. Copyright ©2010 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

CONCLUSION

CONTENT STRATEGY: WHY NOW? 78 • Content Strategy has arrived • It will continue to develop and grow • We were doing Content Strategy without even knowing it • Now we’re getting disciplined • It’s work that matters • Almost everything we do online involves content • We’re almost always online Content strategy is going to help us make sense of this digital world ©2012 Razorfish. All rights reserved.

Thanks! RACHEL LOVINGER @rlovinger

Content Strategy: Why Now?

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Content Strategy: Why Now?

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