Content Strategy is Not Content Marketing

Content Strategy is Not Content Marketing

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  Content Strategy IsNot Content Marketing (And why B2B bloggers should know both) Rich Schwerin Digital Content Strategist, VMware San Mateo B2B Blogger Meetup June 8, 2016
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  Says Who? My ContentTour of Duty • Ziff Davis editorial (‘92-’99) • Corporate Computing • PC/Computing • ZDTV, author, freelancer • A few dot-bomb startups (‘99-01) • Founding editor • Marketing communications • Oracle (‘01-’14) • Web editorial • Oracle Publishing • Brand & Creative • Product Marketing • Live video broadcasting • Social content marketing • Digital content strategy • VMware (‘14-present) • Digital Content Strategist Rich Schwerin @Greencognito Linkedin.com/in/RichSchwerin
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  Content: What youraudience is reading, learning, watching, hearing, or experiencing. It’s all the critical information on your website, blog, or any other communication channel. As for Content Strategy and Content Marketing…
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  Content Strategy Maven:Kristina Halvorson
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  Three Things ContentStrategy Does  Defines how you’re going to use content to meet your business goals and satisfy your users’ needs.  Guides decisions about content throughout its lifecycle, from discovery to deletion.  Sets benchmarks against which to measure the success of your content. 1 2 3 "Content strategy guides your plans for the creation, delivery, and governance of content." - Kristina Halvorson, Content Strategy for the Web
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  How Does ContentStrategy Work? How/who makes key decisions? How is change initiated/communicated? Prioritization Organization Formatting Display Processes Tools Team Members Roles & Responsibilities Topics Types Sources Messages Credit: Kristina Halvorson, Content Strategy for the Web
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  Core Elements ofContent Strategy 5 • Audit: Close-up of current content • Analysis: Content goals, audience, competitors • Strategy: Map the content journey by persona, decision points, & source Plan • Workflow: How will content happen • Writing: Content for humans (not copywriting) • Delivery: Start with the content (not tools or channels or SEO) Create • Metrics: Data makes the case for better content • Iterations: Continual analysis drives iterative recommendations • Maintenance: Full lifecycle (not launch & leave) Measure
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  The Content Matrix:Your Secret Weapon  Map the most impactful content types to journey stages, personas, channels  Leverage empirical data + Third-party research/surveys/best practices/frameworks*  Content inventory > audit > identify content gaps per channel (on & off property)  Plan, create, measure performance of new asset(s) Technology Decision- Maker Awareness (Pre-req; education) Consideration (Reqs; eval options) Preference (design; build business case) Purchase (buy; approve and buy) Post-Purchase (implement; deploy, support) Dotcom • Product overview • Features/Benefits • Comparisons • Customer case studies • Analyst reports • Pricing & promotions • Support/docs Support • User groups, forums • User groups, forums • User groups, forums • Optimization tips Blog • Thought leadership • High-level products/solution • Business benefits • Upgrades/new releases Social • Peer-to-peer; related topics • Peer-to-peer; related topics • Peer-to-peer; related topics • Peer-to-peer; related topics • Peer-to-peer; related topics [Generic sample] ChannelsPersona Buyer’s Journey Stages * TechTarget, IDG, SiriusDecisions
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  Content Marketing Maven:Joe Pulizzi
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  Content Marketing Techniques Maximize value & visibility of core content • Drive awareness/demand generation • Increase engagement • Extend reach • Social-ready derivatives drive traffic to core content • Identify core assets • Create derivative assets (often visual) • Serialize, synchronize, syndicate on social & other channels 10 “Content marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience to drive profitable customer action.” - Joe Pulizzi, Content Marketing Institute Kapost content pillar approach
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  Content Marketing: MaximizingMileage 12 Core Asset Webinars, Podcasts eBooks, White Papers, Checklists Slides on SlideShare YouTube Videos (full, cut- downs) Serialized Blog Posts Infographics & Images Not more content. More mileage from existing core content via searchable, snackable, shareable derivatives which are serialized & syndicated via social. Credit: Skyword’s Three S’s of Successful Content
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  Example: Putting ItAll Together Content Strategy: Identify & Fulfill Content Need  Content Matrix: Identified gap (Awareness, Tech Decision Maker, on property)  Plan: Interactive infographic; collaborate with PMM stakeholders  Create: Fund & manage vendor to create interactive infographic  Publish: After iterative edits, accept final deliverable and publish  Measure: Traffic, engagement, bounce, personas, geos, industry Content Marketing: Amplify & Extend Content Reach  Goal: Increase content performance via content marketing  Phase One: Organic social  Two posts/week; 10 weeks; Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Google+  Increased traffic 61%, lowered bounce 40%; doubled time spent; increased next page interaction  Phase Two: Organic + paid social  Create derivatives (e.g. storyboard SlideShare) & amplify via social ads
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  Thanks! And NowYour Next Steps…  SHARE your content ideas  Blog, tweet, publish your content strategy/marketing ideas  FOLLOW the mavens & hashtags  @halvorson @joepulizzi #ContentStrategy #ConfabMN  @CMIcontent #CMworld Twitter chat every Tuesday 9am Pacific  JOIN the meetups  meetup.com/topics/content-strategy/ (357, 98K ww)  meetup.com/topics/content-marketing/ (606, 185K ww)  READ the books  Content Strategy for the Web, Kristina Halvorson  Epic Content and Content Inc, Joe Pulizzi  Everybody Writes, Ann Handley  ATTEND the events  ConfabMN, May, Minneapolis  Content Marketing World, September, Cleveland Rich Schwerin @Greencognito Linkedin.com/in/RichSchwerin