This document outlines John Eckman's background and expertise in digital strategy. It discusses key aspects of developing an effective digital strategy, including defining goals and audiences, choosing appropriate digital channels, and managing limited resources. It also covers content strategy, responsive design, mobile-first approaches, analytics, and key takeaways such as focusing efforts and continuously optimizing. Upcoming events that John is involved in organizing are also listed.

1. 1
Digital Strategy
John Eckman @jeckman http://www.openparenthesis.org/

2. Who am I?
• Digital Strategist at ISITE Design
• Mythbuster at CMS Myth
• Blogger (openparenthesis.org, goatles.org)
• Founding Organizer, WordCamp Boston
• Open Source Developer: WordPress, Drupal
• Webmaster for the Boston Vegan Association
• Volunteer at Design 4 Drupal, BarCamp Boston,
PodCamp Boston, etc.

3. 2
What is Digital
Strategy?
“Helping organizations effectively
leverage digital technology &
apply (limited) resources to
achieve their mission”

4. Strategy
• Goals
• Audiences
• Digital Channels
• Resources

5. http://icanhascheezburger.com/2008/01/02/funny-pictures-goals-i-haz-dem/
Awareness
• Of an issue?
• Of your
organization?
Action
• Contribute
• Volunteer
• Share
Service
• Direct
• Indirect

6. General Public
• Segments
• Local / National
Volunteers / Donors
• Current
• Prospective
Press
• Professional
• Local / National
Audiences
Note: You probably have different goals
with different audiences
http://failblog.org/2011/08/03/epic-fail-
photos-classic-knowing-your-audience-fail/

7. Digital Channels
• Website
• Social
• Facebook
• Twitter
• ?
• Mobile
• Email
How many can you sustain?
Which help you meet goals?
http://www.isitedesign.com/insight-blog/12_03/six-stages-pinterest

8. (Limited) Resources
Money
• Where will it be most effective to buy?
• What can we simply not do ourselves?
Time / People
Knowledge

9. Content Strategy
• Content Inventory
• Recency
• Frequency
• Clarity
• Potential for Re-use
• Message Hierarchy
• Core messages
• Tone / Voice
• Creation / Curation
• Editorial Calendar

10. Responsive Design
“an emergent discipline called
‘responsive architecture’ has begun
asking how physical spaces
can respond to the presence of people
passing through them. . . . rather than
creating immutable, unchanging spaces
that define a particular experience,
they suggest inhabitant and structure
can—and should—mutually influence
each other”
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/responsive-web-design/

11. Mobile First
1. Mobile is Exploding
2. Mobile Forces Focus
3. Mobile Extends
Capabilities

12. Analytics
• How will you
know if you are
successful?
• What data can be
easily gathered
which will show
trends over
time?
Many organizations spend more time collected data than
turning it into insight – don’t gather what you don’t use!
http://rosskimbarovsky.com/2010/03/not-
everything-that-can-be-counted-counts/

13. Take-Aways
1. Your website is not a project
2. Focus is better than breadth
3. Build only what you can sustain
4. “Keep Everything” is not a content
strategy
5. Optimize continuously
6. Crawl -> Walk -> Run -> Fly

14. WordCamp Boston
July 13, 14, 15th
Boston University
boston.wordcamp.org
D4D Boston
MIT Stata
Site TBA
June 30-July 1

15. Questions & Answers
John Eckman
@jeckman
http://www.openparenthesis.org/