This document discusses the importance of having a content management strategy rather than just focusing on tools. It argues that strategy should drive decisions around business, technology, content, engagement and optimization goals. A good strategy considers the long-term governance, content creation, social media policies, support needs and metrics for measuring success. Strategy is more important than either tools or execution alone.

1. Don’t be a Tool: Content Management Strategy July 24th, 2011 John Eckman jeckman@isitedesign.com @jeckman http://www.openparenthesis.org/

2. Hemingway’s Typewriter “I’ve said this a lot lately, so I wanted to blog it: No one ever asked Hemingway which pencils he used to write his books. The tools aren’t the thing. The effort and the content and the promotion and the connection and the networking and the building value are the thing.” - Chris Brogan http://www.chrisbrogan.com/hemingways-pencils/

3. Hemingway’s Typewriter This typewriter was the source of some of the greatest pieces in American literary history. The typewriter, a Halda, was made in Sweden and is in excellent condition with the ribbon and keys intact. It is fully functional, in its original leather case with somewhat tattered transportation stickers from both the American Export Line and the French Line. Both have crucial identification in another hand signed " Hemingway ", . . . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NVi0C4pHRM

4. WordPress is a Powerful Tool http://www.flickr.com/photos/ajc1/4663140532/in/photostream/

5. Getting Even More Powerful http://www.flickr.com/photos/jesse_sneed/2383953694/in/photostream/

6. But Tools are Not Strategy , and . . . http://www.flickr.com/photos/ben_watson/5491287034/in/photostream/

7. Your Digital Presence is Not a Project http://www.flickr.com/photos/mightyohm/2729474646/in/photostream/

8. The old CMS: Content Management System http://www.isitedesign.com/insight-blog/10_11/cms-pain-assessment

9. The New CMS Content Management System Strategy http://www.flickr.com/photos/vissago/476068574/in/photostream/

10. What is Content Management Strategy?

11. Business Strategy Mission Statement / Value Proposition Audiences / Markets User and business goals for each audience Acquisition strategy “What are we trying to make happen?” http://www.flickr.com/photos/mightyohm/2729474646/in/photostream/

12. Business Strategy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnomes_(South_Park)

13. Technology Strategy Open Source / Proprietary / Custom In house / outsourced / mixed Skillset, Budget, Cost “Which tools will best serve our business strategy over the long run?” http://just-thinkin.net/2010/07/i-need-a-flying-car/

14. “Free as in Puppies” Free / Open Source Software is: Free as in Beer Free as in Speech (or Free as in Freedom) Free as in Puppies All of the above The “free as in puppies” meme captures accurately that open source software still requires “care and feeding” – but so do proprietary platforms! http://www.flickr.com/photos/96447062@N00/3802609079

15. Content Strategy What is our brand promise, message hierarchy? What is our voice? How will we create and/or curate content in a way that serves both our audience’s needs and our goals? “How will content help us deliver on our mission?” http://icanhascheezburger.com/2011/06/28/funny-pictures-you-realize-its-just-the-same/

16. Content Strategy http://www.ted.com/

17. Engagement Strategy How will we engage with our audiences? What platforms will we invest time and money in? Where will we hold back? “How do we acquire and maintain the interest of the audiences we want to engage with us?” http://www.flickr.com/photos/findyoursearch/4838567687/in/photostream/

18. Engage! http://iruntheinternet.com/0809

19. Optimization Strategy How do we plan to continuously improve our digital platform? What measurements / KPIs can we baseline and test against to ensure we’re making real progress? http://www.flickr.com/photos/allspaw/2095439645/in/photostream/

20. Optimization http://52weeksofux.com/post/694598769/the-local-maximum

21. What Generally Drives Platform Selection Agency preference Technology team experience Random: My cousin said WordPress is only good for blogs My last company used Sharepoint and we liked it This one is used by _____ and we like their site I’ve always wanted to do a project in ___.

22. What Drives “Enterprise” Platform Selection Long, complex RFP process Feature Matrices TCO/ ROI calculations Multiple vendors Selection committees representing all stakeholders “Blind” submission of Q&A shared with all participants Look, Squirrel! http://www.flickr.com/photos/sompops/166288241/in/photostream/

23. What should drive platform selection? Business strategy Technology strategy Content strategy Engagement strategy Optimization strategy Content Management Strategy! http://www.flickr.com/photos/senoranderson/5135232752/

24. Planning for the Long Haul Governance model Content creation & curation Social media policies Support model Authors, editors New page templates New content types Measurement Goals & Metrics Ongoing http://www.flickr.com/photos/buro9/298998542/in/photostream/

25. Bad strategy trumps good execution, just aspoor execution can trump good strategy

26. Don’t be a tool! http://www.ehow.com/how_6019260_use-boring-tool.html

27. Thanks John Eckman jeckman@isitedesign.com http://www.openparenthesis.org/ http://www.cmsmyth.com/ @jeckman