As a discipline, Content Strategy has been gaining ground steadily. And with this progress has come a new role, that of the Content Strategist. Today, most forward-thinking organizations have come to see that there is a special role to be played by someone who can see the big picture and who can pull together all the specialist contributions to deliver noticeable improvements in how the organization creates and engages its customer community. Given the relative newness of Content Strategy it is not surprising then that most Content Strategists find themselves in this role by accident. This session will look at the phenomenon of the accidental Content Strategist and will do so from the perspective of someone who found himself in exactly this position on many occasions since the very first days of the web. What will emerge from this exploration is a picture of a very challenging role that is becoming a key ingredient in a rapidly changing industry. A particular focus in this session will be placed on the unique challenge that faces the accidental Content Strategist – that of needing to reconcile and integrate an array of technical and creative disciplines in order to achieve a coherent effect that can be sustained and that can evolve amid continuous change.

1. The Accidental
Content Strategist Joe Gollner
Gnostyx Research Inc.
Content Strategy Workshop
jag@gnostyx.com
Portland 2012 www.gollner.ca
Copyright © Joe Gollner 2012
@joegollner

2. Key Ideas
@joegollner
The Content Philosopher

3. The Intelligent Content Imperative
A Global Economy calls for
Continuous
process improvement
Maximized automation
Dynamically tailored products
Localized delivery & support
Reconfigurable supply chains
This Demands Peter F. Drucker
Standardized parts
Only Intelligent Content
Flexible & dynamic assembly has a future in this world
for products, services & content

4. XML Behind the Scenes
Extensible Markup Language
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Recommendation
A simplification of ISO8879 Standard Generalized
Markup Language (SGML) to enable portable web data
Massively influential on
• Technology interoperability
• Electronic data interchange
• Supply chain automation
• Internet commerce
• Social media integration
• eBook publishing
• Responsive web design…
Absolutely Central to the Nature of Intelligent Content

5. The Fundamental Content Archetype
Content is potential information
Content is an asset
the needs to be managed INFORMATION
& reused efficiently
Information is an action
that needs to be
performed effectively
Creating information
experiences from content CONTENT
is called publishing

6. External Processes encounter Reality
Marketing Content for a
major automobile makers
Discrepancies with
technical content led to
the manufacturer buying
cars back
Karl Jung
1875 – 1961
Focused on the observable
patterns of behaviour
& cultural frameworks
Marketing Content

7. Internal Processes encounter the World
Parliament of Canada Public Access
Great technical solution & content
Then the politicians
wanted to curtail openness…
Sigmund Freud
1856 – 1939
Looking into the deep
sources from which
our personae emanate
Technical Content

8. Good Content Runs Deep
The external
and the internal
must be held in
balance
Technical content
and marketing content
must be aligned
No matter which side
we start on,
we must venture onto
the other side
Always more than
we bargained for… We are all Accidental Content Strategists

9. The Intelligent Content Lifecycle Model

11. Intelligent Content Lifecycle Model: Basics

12. Intelligent Content Lifecycle Components
Content Acquisition
Creating or converting content to
establish the potential to deliver
effective information
Content Delivery
Publishing information products
Adapting products to
each user’s unique needs

13. Intelligent Content Lifecycle Components
Content Management
Formalizing content process activities
Facilitating user tasks
Content Engagement
Incorporating user content contributions
Tapping into Social Media
to build engagement

14. Where do we start? A Content Strategy

15. Intelligent Content Strategy Map

16. Measuring Content Productivity
Returns was
previously
called “Profitability”
& Costs was called
“Affordability”.
Profitability was
problematic….

17. Intelligent Content Strategy Map: As Is

18. Intelligent Content Strategy Map: To Be

19. Intelligent Content Strategy Map: Phases

20. What Matters is our Plan

21. The Full Intelligent Content Lifecycle Model

22. Next Steps
Put your
Content
Strategy
into
Action

23. The Lessons of Galileo

24. Making Connections
Joe Gollner
Gnostyx Research Inc.
www.gnostyx.com
jag@gnostyx.com
Twitter: @joegollner
Blog: The Content Philosopher
www.gollner.ca