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Content Strategy

Planning a Content Strategy

Content Strategy

• Identify all content types

• Categorise content

• Create categories, tags, and metadata types to identify content

• Define how content types relate to each other

Work Flow Strategy

• Focus on the path of the content as it moves through the CMS

• Create a tracking document that lists all the steps the content takes

– Editing, versioning, archiving & re-use

• Identify team member requirements

A content strategy should define the themes and goals of a site’s content, and then define the processes in place to help realise those goals

What are the sites goals?

• Inform

• Educate

• Sell a product

• Generate interest

Developing a Framework

• Creating guidelines around your content’s message, themes, and voice

• Use this focus to create a content strategy framework

• Frameworks can include:

– Writing style guides

– Publishing policies

– Metadata structure and terms

– Defining article relations

– Defining SEO terms, phrases, and policies

– Guidelines on the types of authors needed

Style Guidelines

• Brand Values

• Voice & Tone guidelines

• Correct word usage (SEO, Controlled vocabularies)

• Product trademark usage

• Web writing considerations (links, labelling, metadata)

• Global style guidelines

• Web writing best practices

Story Structure

• Primary Message

– The single most important thing you want the user to learn

– This message supports all your business objectives

• Secondary Messages

– A group of key messages that extrapolate the primary message

• Details

– All the facts, data, anecdotes & philosophies that prove your messages

• Call(s) to action

– What you want the users to do after they “get” your messages

Story Structure Hierachy

Primary Message

Secondary message 1 Secondary message 2 Secondary message 3

Supporting fact Supporting fact Supporting fact

Supporting fact Supporting fact Supporting fact

Supporting fact Supporting fact Supporting fact

Call to Action

Using Content Strategy to Guide Process

• Content strategy should also be used to guide the content’s lifecycle

• Content lifecycle guides content collection, placement, lifespan and archiving

• Other processes, like distribution channels, marketing campaigns, and repurposing content should be driven by content strategy as well

Content Lifecycle

Content Governance

• Content policies that guide the content lifecycle

• These policies should clearly define things like:

– Content Ownership

– When content is transferred

– Workflow processes

– Policy reviews

– End-of-life terms for content

Content Analysis Stage

• Take a content inventory to identify all the different types of content you have

• Which content will need to be archived? Which can be removed?

• Will you need to track multiple versions of the content over it’s life?

• Do you need to track each user that interacts with the content?

Content Sources

Content Sources

Description Example

Owned Content Content produced by the company

Customer Magazine,Whitepapers, Technical Papers, Check lists

Aggregated Content

Automatically aggregate content from other websites

RSS Feed Aggregation

Curate Content Aggregate content by appointing someone/a team to curate it.

Research of content relating to a specific subject

Media Partnership

Co-creating content with notable media partners & other entities who are already in the business of creating content

Round-tables, Webinars, Video, Guest bloggers, Reports

Syndicating Content

Licence content from reputable brands relevant to your audience

Publishing content pre-released or archived content (articles, features etc)

User Generated Content

Invite users to create content for you

Polls, Comments, Forums, Q&A

Content Creation Stage

• Meta tagging, categorising, and applying rules will help guide content

• Content will likely be created through uploads or through a content editor

• Use the tools within the CMS to apply attributes when the content is created.

Content Classification

• Category

• Subject

• Topic

• Key Word

• Type

• Target Audience

– Job Function

– Industry

• Source

• Format

Editing Stage

• Content lifecycle rules will influence editing workflow

• Audit trails allow you to track users and tasks through the content lifecycle

• These trails can be used to enforce reviews and content removal

• Versioning allows you to store multiple versions of content and compare later versions to earlier ones

Publishing Stage

• Make sure distribution channels have been clearly defined

• Can other departments reuse published content for marketing or others purposes?

• How will content be represented to mobile devices?

• Make sure policies are in place to analyse the effectiveness of published content

Archiving Stage

• Archiving policies control how long content stays live or within the system

• What types of things should trigger the removal of content?

• These policies will also control how content is archived and categorised

• Will older content be used to create knowledge bases or FAQs?

Roles & Responsibilities

• Requestors submit requests for web content to be created, updated, or removed.

• Providers are subject matter experts who own and manage source content – or who have that information in their head.

• Creators are responsible for actually developing the content (text, graphics, audio & video)

• Reviewer/Approver must be consulted about some or all of the content prior to its publication online

• Publisher get the content online via CMS

Defining Users and their Roles

• Identify user types and roles early in the process

• This will allow you to understand what roles and permissions your Content Management System should support

• Take time to consider how these individuals will need to interact with the CMS

• Before selecting a CMS, you should have clearly defined roles and permissions

Content Creators

• Often referred to as Authors

• Anyone who writes articles, posts blog posts, adds content, or updates content is an author

• The permission necessary for authors will vary based on:

– Whether the authors are internal or external to the organisation

– Whether they are in a single department, or spread out

– Should the author be able to access only their content?

Editors

• Anyone who reviews, edits, approves, or marks-up content for revision

• Depending upon the workflow, editors may need to be able to publish content

• Look for permissions that you can give editors to reduce bottlenecks

• Communication capability between editors and content creators is important

Publishers

• Anyone who has the ability to publish content to the lives site

• In smaller workflows, this role is often shared by other users

• Permissions for publishers will depend on:

– Whether or not the publishers will act as project managers

– Whether or not they will act as traffic managers

– Will they need the ability to assemble content?

Other User Types

• Asset Manager

– Responsible for collecting and managing digital assets and documents that support your content.

• Legal Advisor

• Brand Manager

• Continuity Manager

• Translator