ux and content : it's a marriage, not a date — from content rising 2015

SKYWORD + ALMIGHTY

JUNE 17 2015

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Ian Fitzpatrick Chief Strategy Officer Almighty @ianfitzpatrick

Scott Ludwig Senior Director Skyword Content Services @BostonRS

brand as publisher

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brand as publisher

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Start here: The focus on long-tail, keyword-optimized, always-on content has led marketers to believe that the most important thing about content is, well, the content.

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This, of course, isn’t true. Content doesn’t consume itself.

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Content is consumed, but mostly ignored, by people — and people are messy and optimize against their will.

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So how do we get people to care about our content?

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What if we centered our content strategy on the needs, lives and loves of the people we’re targeting helping?

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Seven methods for re-orienting your content delivery around people:

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Understand what you’re interrupting

One

To ask for it is inherently to ask not only that I pay attention to you, but that I not pay attention to something else — something that’s probably not competing with us on a keyword level.

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Things that add to, complement or

improve the things that I love

Things that help me get back to

doing the things that I love

Things that I love

Things I don’t (really) care about

Be enormously ________.Be enormously useful. Be enormously entertaining. Be enormously interesting, or provocative.

If you can’t tell me why I should stop doing ___________ so that I can ____________, then why in the world would I?

USEFUL

ENTE

RTA

ININ

G

UNICORNS I’LL CARE WHEN IT COMES TO ME

I’LL CARE WHEN I NEED IT

MEH

Not consumers, people.People watch 10 minutes of electronic advertising per day. That’s it.

If what I give you to read or watch is great, then I have your attention without you even knowing it.

Make it clear what you’re asking for

Two

Are you asking me to do something with the content, or are you asking me to do something to the content? They’re not the same thing.

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Give me a call to action.Letting me know that you view me as someone who can do more than passively consume and share enhances the dynamic of our relationship.

This is not a call to action. This is a button set.

A call to action is deliberate.What does this article mean for you, in your world? Why should you care?

Design for context, not for display

Three

Think about responsive not just as adapting for screen size, but about the fact that a choice to access content from a mobile device tells you something about who I am (and what I’m doing).

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Define mobile use casesAm I trying to solve a problem on-the-fly? Is this really the time to ask me to become BFFs with your brand? Are you really going to make me opt-in and sign-up, right here, right now? Do you really expect me to foot the bill for your bandwidth-hogging brand spam?

Mobile is not a size.Responsive design is not a mobile experience.

You need to leverage context - all the elements that surround someone at that exact moment in time.

Give conversation a purpose

Four

If your content is designed to spread socially, what happens as it does?

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Define the social currencyAm I sharing it because it helps me, because it helps others, or because you’re going to help me or others?

There are plenty of other things worth sharing if you can’t give me a good reason.

Care about (and learn from) dialogueWhen people consume, comment and share, that’s a reason to produce more.

Your pre-planned 3, 6 or 12 month editorial calendar….should change.

Begin with a (real) life and work backward

Five

Only in marketing do we decide that accosting someone with a story without regard to where they’re coming from or where they’re headed is a pathway to a relationship.

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Map a mini journey.You should know enough about people to plot out how they get to your content, how they’ll consume it, and what they’ll likely do next.

If you don’t, then how can you create compelling content for them?

DESKTOP USER ENTERING THROUGH THE HOME PAGE

READING MULTIPLE PAGES OF CONTENT

FALLS IN LOVE WITH THE CONTENT &

BRAND

SHARES IT WITH HER NETWORK

BECOMES A CUSTOMER

MOBILE USER ENTERS THROUGH SEARCH

VIEWS A FINITE # OF PAGES

SCANS FOR RELEVANCE

MAKES NOTE OF YOUR BRAND

CREDITS YOU IF IT PAYS OFF

(opportunity) (opportunity)

Acknowledge that people aren’t always ready to “buy”.Give them what they want, where they want it, when they want it. Then they might “buy.”

Plan for personalization

Six

Clearly articulate how you’re personalizing my content experience, what you’re using to deliver it, and how it benefits me.

Otherwise, don’t do it at all.

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Show me that you know me.Use my network data, but show your work. Use my past behaviors, but illustrate the connections.

Lazy brands are the Facebook friends who only write me on my birthday.

This is not personalization. I am not my network.

Past behaviors are not the same as current need.People do lots of things online that are not for themselves. It’s true.

Personalization can be made simple.

Provide solutions, not content

Seven

Help people run a 10k, rollover a 401k, or find a car that keeps their kids safe and lets them hug the turn. Help them do something great, and they’ll credit you for it.

If your content doesn’t ladder up to a solution, then they may visit it — they might even share it — but they won’t care about it.#ContentRising

Gimme wayfinding.Show me where this content fits into something larger that I care about.Give me a pathway back to the beginning so I can catch up. If I need to gear up, give me a packing list.

Invest in my success, not just my attention.

Make people’s lives better.If you want to emotionally connect with a person, make their life better.

If you want to get a person to take action, give them something that will make their life better.

1. Understand what you’re interrupting 2. Make it clear what you’re asking for 3. Design for context, not display 4. Give conversation a purpose 5. Begin with a (real) life and work backward 6. Plan for personalization 7. Provide solutions, not content

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brand as publisher brand as solutions provider

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Thank you. You’re the best.

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