Content Strategy & Lifestyle E-Commerce

I’m James Carson

I run a Content Strategy consultancy.

I work with publishers, brands and agencies.

I offer services in Content Strategy & Planning / Editorial Process / SEO, Social Media Integration

@mrjamescarsonhttp://uk.linkedin.com/in/jacarson85www.carsoncontent.com

About Me…

Before We Start…

http://www.abookapart.com/products/content-strategy-for-mobile

“there’s no such thing as content strategy for mobile.”Karen McCrane, Content Strategy for Mobile

Conversion rates from tablets are four times higher than smartphones

http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/11374-conversion-rates-from-tablets-are-four-times-higher-than-smartphones-stats

Why Do We Need Content?

If content doesn’t sell, then surely it just gets in the way of sales!

AWARENESS

CONSIDERATION

CONVERSION

LOYALTY

ADVOCACY

FACEBOOK AND TWITTER SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT

BLOG 5x A WEEKSHOE GUIDE

IMPROVED PRODUCT PAGE UXSALES EMAIL

REWARDS FOR ENGAGEMENT

COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT

Black and white colour scheme

is the standard

Communication Standards

How to Differentiate?

There’s something about Cara

But not many can afford her

What Do We Need for Content Strategy?

Where Are They?

How Are They Getting There?

What Are They Doing?

Email Database

Facebook Insights

Followerwonk

SurveysKeyword Analysis

British – from London, Manchester or Leeds

100 followers on Twitter

More active on Facebook than Twitter

Creative type that likes music and design

Mean age: 21

Tone of Voice

ESSENCE

CORE VALUES

HOW IT MAKES ME FEEL

WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT ME

FUNCTIONAL BENEFITS

FACTS/ICONSTRUTHS/BELIEFS

PERSONALITY

PRODUCT

•PRIMARY: The most important thing you want your user to know or feel after viewing your content.

•SECONDARY: a group of messages that support the primary message and provide further context

STOCK AND FLOWFlow is the feed. It’s the posts and the tweets. It’s the stream of daily and sub-daily updates that remind people that you exist.

Stock is the durable stuff. It’s the content you produce that’s as interesting in two months (or two years) as it is today. It’s what people discover via search. It’s what spreads slowly but surely, building fans over time.

STOCK FLOW• Guides• How to• Category pages• Infographics• Applications• Product Pages

• News• Social updates

CURATION•Referencing things that aren’t yours

•Getting your community to contribute

•Harnessing social to create content

•Selecting the best products you have

COMMON CONTENT TYPES•News•E-Zines•Collections•Features / Guides•Blogs

On the digital side, lots of people were like “Why aren’t you just doing everything that’s new?” A lot of the magazine websites do news. And the fact is, we could do news, but we’ve chosen not to. I think the internet is like buying a really, really fast expensive car. It doesn’t mean you have to drive it at 130 miles per hour all the time. I love the fact that the online magazine is weekly. It’s curated. It’s really just about thinking how people want to digest things. 

E-Zines…You need a lot of resource to do well.

Heavily researched editorial + magazine style design = cost.

Collections

Guides

Beware of the Blog?Difficult to do well – do you really need one?

Many seem confused about what they really want to be…

Blog Rules #1

Consistency in typography and design

Blog Rules #2

Create content people care about

Apply SEO logic to headlines and content

Blog Rules #3

Blog Rules #4

Integrate the blog properly with the main site

•CATEGORIES – topics that can exist in a hierarchy. Generally fill menus.

•TAGS – grouping of content that mentions a particular entity, most often proper nouns.

Category 1 Category 2 Category 3

Content Content

Content

Content

Tag 1

Tag 2

Tag 1

Tag 1

Tag 2

Tag 2

70 / 20 / 1010% should be high risk ideas that will be tomorrow's 70% or 20%.

70% of the content should be low risk, bread and butter marketing.

20% should innovate off what works.

Constant Assessmen

t

Who Do We Need to Recruit?

Lifestyle Journalist?

• Tell you how Google works?• Tell you what kind of content gets shared the most?• Format in basic HTML?•Write headlines that are great for users and search engines?• Tell you the difference between a category and a tag?•Work in Photoshop?• Use a Content Management System?• Not get concerned by negative comments?• Edit using other applications or edit video?

Editorial is a given, but can they…

Do They

Digital Media?

How Do We Sell in Content?(What’s the ROI on that?)

We rarely behave like this

Search££

Conversion

I want somethin

g…

So stop dreaming about content as an immediate conversion channel

£ £

£ £

£

AWARENESS

CONSIDERATION

CONVERSION

LOYALTY

ADVOCACY

AWARENESS

I need some new shoes

My Facebook friend shared

one of My Wardrobe’s

status updates

CONSIDERATION

Check it out – a shoe

guide!

I know what I

want now – brogues!

CONSIDERATION

I think I’ll come back later…

Hmmm… these are the only brogues they have – quite

pricy!

CONVERSION

EMAIL:

New Brogues Just In – from £100!

Great – buy buy buy!

LOYALTY

These Brogues are

great – here’s me wearing

them on Instagram

Set A VisionAWARENESS

CONSIDERATION

CONVERSION

LOYALTY

ADVOCACY

50% INCREASE IN SHOE SALES

100% INCREASE IN ORGANIC WEBSITE TRAFFIC IN 3 MONTHS

CREATION OF MEASURED ADVOCACY PROGRAM (30 BRAND AMBASSADORS)

100 UPLOAD OUT PRODUCTS TO INSTAGRAM

25% INCREASE IN SOCIAL MEDIA TRAFFIC

And Strategy For The VisionAWARENESS

CONSIDERATION

CONVERSION

LOYALTY

ADVOCACY

FACEBOOK AND TWITTER SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT

BLOG 5x A WEEKSHOE GUIDE

IMPROVED PRODUCT PAGE UXSALES EMAIL

REWARDS FOR ENGAGEMENT

COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT

I’m James Carson

I run a Content Strategy consultancy.

I work with publishers, brands and agencies.

I offer services in Content Strategy & Planning / Relaunches / Social Media / SEO STRATEGY

@mrjamescarsonhttp://uk.linkedin.com/in/jacarson85www.carsoncontent.com

Thanks!