Jane Greenstein

Content Strategy & UX

February, 2016

Content Who I am and why I’m here

What is Content Strategy

Responsibilities of Content Strategist

How Content Strategy & UX Work Together

Content Strategy Deliverables

Becoming a Content Strategist

2

Who I am Lead Content Strategist at Team One, part of the Digital Strategy team

• Based in Playa Vista, Team One has over 400 employees in Los Angeles•We produce a wide variety of media, including TV commercials, websites and apps•Main client is Lexus

Worked both client and agency side

Background in journalism

Worked as a writer, editor and project manager

Earned masters in Library Science 3

Why I’m here Many digital agencies have content strategists or need them

UX designers work closely with CS and other teams (developers, strategists)

Few disciplines are as intertwined as CS and UX are (akin to copywriter and art director symbiosis)

Many UX designers haven’t had exposure to or full understanding of our skills

Explain what CS is

4

55

WHAT IS CONTENT STRATEGY?

6

“Planning for the creation, delivery and governance of

useful, usable content.”

- Kristina Halverson, Brain Traffic

CONTENT STRATEGY

7

“Deals with the planning aspects of managing content throughout its lifecycle, and includes aligning content to business

goals, analysis, and modeling, and influences the development, production,

presentation, evaluation, measurement, and sunsetting of content, including

governance” Rahel Bailie, coauthor of Content Strategy: Connecting the dots between

business, brand, and benefits and principal of Intentional Design

CONTENT STRATEGY (LONG)

What is Content?Basically, everything

8

Which means… Content Strategy is Everything

Source: http://www.freshegg.co.uk/content-strategy

10

WHAT WE DO

Responsibilities of the Content StrategistDeliverables vary per project based on timeline and scope

Discovery Audit – what exists, where it comes from, how it’s being consumed Analyze – what gaps exist that need to be filled (what have, what is needed)

Define Strategize – content strategy defines what is needed and what structure it needs to

conform to (structure, taxonomy, sources, etc.) and how it fits into the big picture Governance – guidelines to maintain structure, branding, context and consistency

Operational Delivery – workflow for new content creation, editorial calendar, ownership and

roles Maintenance – plan for reviewing, evaluating and improving existing and new

content (optimization)

Type of Client Deliverables• Audit (Scoring & Evaluation)• Content Sources• Content Scoring• Recommendations• Editorial Guidelines

Content Source Analysis

13

Content Audit

14

Content Scoring Breakdown

15

10%

60%

30% High

Medium

Low

Content Recommendation: Visual Story Telling Use visual storytelling with small amounts of text

16

Needs improvement Fits strategy

Content Rules

17

Create rules that dictate content placement, refreshing and other usage rules

Recommendation: Personalize by Lifecycle Align content to different stages of the customer’s lifecycle using

personalization

18

Messaging Document

RECOMMENDATION:

Add brief text in the ‘Welcome Message’ section on dealer home page that notes dealer’s participation in Lexus Plus.

-This will be generic messaging as each dealer has a different welcome message

-Sample text: “As a Lexus Plus dealership, [Dealer name] offers transparent pricing and a single point of contact throughout the sales process.”

2020

How Do CS and UX work together?

Content Strategy Evaluate metrics Analyze existing content

and recommending new Developing content

requirements per page Content Mapping (existing

to new) Content Groupings/

Information hierarchy Taxonomy What stories are we telling

UX

Prototypes Information hierarchy Site Map Wireframes Taxonomy/Nomenclature User stories and user

journeys Functional Requirements

Map out Information Organization and Stories

Content First Approach Evaluation of content allows for related disciplines (design, tech and UX) to do

their jobs

UX team needs content requirements, otherwise designing without knowledge of style or volume of content

22

2323

HOW IS CS DIFFERENT FROM UX?

2424

Or…I feel like I aleady do all these things, am I a Content

Strategist?

Overlapping but Distinct Skills Editorial background (writing and editing)

Messaging including voice, tone and style, catering content to audience

Planning and Strategic Thinking (big picture)

Organization and Detail

Knowledge of marketing and production (project management)

25

What does it take to be a Content Strategist? Start writing a blog or articles for publication (or a deck)

Organize a set of content into a methodical system (indexing)

Demonstrate problem solving skills

Show how your UX skills translate

Network! Network! Network!

Internships/apprenticeships

Volunteer work: Taproot Foundation (https://www.taprootfoundation.org/)26

Education Library science for both UX and CS• IA, Web Design, IS, organizational thinking

Conferences: Content Strategy Innovation Summit, September

27

CS Resources: Read Everything Gathercontent.com Smashing Magazine Contently Think With Google Alertbox Search Engine Watch The Content Standard

Team One website: http://www.teamone-usa.com/

My website: JaneGreenstein.com

28

29