Wednesday, August 17, 2011


Content Strategy

A community exploration of an emerging field of practice.

What is content strategy? Good question! We're working here to provide a basic definition of the field of interactive content strategy, its body of knowledge, and its practitioners.


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Overview

Content Strategy is an emerging field of practice within the discipline of User Experience Design (UXD). It also describes in a professional context the roles, work products, knowledge, methodology, and perspectives of content strategists.

Content

Content is substance. No matter the platform, publication, or format, content refers to everything that conveys meaning:
  • “Content includes the text, graphics, video, and audio that make up an interactive experience.”—Kristina Halvorson
  • “Technically, Web content can be anything that appears on a website, including words, pictures, video, sounds, downloadable files (PDF), buttons, icons, and logos.”—Richard Sheffield
  • “Information and experiences that may provide value for an end-user/audience in specific contexts.”—Wikipedia[1]
  • “Everything is content.”—Rachel Lovinger quoting Chris Sizemore[2]
  • "Simply put, content is contextualized data."—Rahel Bailie[3]

Content Strategy

Content strategy is an emerging field of practice encompassing every aspect of content, including its design, development, analysis, presentation, measurement, evaluation, production, management, and governance.
Kristina Halvorson, author of Content Strategy for the Web [4], defines content strategy as "the practice of planning for content creation, delivery, and governance."
In The Web Content Strategist’s Bible, Richard Sheffield emphasizes the importance of editorial process to content strategy.
Agency Content Lifecycle via Erin Scime [5] 

Content Strategy: Methodologies

How does one apply this thinking or "do" content strategy? Rahel Bailie shares her methodology: 
The content lifecycle is a repeatable system that governs the management of content. The processes within a given content lifecycle  are  system-agnostic. The processes are established as part of a content strategy, and implemented during the content lifecycle.

Aspects of a content lifecycle

The content lifecycle covers four macro stages: the strategic analysis, the content collection, management of the content, and publishing, which includes publication and post-publication activities. The content lifecycle is in effect whether the content is controlled within a content management system or not, whether it gets translated or not, whether it gets deleted at the end of its life or revised and re-used. The analysis quadrant comprises the content strategy. The other three quadrants are more tactical in nature, focusing on the implementation of the content strategy.

Rahel Bailie's methodology for content strategy.

Analysis

In the analysis phase, the content lifecycle is concerned with the strategic aspects of content. A content strategist (or business analyst or information architect or writer) examines the need for various types of content within the context of both the business and of the content consumers, and for multiple outputs on multiple platforms.
The analysis has a bearing on how the content strategy is implemented in the other quadrants of the content lifecycle. On a new project with new content, this is the beginning of the process. Much of the time, the process will start somewhere else in the cycle; a lot depends on a multitude of factors involved in changing content from a current state to its future state.

Collection

Content collection includes the garnering of content for use within the framework set out in the analysis phase. Collection may be through content development - creating content or editing the content of others, content ingestion - syndication of content from other sources, or incorporation of localized content, or a hybrid of content integration and converge - such as integrating product descriptions from an outside organization with prices from a costing system, or the convergence of editorial and user-generated content from social media for simultaneous display.

Management

The management quadrant is concerned with the efficient and effective use of content. In organizations using technology to automate the management of content, the management aspect assumes use of a CMS of some sort. In organizations with smaller amounts of content, with little need for workflow control, and virtually no single-sourcing requirements, manual management is possible. However, in large enterprises, there is too much content, and there are too many variations of content output, to manage the content without some sort of system to automate whatever functions can be automated.
The content configuration potential is enormous, and builds on the information gathered during the analysis and collection phases. The solutions will be highly situational, and revolve around the inputs and outputs, the required content variables, the complexity of the publishing pipeline, and the technologies in play. The most basic questions are around adoption of standards and technologies, and determining components, content granularity, and how far up or down the publishing pipeline to implement specific techniques.

Publish

The publishing quadrant deals with the aspects of content that happen when the content is delivered to its output platform and ensuing transformations, manipulations, or uses of the content. Publishing the content is only a point in the first lifecycle iteration; there are post-publishing considerations such as re-use and retention policies that require attention. 

Content Strategists

But the perspectives content strategists bring to content depend strongly on their professional training and education.
For instance, some specialize in content analysis, which roughly describes work with metadata, taxonomy, search engine optimization, and the ways in which the sound application of these concepts supports content.
Others outline web editorial strategies, guidelines, and tools, which may extend to organizational change management. This form of content strategy may be concerned with developing new forms of content, such as multimedia, or various “presence management” technologies like microblogging.[5]
There is yet another stream of content strategy advancing information architecture goals. In this case, content strategy may only involve writing site copy for new website pages and adapting the content on existing ones.
All content strategists are familiar with a wide range of applications and tools, and frequently are responsible for implementing and training individuals to best use them.
Collaboration with Content Strategist via Richard Ingram [6]

Education and Professional Background

Content strategists emerge from a variety of formal academic and professional disciplines:

  • Library and information sciences
  • Computer sciences
  • Creative and performing arts
  • Advertising and marketing
  • Rhetoric and composition
  • Technical writing and communication
  • Journalism
  • Professional editors and writers
  • Communications
  • Liberal arts
  • Management consulting

Prominent Employers of Content Strategists

These Fortune 500 or internationally renowned brands employ or are hiring content strategists by name:
 
 
 
 		  
 

Content Strategy: Deliverables

The work products -- or deliverables -- typical of content strategy are diverse and depend on the needs of the company and the background of the content strategist. Shelly Bowen provides this insight:
Some content strategists are also (deep down) writers, editors, designers, or information architects. This background influences not only the strategy, but also the deliverables.
Shelly Bowen also offers this deliverables list as a guide: 

What Are You Trying to Achieve? 
  • Summary of company goals

What Do You Own?

  • Content inventory or audit
  • Content assessment (quality and quantity)

What’s Missing?

  • Content gap analysis
  • Comparative content analysis
  • Competitive analysis

How Do You Present the Words?

  • User personas
  • User scenarios (think believable stories)
  • Editorial strategy
  • Core messaging strategy
  • Sample content
  • Content templates
  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy
  • Brand strategy
  • Metadata strategy
  • Style guide
  • Glossary

Where Does It Go?

  • Copy deck
  • Channel strategy
  • Content conversion/migration strategy
  • Content flow schematic
  • Community and social strategy
  • Visual presentation recommendations
  • Wireframes

How Do We Make It Happen?

  • Content approval workflow
  • Communication plans
  • Community moderation policies
  • Content production workshops and training
  • Content sourcing review and plans (people, tools, budget, time)

How Do We Stay Organized?

  • CMS requirements
  • Business rules
  • Taxonomies
  • Responsibilities
  • Schedules

How Do We Know It’s Right?

  • Usability tests
  • Benchmarks
  • Checks and balances
  • Summary of company goals
  • Success metrics
What’s Coming Up?

  • Editorial calendar
    Here are some further ideas for literal applications of content strategy by Colleen Jones.

    Downloadable Work Templates and Guides

    Consistency via Business Guys on Business Trips [7]

    Specializations in Content Strategy

    Among their competencies, these experts are uniquely proficient or known for their contributions to a specific topic, subject matter area or related professional discipline. Editors' note: This list does not convey the range of each specialist's competencies, only an area of expertise. Expect to see this taxonomy itself to evolve over time. Your feedback is welcome.

    Advertising and User Experience


    Analytics

    • Clare O'Brien, CDA

    Branded and Custom Content


    Content Development


    Content Modeling



    Digital Archives


    Enterprise Content Strategy


    Editorial and Publishing


    Marketing and User Experience



    Account Content Marketing and SEO

    Semantic Web


    Social Media and User Generated Content


    User Assistance (Technical Communication, Training, Support)


    User Experience


    Web Writing


    Further Reading

    Blogs on Content Strategy


    Related Publications

    1. "Content Matters", Issue 272 of A List Apart, 16 December 2008.
    2. Kristina Halvorson; Content Strategy for the Web, August 2009.
    3. Kristina Halvorson; "The Discipline of Content Strategy", A List Apart, 16 December 2008.
    4. Kristina Halvorson; "Content Strategy: The Mania. The Myth. The Method" (slideshow).
    5. Colleen Jones; "Toward Content Quality", UXmatters, 13 April 2009.
    6. Matt Kinsman; "From Editor to 'Content Strategist: Semantics or Fundamental Change?'", Folio, 1 July 2008.
    7. Fred Leise; "Content Analysis Heuristics", Boxes and Arrows, 26 February 2007. 12 March 2007.
    8. Rachel Lovinger; "Content Strategy: The Philosophy of Data", Boxes and Arrows, 26 February 2007.
    9. Jeffrey MacIntyre; "Content-tious Strategy", A List Apart, 16 December 2008.
    10. Karen McGrane; "Content Strategy: Content Is King!", From Business to Buttons, 11 June 2009.
    11. Peter Merholz; "The Marginalization of Content", adaptivepath.com, 22 May 2008.
    12. Kaitlin Pike, "Why You Need to Hire a Content Strategist", Web 2.0 interview with Margot Bloomstein, 7 July 2010.
    13. Theresa Putkey; "Exploring the Content Strategist Title", Boxes and Arrows, 22 May 2007.
    14. Kate Rutter; "Death to Lorem Ipsum & Other Adventures in Content", Adaptive Path interview with Kristina Halvorson, 25 June 2008.
    15. Richard Sheffield; Web Content Strategy (blog).
    16. Erin Scime; The Content Strategist as Digital Curator, A List Apart, 8 December 2009.




    References

    1. http://www.adaptivepath.com/ideas/essays/archives/000959.php
    2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_(media_and_publishing)
    3. http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/content-strategy-the
    4. http://intentionaldesign.ca/2009/06/26/a-practical-definition-of-content/
    5. http://www.dopedata.com/2009/07/23/panel-on-the-content-life-cycle-at-razorfish/
    6. http://www.richardingram.co.uk/2009/07/theyll-thank-you-later/
    7. http://businessguysonbusinesstrips.com/?p=111
    8. http://www.amazon.com/Content-Strategy-Voices-That-Matter/dp/0321620062
    9. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Content_strategy
    10. http://www.alexwright.org/glut/
    11. http://www.foliomag.com/2008/editor-content-strategist
    12. http://gawker.com/359301/the-future-of-magazines-possibly
    13. http://www.alistapart.com/articles/thecureforcontent-delaysyndrome
    14. http://webcontentstrategy.blogspot.com/2008/08/what-you-need-is-called-web-content.html
    15. http://webcontentstrategy.blogspot.com/2008/08/content-strategy-vs-content-strategy.html
    16. http://blog.pixelmedia.com/information-and-content-whats-the-difference/
    17. http://www.adaptivepath.com/blog/2008/05/22/the-marginalization-of-content/
    Posted by Content Planning Idea EXchange at 11:37 AM
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