Content Strategy

The book, Elements of Content Strategy, was broken into three major pieces. The sections broke down as follows: guiding principles of content strategy, the origin and contributing factions of content strategy, and practical application and advice. In the beginning of the book the author states very clearly that there are no “set rules” for content strategy; instead there is a set of ideas and core concepts that act as helpful guides. The guiding principles for content strategy are as follows:

Good content is appropriate

The content should be appropriate not only for the client and the product but also for the user and the user’s various situations.

Good content is useful

Each bit of content should serve a purpose. That is to say there should be no content that is around just for the sake of being around. Also, while serving a purpose, no single bit of content should be over or under burdened with purpose or meaning.

Good content is user centered

This is the most important aspect, because without the user, one has already failed. It should be easy, clear, convenient, and even pleasant to access content. Also the content should be tailored to different user situations such as mobile phones and game consoles.

Good content is clear

(picture of something clear is actually clear… so you can’t see it)

The content should be created in such a clear way that there is never any question what is being advertised or what a site supports whether that be humorous blog posts or actual physical products such as vacuum cleaners. Often relying on professional content creators is wise in this area.

Good content is consistent

Each part of a website should be created using the same tone, style, and voice. The exceptions to this would be when different audiences are being targeted. Failure to be consistent causes confusion and a drop in user friendliness.

Good content is concise

Avoid needless fluff such as repeated company slogans or mission statements, these are often only desired to be seen by the client.

Good content is supported

In order to keep up with the release of new product, keep the website looking fresh and new, and to just keep up with the latest news, a well managed website should have constant support.

The next portion of the book deals with the origin of the content strategist and the factions that help to make up this particular division of management. The book refers to content strategy as a sort of hybrid not unlike Frankenstein’s monster or the chimera from Greek mythology. There are four factions that make up content strategy:

The editor

The editorial portion of content strategy is often mistaken as the entirety of this faction. The truth is that quite a bit of what the content strategist does overlaps with the job of an editor. This faction contributes things such as “clearly documented work flows,” “editorial calendars,” and “content custom tuned for specific channels and audiences.” On top of this editors (and in this case content strategists) also must push content creators to produce their best content as proficiently as possible and push them to focus it towards the right types of people without sacrificing the quality of that content.

The curator

Curators are in charge of acquiring and handling data in the world of the web and actual objects in the corporeal world. A curator must not only acquire and care for the data accumulated, but also keep record of it in a way that is easily accessible for both client and customer. One of the most important jobs of the curator is to present the content in a way that is easy to appreciate just as a museum curator must present artifacts in a way that humans can enjoy.

The marketer

Marketers are skilled in rhetoric and must use this skill to convince the audience to either buy, browse, or simply enjoy the products or services being presented. The rhetoric produced by the marketer often does not appear in print on the web page being created (if that is the project) but instead greatly influences the way the content is presented.

The information “architect”

The information architect creates the frame for the content distribution and viewing. It is his job to put information in places that can be easily accessed and make sense.

The last portion of the book covers practical application and advice for content strategizing. The author presents three main markers that can help a content strategist manage his own personal strategy.

Evaluate

Elements of Content Strategy, p. 40 — “Happens at the beginning of the project, and then again at the very end — and sometimes at the end of each phase. Research of all kinds falls under evaluation, as do usability testing and traffic analysis.”

The evaluation process is absolutely necessary before moving forward to the design phase. In this first phase interviews are conducted on both the clients and the users. The data gathered in these interviews help to create a picture of what both parties want. This, in turn, allows the content strategist to direct the content creators in according ways. The picture created from the interviews also allows current content to be judged and reevaluated.

Design

Elements of Content Strategy, p. 40 — “It includes high level communication strategy and proposals for public facing and back-end features related to content. It also includes the design of tactical plans for creating and revising content and the design of tools and processes for long-term management of content.”

In this phase, after all of the research has been completed, work can start to be done. Here is where proposals for change and deliverables come into play. In order to actually survive or even just exist in the corporate world, the content strategist must make it clear to his or her employer what it actually is that he or she does. This is accomplished by creating deliverables, which come in the form of spreadsheets, proposals for change, iteneraries, and clearly documented workflows and proposed frameworks for the new site. The information gathered in the previous stage is used to create all of the framework ideas and content ideas one might have in this stage.

Execute

Elements of Content Strategy, p. 40 — “All the things we do to turn strategies into reality…”

After receiving approval from the client and obviously after completing research, this is where the content creation actually begins to happen. Here the content strategist takes the gathered information from the interviews along with other raw data and compiles them with suggestions into a graph or chart or framework of some sort. This is then given to the content creators who will use the framework presented to them as a guide to create actual content for the site.

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The last note in the book is to come up with a long-term management strategy for the new creation if not planning to stick around after the completion of the project.

Instead of distributing the links haphazardly throughout my paper (which is how I would go about doing it at this point because I am doing this post-writing-blog). Here are a few different links that will help you understand content strategy a little better:

(mostly just the graph on the one above)