communicating with purpose: digital content strategy for higher education

Communicating With Purpose Digital Content Strategy for Higher Education

Georgy Cohen CUPRAP

March 11, 2016

A bit about me…

Content is hard.

I’m Georgy.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/carbonnyc/5241459773https://www.flickr.com/photos/saltygal/1289079855

https://www.flickr.com/photos/pocait/6866502621/sizes/l


https://www.flickr.com/photos/adam_sporka/324696196/

Blank page panic


I’m Georgy.




What is content strategy?

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.“

Content strategy plans for the creation, publication, and governance of useful, usable content.

Kristina Halvorson Author, Content Strategy for the Web

“

I’m Georgy.




Content strategy helps ensure that our content is goal-oriented, useful,

sustainable, and effective.

Content is the foot soldier that represents our brand and

helps us achieve our goals.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/usarmyafrica/4067719395

https://www.flickr.com/photos/usarmyafrica/4067719395

Our content requires ongoing care and feeding.

(That includes the organizations, processes and

standards that inform it.)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/myri_bonnie/11867181635

https://www.flickr.com/photos/myri_bonnie/11867181635

Content thrives when it has purpose.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/unmundane/3346378735

https://www.flickr.com/photos/unmundane/3346378735

https://www.flickr.com/photos/digitalnc/8245694174/

Content strategy is relationship management


But content is pretty frustrating…

There’s just SO MUCH of it!

It is really hard to keep track of all the

details.

What is s/he working on over there? I

I have no idea.

I don’t know how video/

magazines/social/web/PR works.

It’s complicated. I don’t have the skills, know the process, or

have the time.

I don’t have a lot of guidance, so I am kind of

winging it.

It can get really political, really

quickly.

What came of this work? Was my effort

even worth it?


Blank page panic


Content strategy helps ease those frustrations by answering questions

before they come up.

22

The newsroom of now, the newsroom of the future, is very much a studio environment of specialists that collaborate. Your editors are people who understand opportunity, and then they gather those people together and produce it.

- Cory Haik, Washington Post

“

http://www.niemanlab.org/2012/06/does-your-newsroom-have-a-smart-refrigerator-strategy/

Planning#cssummit @radiofreegeorgy

Without People, You’re Nothing.

Georgy Cohen #hewebpitt

April 9, 2014 #confabfeelings

http://www.flickr.com/photos/confabevents/10855537113

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle.

Philo of Alexandria



23

The newsroom of now, the newsroom of the future, is very much a studio environment of specialists that collaborate. Your editors are people who understand opportunity, and then they gather those people together and produce it.

- Cory Haik, Washington Post

“


Planning#cssummit @radiofreegeorgy

Without People, You’re Nothing.

Georgy Cohen #hewebpitt

April 9, 2014 #confabfeelings


Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle.

Philo of Alexandria



Content strategy is made up of various tools and processes designed to help facilitate stronger communications.

Goals and Messaging

Goals

http://alistapart.com/blog/post/evaluating-ideas

http://alistapart.com/blog/post/evaluating-ideas

Content planning pillars• Goals: What are we trying to accomplish?

• Audience: Who are we trying to reach?

• Message: What are we trying to say to them?

• Medium: What is the best way to say it?

• Action: What do we want them to do next?

Core Strategy Statement

Source: The Content Strategy Toolkit

CUPRAP University accomplishes __________ and

__________ by publishing content that is

__________ and __________ that makes

__________ feel __________ and __________

so they can __________ or __________.

Goal

Goal

Descriptive Word/Phrase Descriptive Word/Phrase

Audience Emotion or Adjective Emotion or Adjective

Complete This Action Complete This Action

Messaging Framework

Source: Brain Traffic

ProofValue StatementFirst Impression

What first impression do we want our

audiences to have when they interact with our content?

What do we want our audiences to know or

believe about the value we provide?

What will demonstrate that what we want them to know or believe is true?

When someone visits ohio.edu for the first time, it is important for first impressions to be positive, real and lasting. Having a well-planned approach to how content is prioritized and purposed is how [we] have focused [our] efforts.

Renea Morris Exec. Director, University Communications & Marketing

Ohio University April 2014

“

www.ohio.edu/compass/stories/13-14/4/Branding-OHIO-website-4.cfm

Content inventories and audits

Content inventories help us learn what content is on our website.

Content audits help us understand whether or not that content is

valuable or effective.

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https://www.flickr.com/photos/cannedtuna/4853380320




Tools for content inventories and audits

• Content Insight • Flock • Screaming Frog • Content Auditor by Kapost • Blaze • Excel or Google Spreadsheets!

Editorial calendars


An editorial calendar is a tool for planning, scheduling and organizing web content publishing.


• Homepage • News • Blog • Social media • Program deadlines

and details

• Profiles/testimonials/brand stories

• Course information • Faculty/staff bios • Tuition and fees

What can you manage with an editorial calendar?

Components of an editorial calendar• Section(s)

• Topic

• Source

• Format/content type

• Media (photos, video, etc.)

• Description

• Links

• Channels

• Category (e.g. school, initiative, campus)

• Workflow

• Roles (author, editor, owner, approver, publisher)

• Dates (draft, review, revision, approval, publish, promotion)

• Status

• Brand alignment

• Audience alignment

• Outcomes

Training and guidelines

To execute a content strategy, people must be trained,

supported, and empowered to fulfill their designated role.

• Reinforce consistent, strategic content creation at a tactical level

• Align style guidelines offered with types of content creation likely to happen at various levels across the institution

• Train and maintain awareness of style guidelines

Style guides

•How to Maintain •Message Architecture • Style (incl. breakdown by page type)

• Voice and tone • Client-specific • House style guide

• Content Guidelines • Content type A • Content type B • Content type C

• Taxonomy •Web Writing and Publishing Best Practices • SEO Guidelines

Style guides

Content guidelines

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EXAMPLES OF OTHER SCHOOLS

http://sites.utexas.edu/redesign/files/2014/09/University_Communications_September2014.pptx.pdf

http://sites.utexas.edu/redesign/files/2014/09/University_Communications_September2014.pptx.pdf

From “Training the CMS” by Eileen Webb via A List Apart http://alistapart.com/article/training-the-cms

http://alistapart.com/article/training-the-cms

When we embed instructions where they’re most relevant and helpful, we help our authors build good habits and confidence. We allow them to maintain and expand a complex site without feeling overwhelmed.

Eileen Webb http://alistapart.com/article/training-the-cms

“

http://alistapart.com/article/training-the-cms

Cross-Training: News (example)

Headline

Facebook

Tweet

Summary/ Meta Tag

Body

Guidance for best practices for Headline text

Guidance for best practices for Facebook text

Guidance for best practices for Tweet text

Guidance for best practices for Summary text

Guidance for best practices for Body text


Bake your up-front planning into your guidelines, which become the law governing your web content.


• Help close knowledge gaps • Make a high-level strategy

actionable and accessible • Empower and inform

people to fulfill their role in a content strategy

• Document standards, criteria, & processes

• Ongoing education

Training

Editorial meetings and content communities

Putting the appropriate 12 people in a room does not guarantee that productive things will happen.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/wscullin/3770015203

https://www.flickr.com/photos/wscullin/3770015203

• Source ideas from across campus • Include social, photo, and video • Discuss and decide on content planning • Share outcomes and measurement • Own it and facilitate it, but don’t dominate it • Encourage collaboration (which promotes efficiency!) • Share guidelines and revisit editorial priorities • Take, share, and archive minutes • Learn about other campus & communications functions

Editorial meetings

Content Scoring

Story Goal 1 Goal 2 Audience 1 Audience 2 Message 1 Message 2 Total

A

B

C

Evaluate each story idea for the degree of alignment: 3 = High Alignment 2 = Medium Alignment 1 = Low Alignment Source: The Content Strategy Toolkit

StoryWhere else could it be published/promoted?

Why would that be appropriate?

What roles, skills, or steps would be required?

A

B

C

Content Scoring

Source: The Content Strategy Toolkit

Build a communications culture.

• Connection to information • Connection to each other • Single conduit for disseminating information • Easy to find the heroes/rock stars

Build a content community

http://www.dilbert.com/strips/comic/2011-10-30/

http://www.dilbert.com/strips/comic/2011-10-30/

Governance

Content ownership and workflow


Without web governance, web publishing becomes chaotic.


• Publishing workflow (including roles, tasks, timeframes)

• Training, guidelines, and documentation

• Internal communication • Gap assessments

(knowledge, processes) • Measurement and testing

• Defined structure of authority and accountability

• Content communities • Managing resources

(human, financial, etc.)

Governance checklist

• Types of governance models: Centralized • Consistent, uniform policies, processes, guidelines, and standards • Requires large staff to manage disparate units • Does not account for variety inherent in large organizations

Marcom

Unit Unit Unit Unit

Governance models

• Types of governance models: Coordinated • Allow for tiers of ownership and various roles • Opportunities for two-way collaboration and partnership • Can foster sense of community, inclusion, and buy-in, and encourage peer support • Central level must own training, support, guidelines, resources, and active maintenance of

relationships and community

Marcom

Unit Unit Unit Unit

Governance models

• Types of governance models: Decentralized • Processes are organic and may vary • Fosters individual freedom and innovation, but also silos • May be little or no connection/relevance to central brand/goals • Any dotted-line relationships are inconsistent and informal • Difficult if not impossible to manage or control

Marcom

Unit Unit Unit Unit

Governance models


For a plan to come together, you need someone to own it.


EXAMPLES OF OTHER SCHOOLS

http://www.ohio.edu/webadvisory/contentstrategy.cfm

Measurement


We need to measure content in order to plan content.


• Answers questions you have about your content • Must determine which numbers matter to you, and why • Measure against established goals and success metrics,

which should align with organizational goals • Place numbers in context by measuring patterns over

time and considering offline events • Validate qualitative analysis

Measurement

https://www.flickr.com/photos/pleeker/117683322

https://www.flickr.com/photos/pleeker/117683322

MeasurementCreate

Publish

PromoteMeasure

Analyze

Plan• Answer questions about your website

• Confirm content effectiveness (and retool/abandon ineffective efforts)

• Validate qualitative analysis • Understand user patterns

over time • Make more informed content

decisions, better serving both organizational objectives and user needs

• Offers externally-sourced data amidst internal flux

MeasurementCreate

Publish

PromoteMeasure

Analyze

Plan

• Collect content outcome data from across platforms (web, social, email)

• Plot data against success metrics

• Share outcomes internally

• Observe any other patterns/trends

• Given these outcomes, what do we do next?

• Consider new platforms/metrics

Story

Email Newsletter

Twitter

Facebook

.edu News Feeds

Homepage

News Site

• Pageviews • Time on page • Desktop/mobile

• Likes • Comments • Shares • Views

• Retweets • Likes • Replies

• Clickthrus• Pageviews • Time on page • Desktop/mobile

• Pageviews • Time on page • Desktop/mobile

Measurement

MeasurementAnalytics Measurement Framework

(adapted from Avinash Kaushik)

Business Objectives What is your website’s purpose?

Content Goals What actions do you want people to take on your website?

KPIs What relevant metrics can help measure goals over time?

Targets How do you rate success?

Segments What visitor attributes will provide meaningful insights?

Next steps

I’m Georgy.

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How do you become a content strategist?

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[Content strategy] should always be evolving and always be a goal to improve it. … Every time your content becomes more strategic, the better your university gets.

Tim Jones Associate Vice President of Marketing

Clarkson University

“

http://meetcontent.com/blog/case-in-point-content-strategy-at-n-c-state/

Thanks!

[email protected] @radiofreegeorgy

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