does your content work for people? essentials for evaluating your client's content
DESCRIPTION
Does your content work? It's a simple question. But, getting the answers can be a complex chore. Learn the essentials of assessing whether your content, or your client's content, has impact from Colleen Jones. You can watch the full video session at: http://blog.gathercontent.com/colleen-jones-webinar-evaluating-content Check out Colleen's website at: http://www.content-science.com/ Her tool, ContentWRX http://www.contentwrx.comTRANSCRIPT
DOES YOUR CONTENT WORK FOR PEOPLE? essentials for evaluating your client’s content
Colleen Jones
About Me Author of Clout and Does Your Content
Work? (2014)
Principal of Content Science, a digital content consultancy for clients such as
Occasional partner with leading consultancies and agencies
Owner of ContentWRX™
Proud parent of an adorable mutt… 2
Quick Poll: 1 thing you want to get out of our session?
3
COMMON VOCABULARY +
VISION
OVERVIEW OF CONTENT
EVALUATION
START EVALUATING
Our Goals
4
1. WHAT IS CONTENT EVALUATION?
2. WHY DO IT (despite the challenges)?
3. WHEN DO IT?
4. HOW DO WE START DOING IT?
5. HOW DO WE COMMUNICATE IT?
Agenda
5
ANSWER ?s in polls
ASK ?s in chat
Participating Pays Off!
6
WHAT IS CONTENT EVALUATION?
Quick Poll: Rate your expertise with content evaluation.
7
Content is…
IMAGES, PHOTOS,
INFOGRAPHICS
TEXT VIDEOS PODCASTS, AUDIO
* Inventory
* Heuristics
* Lifecycle
* Personas
Content evaluation is…
a constant assessment of whether your content meets your goals.
* Inventory
* Heuristics
* Lifecycle
* Personas
Content evaluation is NOT…
• A one-time thing.
• A clinical trial.
• A data dump thing.
• The same for every organization or set of content.
• A content audit.
CONTENT AUDIT CONTENT EVALUATION
FREQUENCY + DEPTH
• A single deep dive for a migration, redesign, or other big change
• A constant high-level assessment
FOCUS • A project or initiative • Ongoing strategy aligned with organizational goals
SCOPE • Content inventory and quality assessment
• Content effectiveness or impact
TIMING • Discovery or analysis phase before launch
• If not established, starts after launch
What’s the difference?
* Inventory
* Heuristics
* Lifecycle
* Personas
Content evaluation also is…
NOT very easy right now…
CLIENT SENIOR MANAGER
I see opportunity to make our content have more impact
on sales lead generataion.
Based on what data? Our general
satisfaction survey says content is fine.
EXECUTIVES + STAKEHOLDERS
Does this sound familiar?
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CLIENT SENIOR MANAGER
I see opportunity to make our content have more impact
on sales lead generataion.
Help! I need more data about our lead gen content for the
past 2 quarters.
Based on what data? Our general
satisfaction survey says content is fine.
EXECUTIVES + STAKEHOLDERS
Does this sound familiar?
14
CLIENT SENIOR MANAGER
I see opportunity to make our content have more impact
on sales lead generataion.
Help! I need more data about our lead gen content for the
past 2 quarters.
CLIENT ANALYST I can pull some numbers, but it will take a few
weeks.
Based on what data? Our general
satisfaction survey says content is fine.
EXECUTIVES + STAKEHOLDERS
Does this sound familiar?
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TOO FRAGMENTED TO GATHER EFFICIENTLY Insights must be pieced together from satisfaction survey, web analytics, + social analytics tools.
TOO GENERAL TO ACT Satisfaction surveys say content is important but provide little content-specific feedback.
TOO CUSTOM + HAPHAZARD TO AFFORD OR COMPARE Deep-dive qualitative studies are slow and expensive. Occasional custom surveys don’t allow you to compare over time, to your industry.
Right now, content data is often…
16
WHY EVALUATE CONTENT ANYWAY?
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Businesses invested nearly
$17 billion in content marketing in 2012.
Custom Content Council
Dell, The Coca-Cola Company, Equifax, IHG, Cerner Corporation
and other leading companies are implementing
content strategy for B2B and B2C marketing, service, and support content.
Content investments by B2B + B2C companies now
account for
1/3 MARKETING BUDGETS Content Marketing Institute
of
CONTENT IS THE
#1
even over social media, email, and other trends.
eMarketer
PRIORITY OF CLIENT-SIDE MARKETERS
Today, content supports every business purpose –
MARKETING / POSITIONING CONTENT,
SALES CONTENT, CUSTOMER SERVICE CONTENT, SUPPORT CONTENT
Business today is digital, so content is critical.
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MISSING COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE because content decisions are slow or misguided.
WASTING MONEY ON CONTENT EFFORTS because decisions aren’t informed with complete, reliable feedback.
DIFFICULTY GETTING BUY-IN TO CONTENT CHANGES from executives because content isn’t connected to results.
If your clients don’t evaluate, they risk…
$£
19
WHEN SHOULD YOU EVALUATE CONTENT?
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ALWAYS! Content never ends.
Neither should evaluating it.
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Evaluation evolves content strategy
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The content strategy lifecycle
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The content strategy lifespiral
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HOW TO START EVALUATING CONTENT
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How NOT to start
Drowning yourself in the data…
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How to start: Ask the right questions
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Where do the right questions come from?
• The right questions come from your goals and objectives.
• Your goals and objectives come from your content strategy.
• Your content strategy comes from your business goals and objectives.
BUSINESS GOALS
CONTENT STRATEGY
CONTENT EVALUATION QUESTIONS
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The better you define your content strategy, the easier starting evaluation will be.
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Framework for content evaluation questions
GOAL
DIM
EN
SIO
N
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MARKETING Positioning
SALES Guided Selling
SUPPORT Help or Education
REACH COMPREHENSION EFFICIENCY
ENGAGEMENT PERCEPTION COMPREHENSION
PERCEPTION CONVERSION ENGAGEMENT
Goals drive dimension priority
GOAL
DIM
EN
SIO
N
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Dimensions help identify specific questions
GOAL
DIM
EN
SIO
N
MARKETING: Positioning Digital Magazine
Goal is to raise awareness and position with midsize businesses
REACH Did our content attract midsize businesses?
ENGAGEMENT What did midsize businesses do with our content?
PERCEPTION Did our content change how midsize businesses view our expertise?
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EXECUTIVES + STAKEHOLDERS
Did our new digital magazine increase our
sales this quarter?
Oh, #$#@!
MARKETING MANAGER / DIRECTOR
Goal-aligned dimensions ward off the wrong questions
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EXECUTIVES + STAKEHOLDERS
Did our new digital magazine increase our
sales this quarter?
Our immediate goal is positioning, not sales. We’re
tracking our reach and impact on the market’s perceptions. And,
we’re succeeding at both.
MARKETING MANAGER / DIRECTOR
Goal-aligned dimensions ward off the wrong questions
34
The content evaluation process
Analyze 3
4 Interpret
5 Act
Collect 2
1 Ask
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2 Collect: Gathering content data for evaluation
• Focus on data that informs answers to your questions.
• Strive for a systematic approach.
• Rely on quantitative methodologies and tools.
Collection
Analytics
Surveys Sentiment
Other Data
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For many goals, behavior data is NOT ENOUGH to understand
content impact.
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2 Collect: Examples of quantitative tool types
USER BEHAVIOR USER PERCEPTION, INTENT, + CHARACTERISTICS
ANALYTICS SURVEY SENTIMENT
CLASSIC • Adobe SiteCatalyst
• Google Analytics
• ForeSee
• iPerceptions
• Salesforce Marketing Cloud (Radian6)
• IBM Social Media Analytics
NEW • Content Creation + Hosting Platforms (Skyword, Invodo)
• Chartbeat
• IBM Content Analytics
• ContentWRX
• UserZoom (survey component)
• SparkScore
• Clarabridge
• OpinionLab (open feedback component)
NOTEWORTHYFOR CONTENT
Some tools trending toward
• More content specifics
• More real-time data
Some tools trending toward
• More content specifics
• More integration with other data
• More help with interpretation
Some tools trending toward
• More accurate and faster analysis
• More content specifics
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3 Analyze: What are the answers to my questions?
Don’t do the ONE-OFF approach….
If you do, consider it a temporary bridge to building an analysis competency.
MANAGER / DIRECTOR
I’m being asked for proof that our content is making an
impact. We need a report. Find a way to make it happen
in your down time.
But, I have no down time…
CONTENT STRATEGIST
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3 Analyze: Develop an analysis competency
Quick Poll: What is your organization’s approach to analysis?
EMBEDDED Analyst is part of your team
CENTRALIZED Separate team analyzes
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4 Interpret: So what do these answers mean?
Turn your content data into content intelligence.
CONTENT INTELLIGENCE
CONTENT DATA + ANSWERS
INTERPRETATION
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4 Interpret: So what do these answers mean?
A match made in insight heaven
DATA ANALYSTS CONTENT STRATEGISTS
DATA CONTEXT
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If you don’t do something with your content intelligence, you
might as well not have it.
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5 Act: So what do we do about it?
Do at least one of the following.
CONFIRM + CONTINUE ADJUST STUDY
FURTHER
Track and communicate to build your content intelligence over time and across silos.
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The content evaluation process
Analyze 3
4 Interpret
5 Act
Collect 2
1 Ask
45
HOW TO COMMUNICATE CONTENT EVALUATION
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How NOT to communicate it
Throwing detailed reports over the fence…
Follow basic communication best practices.
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Educate executives beyond satisfaction
• Focus on telling a story of content impact on goals. • Progress
• Success
• Opportunity to improve
• Include enough details to support the story but no more.
• Note the benefits of having more details (vs satisfaction).
• Report regularly.
• Invite questions and feedback.
Our web satisfaction survey says content
is just fine…
EXECUTIVES + STAKEHOLDERS
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THANK YOU
Colleen Jones @leenjones
use with attribution
DOES YOUR CONTENT WORK? (New Riders)
Q1 2014 Updates at content-science.com/books/