minneapolis souvenirs: the insights, lessons, and little gems i brought back from confab 2011
Post on 15-Sep-2014
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A wrap-up of Confab 2011, presented at the Content Strategy Cape Town Meetup on 20 July 2011.TRANSCRIPT
Minnesota souvenirsThe insights, lessons, and little
gems I brought back from Confab 2011
Here’s a real FAQ:
Why has content strategy suddenly become so
important in the last few years?
Organisations are
feeling the pain.
“Why hasn’t SEO fixed
our problems?”
“Why haven’t the users generated all our content for us?”
Image courtesy of Sean Tubridy
“We need a blog!” “We need a
Facebook page!”
“We need an iPad app!”
“We need to write
articles!”
Confab was the best conference ever,
in the history of forever.
Confab B
onus
Fact #1
Image courtesy of Sean Tubridy
Souvenir #1
“What is content strategy?” is getting simultaneously harder
and easier to answer.
This is a salad.
(Obviously.)
But what’s in it?
Image courtesy of Sean Tubridy
Confab topics: a small selection
Messaging
Writing for websites
Content curation
User-generated content
Metadata schemas
Content creation processes
Editorial strategy
Storytelling
Content marketing
Content management systems
Measuring content
Change management
Localisation
Souvenir #2
Listening is a key skill for content strategists. Perhaps
even THE key skill.
(I have no idea how Kristina can hear anything over that loud party hat.)
Image courtesy of Sean Tubridy
“Tell me more about
that.”
And that wasthe simple version.
460 people attended Confab. The conference sold out two months in
advance.
Confab B
onus
Fact #2
Image courtesy of Sean Tubridy
Souvenir #3
Defining workflow is an integral but undervalued part of content
strategy.
Who?
Image courtesy of Sean Tubridy
How?
What?
When?
The content creation process
Yeah. Sure.
The Groupon content creation process
I’m as disappointed as you are at the
fact that they don’t use unicorns.
Approximately 783 metric tons of cake were consumed at Confab.
Confab B
onus
Fact #3
Souvenir #4
Content must be well-structured if it’s to be future-proof.
“Nimble content can travel freely, retain context and meaning, and
create new products.”– Rachel Lovinger
Erin Kissane isn’t just smart;she also has amazing shoes.
Confab B
onus
Fact #4
Image courtesy of Sean Tubridy
Souvenir #5
Content has to be tested and measured. Continually.
Test. Improve content. Test.
Improve content. Test. Improve
content. Then reward yourself
with a piece of cake.
Image courtesy of Sean Tubridy
At least three prominent content strategists slid down the pole at the Minneapolis #11 fire station on the
night of 10 May 2011.
Confab B
onus
Fact #5
Margot Bloomstein
Fire station pole
Souvenir #6
Content strategy is becoming a community of practice.
We’re sharing ideas.
Image courtesy of Sean Tubridy
We’re sharing challenges.
We’re sharing tools.
Groups, groups everywhere
Funny ‘cos it’s
true.
Real friendships have developed.
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Confab had its own signature cocktail.
Confab B
onus
Fact #6
Souvenir #7
We need allies.
Find your content champions.
This thing only goes if we collaborate.
