2. BRETT MEYER
DIRECTOR OF STRATEGY, THINKSHOUT
@BRETT_MEYER
KATIE CARRUS
DIRECTOR, ONLINE COMMUNICATIONS,
HUMANE SOCIETY LEGISLATIVE FUND
@KATIEANDABIRD
9. SO, WHAT *IS* CONTENT?
#15NTCSTRAT101
CONTENT STRATEGY 101
10. CONTENT STRATEGY
● The basic notion that our
messages need a plan.
● A plan for what content you
need to achieve your
organizational goals and
meet user needs.
● Informs how you do content,
who does it, for whom, when
you’ll do it, where you’ll do it,
and how you’ll measure it.
#15NTCSTRAT101
CONTENT STRATEGY 101
20. IF YOU REALLY LOVE DATA
http://www.slideshare.net/jcolman/data-sets-you-free-confab-2013
#15NTCSTRAT101
CONTENT STRATEGY 101
21. STEP 5: TIME TO MAKE A
STATEMENT
#15NTCSTRAT101
CONTENT STRATEGY 101
22. HERE’S AN EARLY ONE
Content Strategy: HUMANESOCIETY.ORG
humanesociety.org is an externally-focused marketing tool that
uses curated, powerful, broad-brush, brand-focused and
audience-focused storytelling and resources to compel users to
care about our issues so they can do something about them. The
great strength of our website is not an accounting of our work as
an organization, nor is it even the narration of a movement.
Through its potential as a medium for stories and resources, it is
an agent of change. It is advocacy itself.
#15NTCSTRAT101
CONTENT STRATEGY 101
23. AN EASY ONE (PART 2)
GOAL: Inspire and facilitate action on behalf of animals. Action
can be conversion or non-conversion and includes donating.
AUDIENCE:
1. Primary (60%): general public
2. Secondary (30%): advocates, our base
3. Tertiary (10%): everyone else (specific major donors, media, corporate leaders, scientists,
farmers, entertainment industry, industries we work to reform like ag and pets, legislators,
corporate leaders, academics, faith leaders, thought leaders) – they’ll all be served through a
message and narrative that speaks to the foundational, general audience
***who the audience is not: the opposition, us (internal)***
#15NTCSTRAT101
CONTENT STRATEGY 101
24. STEP 6: DO THE CONTENT
#15NTCSTRAT101
CONTENT STRATEGY 101
The key is, you don’t need to track everything. But we’ll come back to that.
Source: http://johnmccrory.com/wp-content/uploads/handy-dandy-content-audit-template.png
a. EARLY HSUS STATEMENT: 2 MORE SLIDES: HERE’S ONE OF my organization’s affiliate’s EARLIEST MAGIC LAYERS.
Show hsus statement. This was part of a one-page doc that definitely changed as the org. evolved with the strategy and the group working on this became bigger. So you’ll do it, and you’ll get feedback. And you’ll have something to work from. Remember, you’re content champion. Give your team something to work from. It’s critical to setting the tone for why you know it’s important to work this way. But don’t freak out: You can totally do this, and it doesn’t have to be perfect. Just START somewhere. That’ll likely be big enough!
Content is a process, not a project. That’s why you need to think of your content as a process, not a project. And that’s why you need a governance model.
Let’s start with Roles & Responsibilities. Unless you’re a very small organization, your content creators are likely going to come from across your org chart as you build your team.
This is what cross-functional teams are for. You’ll find champions for your content strategy across your organization. It’s your job to shape them into a team. If you’re organization is large, you’ll want to have representation from every department, if possible. If you’re small, well, your job is easier. You know, aside from the whole “not enough hours in the day” problem. And don’t forget about buy-in from leadership.
But somebody has to be the boss. People don’t experience an organization as the sum of its departments, they experience it as an organic whole. This ties into branding: you have one chance to make a first impression, and if anybody can publish content, nobody’s likely making sure it stays true to your voice.
You’re not a newspaper, but you still need an editor-in-chief. Don’t let your ED do it.
Photo Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesrdoe/4501432953
Essentially, you need a plan.
Communications calendars, content audits, quality checklist, styleguide.
Your plan needs to be successful. Share it publicly.
You need to train your team on the plan. This is the key. Well, training and documentation, both.
This sounds like an awful lot of work. But is it more work than having to train and retrain your staff over and over again. Maybe you work at one of those rare organizations where everybody stays for 30 years. But if you don’t, if somebody leaves, you’ve got documentation. This is part of the formalization of any organization.
Photo Credit: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blueprint_of_Victory_-_NARA_-_534551.jpg
Keep track of who’s responsible for what. This takes you back to the roles and responsibilities you’ve already established.
You don’t need to track everything. These are your definitions of what constitutes success for your various types of content – and it may be different for each one. What constitutes a successful blog post may be very different from your About Us page.
Establish your KPIs. These are your definitions of what constitutes success for your various types of content – and it may be different for each one. What constitutes a successful blog post may be very different from your About Us page.
Photo Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ltangelini/4683559792
So, track: All “Evergreen” content, which will likely map to your top navigation items
High-performing content This is where cross-promotion opportunities arise
Content-type templates: Make sure you establish URL patterns for web content
Poor performing content: This may be important to your mission, but if its not having an impact, you need to do something about that.
It’s okay not to keep everything. You have our permission.
And this brings you back to your content audit again. This needs to be a living document, not a one-off.
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/enerva/14296912543
In the end, it mostly comes down to writing things down. Strategy is planning. Your tactics may change along the way, but if you keep the end result in mind – providing content your users want that also helps you meet your misson – you’ll end up in a good place.
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kalexanderson/5337994571/
Baby Steps! and: more resources on how to sell this internally (Kristina Halvorson has great ones in her book. maybe we could also add a slide here for additional resources?)
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tanyaspillane/765113214
BRETT