Let's talk about content strategy as a framework for change management on the web—building relationships, processes and standards for sustainable change in a decentralized web culture.
We can't treat the web as a side project and we can't treat content as a website feature. Content is an asset. We rely on it to meet our marketing and communication goals, as well as attracting, informing, engaging and retaining students.
We need to change the way we do business in higher ed. Content strategy can lead the charge.
6. “
#meetcontent
Publishing online requires a known
set of skills... It also takes a few
new skills, like community
management, curation, and
semantic wrangling, most of which
are borrowed from other
disciplines.
Erin Kissane
Author, Elements of Content Strategy
6
11. #meetcontent
The landscape in higher ed
• Slow to change • Politics
• Channel-driven • CMS syndrome
organizational
structure
• Redesign syndrome
• Communicators who
• Higher ed is changing
can’t communicate
• Fear
11
12. VP
Marcom
Social
PR Web Magazine
Media
http://www.dilbert.com/strips/comic/2011-10-30/
13. #meetcontent
The landscape in higher ed
• Slow to change • Politics
• Channel-driven • CMS syndrome
organizational structure
• Redesign syndrome
• Communicators who
can’t communicate
• Higher ed is changing
• Fear
13
16. #meetcontent
The landscape in higher ed
• Slow to change • Politics
• Channel-driven • CMS syndrome
organizational structure
• Redesign syndrome
• Communicators who
can’t communicate
• Higher ed is changing
• Fear
16
17. “
#meetcontent
From an organizational
perspective, such behavior [as
inexperience, fear, and distrust]
weakens an institution because it
often allows bad work to persist
while preventing good work from
getting done.
Matt Klawitter
Associate Director, Digital Communications
Northwestern University Office of Alumni Relations and Development.
http://mattklawitter.com/2012/01/13/fear-change-edu/
17
18. #meetcontent
The landscape in higher ed
• Slow to change • Politics
• Channel-driven • CMS syndrome
organizational structure
• Redesign syndrome
• Communicators who
can’t communicate
• Higher ed is changing
• Fear
18
23. #meetcontent
The landscape in higher ed
• Slow to change • Politics
• Channel-driven • CMS syndrome
organizational structure
• Redesign syndrome
• Communicators who
can’t communicate
• Higher ed is changing
• Fear
22
26. #meetcontent
The landscape in higher ed
• Slow to change • Politics
• Channel-driven • CMS syndrome
organizational structure
• Redesign syndrome
• Communicators who
can’t communicate
• Higher ed is changing
• Fear
25
29. #meetcontent
The landscape in higher ed
• Slow to change • Politics
• Channel-driven • CMS syndrome
organizational structure
• Redesign syndrome
• Communicators who
can’t communicate
• Higher ed is changing
• Fear
28
30. #meetcontent
Source: Going the Distance: Online Education in the
United States, 2011 (Babson Survey Research Group
http://www.dilbert.com/strips/comic/2011-10-30/
and the College Board)
http://sloanconsortium.org/publications/survey/going_distance_2011
41. #meetcontent
Communication goals
• What questions are you trying to answer with the
content you create?
• What information are you trying to convey?
• How do you want to convey it?
40
44. #meetcontent
Strategies for success
• Content-first • Governance
• Goals • Be the champion
• Advocate for users • Measurement
• Collaboration • Create a content culture
• Find the champion
•
43
45. “
#meetcontent
Underneath it all, a master content
strategist must be an advocate and a
diplomat. We must advocate on behalf
of the end users, the business users,
the stakeholders, and the content vision
itself. And we must use diplomacy to
influence a wide range of people over
whom we don’t have any actual
authority.
Rachel Lovinger
Content Strategy Director
Razorfish NYC
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/tinker-tailor-content-strategist/
44
46. “
#meetcontent
Underneath it all, a master content
strategist must be an advocate and a
diplomat. We must advocate on behalf
of the end users, the business users,
the stakeholders, and the content vision
itself. And we must use diplomacy to
influence a wide range of people over
whom we don’t have any actual
authority.
Rachel Lovinger
Content Strategy Director
Razorfish NYC
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/tinker-tailor-content-strategist/
45
47. “ Underneath it all, a master content
strategist must be an advocate and a
diplomat. We must advocate on behalf
of the end users, the business users,
the stakeholders, and the content vision
itself. And we must use diplomacy to
influence a wide range of people over
whom we don’t have any actual
authority.
Rachel Lovinger
Content Strategy Director
Razorfish NYC
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/tinker-tailor-content-strategist/
46
48. “
#meetcontent
Underneath it all, a master content
strategist must be an advocate and a
diplomat. We must advocate on behalf
of the end users, the business users,
the stakeholders, and the content vision
itself. And we must use diplomacy to
influence a wide range of people over
whom we don’t have any actual
authority.
Rachel Lovinger
Content Strategy Director
Razorfish NYC
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/tinker-tailor-content-strategist/
http://www.slideshare.net/lpacker/these-kids-today-usability-testing-with-current-and-prospective-students-13259382
47
56. “
#meetcontent
The reality of every business changes
all the time, yet strategies and projects
takes months if not years to materialise.
Businesses themselves are usually
aware of this changing reality to varying
degrees, but that awareness is often
present in hard-to-find places.
Elizabeth McGuane
Content Strategist
http://mappedblog.com/2011/09/01/an-existentialists-content-strategy/
55
61. #meetcontent
Governance
• Have our website objectives changed?
• Have our users’ needs changed?
• Have our resources changed?
• Is our strategy still effective?
60
62. #meetcontent
Strategies for success
• Content-first • Governance
• Goals • Be the champion
• Advocate for users • Measurement
• Collaboration • Create a content culture
• Find the champion
•
61
63. “
#meetcontent
The only way out is to stop waiting for
permission, and to start leading. This
isn’t technically complex, but it takes
courage: the willingness to leave our
comfort zones, face our own fear of
confronting the status quo, and
overcome our resistance to shipping.
Jonathan Kahn
Together London
http://lucidplot.com/2011/10/03/governance-linchpin/
62
68. “
#meetcontent
The analysis of qualitative and
quantitative data from your
website and the competition, to
drive a continual improvement of
the online experience that your
[audiences, and potential
audiences] have, which translates
into your desired outcomes (online
and offline).
Avinash Kaushik
Author, Web Analytics 2.0
69. #meetcontent
Web Analysis:
A Continuous Process
68
70. #meetcontent
Strategies for success
• Content-first • Governance
• Goals • Be the champion
• Advocate for users • Measurement
• Collaboration • Create a content culture
• Find the champion
•
69
78. People are not averse
to quality content or
happy users. They’re
resistant to change.
79. “
#meetcontent
The happier people are, the better
their content will be, the more
content they’ll produce.
Patrick Cooper
Senior Product Manager, NPR
http://www.poynter.org/how-tos/digital-strategies/134791/4-ways-content-
management-systems-are-evolving-why-it-matters-to-journalists/
78
![#meetcontent
[Photo for: “Who likes change?”]
http://www.flickr.com/photos/diggersf/2227208044/
2](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)