Recently, someone asked if I could help him understand when it makes sense to outsource content work vs. handle it with an internal team.
At first, this question surprised me – it’s not one I hear often. Or ever, for that matter. But it got me thinking that perhaps it is asked (or silently considered) more than I realize.
Before diving into the details – here are some familiar situations that prompt the question: Who is going to do this content work?
• We have a giant pile of messy content.
• Nobody really “owns” our content, so everyone avoids it.
• We have content all over the place, and none of it is consistent when it comes to voice, tone, style or message.
• Our content isn’t useful, usable, relevant, or accurate.
• We are thinking about implementing a new content management solution.
OK. Yep. You have content work to be done. Now what? There are two common scenarios when it comes to the content requests we get:
• We have/are building an internal team that will take care of our content. Can you teach us some best practices and/or help us get started?
• There’s nobody/no time to take care of our content. Can you do it for us?
A shameless, yet good-humored, plug
Of course, it really wouldn’t hurt to consider hiring a content strategy consultancy (preferably based in Minneapolis) either way – to jumpstart your effort or to just take care of it. Content professionals (like the awesome staff at Brain Traffic) are standing by to help answer questions, develop a plan, increase confidence and dole out general content happiness.
On this week’s calendar: the Autumnal Equinox. Or as I like to say, the beginning of the end. Now that it’s fall, my mind drifts to dazzling topics like, raking leaves, saying "sayonara" to the sun, and that hard-coded alarm I still hold on to … first semester. Since nobody wants to read my complaining about Minnesota weather, I’d like to celebrate fall learning with a couple of content tips.
Tip #1: Content is more than copy. Around here, we love words. But what we really love is content — and there’s a difference. When we talk about content, we consider copy, meaningful imagery, metadata, user-generated, error messages, video, audio, graphs, charts, etc. You know who illustrates this concept well? TheNew York Times. Check out the Multimedia page and you’ll find photos, interactive graphics/features, text, audio, video and a lot of other cool stuff.
Tip #2: Speaking of graphs and charts, consider infographics. Bring together words with visuals. Do it to inform, entertain or inspire. We have a resident infographics junkie on staff. Her name is Christine. And she finds and circulates some goodies. Here’s where we go hunting: GOOD’s FFFFOUND! page incorporates the best of the web and the Transparency archive is a "graphical exploration of the data that surrounds us." Flowing Data "explores data visualization" in the Infographics Archive.
Tip #3: When I said "a couple" of tips, I really meant it.
We just scored some sleek new business cards at Brain Traffic. They are totally awesome, or as I like to say, "tawes."
Here’s the thing, though …
We have a ton of old cards. And I simply cannot stomach the idea of throwing them into the recycling bin. So I’m trying to think of creative ways to use them.
Thinking back to my middle school years, if given the choice to hang out with someone who looked cool — and was always saying things like, “Dude, I am so awesome. Look at how awesome I am,” I would have been all, “Ugh.”
However, if given the chance to hang out with someone who just was cool –- how they looked and acted, what they said –- I would have been all “Ohmigod, let’s totally hang out!”
(Okay, this never happened to me, but that’s beside the point.)
This concept still applies … especially to the “About Us” section of a website. No matter how beautifully designed, if a site’s voice doesn’t ring true, it’s easy to spot an “ugh.”
Rather than using this section of a site like a congratulatory press release, consider approaching “About Us” like a magazine’s Editor Letter.
Following this logic, “About Us” should:
Match the tone and voice of the entire website, while addressing Who / What / Why.
Give a good indication of what to expect on the rest of the site.
In my middle school scenario – just be cool.
This Editor’s Note fromTravel + Leisure really captures this concept:
We call ourselves travel missionaries at this magazine.
The mission is to get our readers out to experience the world, with all its eye-opening, mind-expanding, and life-enhancing possibilities. But at this moment it’s hard to focus on destinations and trip-planning strategies without addressing the economic problems that travel is facing …
Showcasing travel at home and abroad is what we do in the pages of Travel + Leisure, with stories about alluring destinations from Alaska to the Basque Country of France, to name just two in this issue. Our focus remains on providing T+L readers with the inspiration and information they need to achieve their dreams and aspirations.
Although this excerpt appeared in the print version of the magazine, with some slight modifications, this could easily populate an “About Us” section online. It’s current, specific, descriptive and accurately captures the spirit of the publication.
A bit of advice? Don’t announce your awesomeness in “About Us” and expect to be cool forever. Even if your site doesn’t overhaul content as frequently as a magazine — consider frequently updating “About Us” to accurately match your evolving online presence.
There’s a good chance you’ve seen “content strategy” popping up in your RSS more frequently – what it is and why it’s important.
If you aren’t yet familiar with content strategy, here’s the 10-second breakdown we use at Brain Traffic:
Content strategy is the plan for creating useful, usable content for your website. It defines:
What content should be on the site and why
How content will be added to the site
How the content will be managed after the site launches
Sounds great, right? Well, maybe it makes sense to you, but you aren’t sure if you can justify spending the time and money to do it. Or, maybe it makes perfect sense to you, but your boss isn’t convinced.
Although there are many ways an organization can benefit from content strategy, here are five things content strategy can do for you:
Help you plan for the future Once you create and launch a website, it isn’t really ever “done.” Websites need ongoing care and feeding. Content strategy creates a plan for giving your site life post-launch. Who will maintain it? How often should content be refreshed? When will it be updated?
Ward off Frankensite Your site launches and it's organized, clean, clear and concise. But soon the sales team decides to add a new service that needs to get on the site ASAP. And your CMO goes to a conference and comes back wanting to blog. Then your PR firm pitches an interactive timeline of company history – and since it looks cool, it needs a driver on the home page.
Before you know it, your site can turn into a cobbled-together creation that doesn’t quite make sense.
Content strategy creates documentation that can help you (and those that come after you) make informed decisions for website growth – that align with the original, measurable vision of the site.
Keep your customers engaged A vast majority of visitors to your website are looking for something – information, an experience, or an e-introduction to your organization.
Can they find what they are looking for on your site? Is it easy to find? Does it help achieve the task at hand?
Once someone arrives at your site, what they find must be useful and usable content – or they simply won’t stick around. The research involved in developing a content strategy can help you get relevant information to your audience in the right way, at the right time.
Give you a plan for herding cats A million social media options exist. Although you can’t control social media, having thought out your approach and position on how to handle your online reputation can do wonders.
For example, what are you going to do if a flurry of tweets mention your company? Will you respond? What will you say? Who will be “the voice” of your organization?
Articulating a content strategy means planning what you're going to say, why you're going to say it, and how it's going to happen. This absolutely includes social media – having a plan is critical.
Make you a hero Let’s face it. Content can be complicated – which means that it typically gets put in the “someone else will take care of this” camp. If you develop a solid content strategy, YOU’RE “taking care of it.”
Armed with a content strategy, you get to swoop in and save the day by looking smart and proactive.
Contact us. Contact. How to contact us. It’s everywhere online. Often, it’s the reason for visiting a site—to connect with an individual, a company, or a group.
Proof points:
Googling “contact us” yields 1,540,000,000 results. A BILLION AND A HALF.
The government expects all federal websites to have a contact us link on every page.
When a phone book lands on my front stoop, it moves directly to the recycling bin.
Despite the fact that well . . . everyone is looking to make contact, every website seems to do it a little differently. Here are a few examples to seed the conversation, and our "Contact Us" set on Flickr:
A la carte contact If you’re poking around on Apple’s site, and decide you’d like to make contact:
Scroll to the lower-right corner of the page (any page) and click the “contact us” link. From there, you can scan for a relevant topic that prompted your contact query. Information is presented in a variety of formats—mailing address, phone numbers, related links, popular topics and e-mail.
YAY: There’s a solution for everything. From actually making contact to getting more information to help answer a question—it’s in there.
NAY: There’s a solution for everything. It’s a lot to absorb and may even be considered overwhelming if you aren’t committed to dig in and find what you need.
Concise contact Minneapolis drama devotees can uncover a lot of information online for the Fringe Festival. What if you need more?
Use the left navigation, to find a persistent link to “contact us.” It’s just what it says – simple, clear information about contacting Festival staff. Includes a mailing address, phone, fax and online form to submit a message.
YAY: There are no frills here. It’s just what it says, “contact us.”
NAY: Not a big fan of asking people to classify the subject of their message. The choices are never accurately descriptive (i.e., there’s no option to “whine,” “complain,” or “send angry note”).
In touch with Twitter For people who are on the Twitter train, there’s an easy-to-spot link in the footer for making contact.
Click “Contact,” and you’ll arrive at a page titled “About Twitter” with a “Contact us” subhead. Here, you can visit the blog for more information, check out an online support center, get the mailing address or email for partnership and press inquiries. There’s no phone number, but then again, in the office beauty shot on the contact page, there isn’t a phone in sight.
YAY: In this case, it makes sense to package “About” and “Contact” information together – they’re both succinct and a fair amount of the topics are likely reasons people would make contact.
NAY: It’s odd that there isn’t an option to use Twitter as a form of contact. Oh, wait. There IS a Twitter ID to message about spam—but you only find that after clicking “Customer support” on the contact page.
Are my expectations too high? Possibly. But the truth is that a little TLC for online “contact” can make a huge difference in customer experience.
What’s it like at Brain Traffic, you ask? I believe my feelings would best be expressed in song.
No, I'm not going to sing. I'm going to reference.
What we do Believe it or not, there aren’t a whole lot of tunes with “content strategy” or “IA” or “web writing” in the title. But let’s face it, even if there were songs like that – who would listen to them? (I mean, except us.) There are, however, lots of great numbers that talk about what we do and how we think.
"It Takes Time to Build" – The Beastie Boys
“The Architect” – dEUS
“Oxford Comma” – Vampire Weekend
“The Writer” – The Drawing Board
Rhett & Link “Internet Overdose”
Who(m) we love Seriously. Like, these are BT spouse projects.
Where we live and work Oh, sure. There are the staples from Minneapolis – Prince, Soul Asylum, The Replacements – but there aren’t a whole heck of a lot of songs that talk about our town. These do …
That Dog "Minneapolis"
Vic Volare “I’m Gonna Miss Minneapolis”
How we roll Every Friday, we celebrate Disco Friday at the office. This event can include, but is not limited to: Disco tunes, a couple of beers, and an intercom session with Rick Astley piped through the entire office. (That's right, we RickRoll OURSELVES.)
No. I assure you — this isn't about those serene photographs with words like "success" in fancy fonts. This is a story about a piece of paper stuck to the magnet board at my desk.
Me: "OH! It's 10 ways to work better. Super simple, but good little Golden Rules, you know?" Visiting client: "Cool. Actually, it's a policy at our office to only open email when you're prepared to just do some emailing. It can be such a time waster."
Me: "No kidding."
Visiting client: "I like this. Can you send it to me?"
It occurred to me there's no reason to keep this little gem a secret. If you're looking for ways to work better, this list is for you.
