Once upon a time, I wrote a blog called The Value of Content, Part 1: Adam Smith Never Expected This. It was about how traditional economics make it difficult to assign value to content. In that blog, I promised to write a sequel about measuring content “in a few weeks.” That was (blush) 94 weeks ago. (I’d like to say I was abducted by aliens or something, but in reality, I was on a bunch of exciting content strategy projects. Way cooler than aliens, right?)
Since “Part 1” was published, content strategy has gained a lot of ground in the business world. However, justifying budgets and resources for content projects is still a major challenge. So, here, at long last, are seven tips to help you measure content effectively.
I wish I could give you a simple, foolproof way to make all your content measurement dreams come true. Unfortunately, there’s no magic app or secret mathematical equation that does all the work. Sure, there are tools that streamline the measurement process, but no matter how many fancy widgets you buy, measuring content value will still take a significant amount of time and attention.
1. Don’t worry about exact numbers
Before we talk about how to measure content, let’s talk about measurement itself. Most people think of measurement as a practice of absolutes (I am exactly 5 feet 9 inches tall, my dog weighs exactly 98 pounds, etc.). With this mindset, things that can’t be measured exactly can’t be measured at all.
This perception is reinforced in the business world. As I explained in my previous blog, our economic system was created when most products were tangible things, such as shoes or chairs. Calculating the manufacturing costs, units sold, and price for these products is relatively easy. The CFO sticks all the data in a fancy Excel spreadsheet and poof: the company’s year-end profit from shoes is exactly $4,829,006.56. (I’m oversimplifying it, but you get the gist.)
However, when somebody tries to measure something intangible—like the value of content—it’s impossible to come up with an exact number. So, people assume content is immeasurable.
Luckily, most scientists, mathematicians, and statisticians say exact measurement is a myth. To them, the goal of measurement is to reduce uncertainty. Get this: it’s impossible to eliminate uncertainty all together—all measurement is based on assumptions. That means, when measuring content value, you don’t have to come up with precise numbers. You just need to provide enough information that your stakeholders feel comfortable making a decision. Think estimates, not exacts. Now, doesn’t that seem easier?
2. Start by defining what you’re measuring
Ok, so how do you reduce uncertainty? The first thing you need to do is decide what you’re measuring. It might sound simple, but it’s actually one of the trickiest parts of the process. The key is to get as specific as possible, because the more specific you get, the more uncertainty you’ll be able to eliminate.
Start by answering the following questions:
How are you defining “content”? Many people forget to answer this critical question. I have my own ideas about what content is, but your definition will depend on your situation. You may need to break “content” down into smaller distinct categories. For example, if you define content as “text,” you may need to define several types of text (marketing vs. help text, intro paragraphs vs. sidebars, etc.). List each component or distinct type of content individually—they may need to be measured differently.
What does the content help the user do? In other words, what is the function of the content? Most project teams identify high-level user tasks, but they don’t go deep enough. You need to get into the dirty details. For each piece of content, list as many functions as you can and rank them in order of importance. The more explicit the function, the better. For example, instead of saying the “content on our furniture store website facilitates the buying process,” you might say content on a product detail page needs to:
Accurately describe the furniture
Justify the cost of the furniture
Provide clear details about furniture customization options
Guide the user through the purchase process
What are the desired characteristics of the content? In addition to function, most organizations want content to have certain traits. For example, they may want it to be professional (no spelling errors) or “on brand.” Again, the more information you can gather about these characteristics, the more easily you will be able to measure them.
3. Assign values to your functions and characteristics
This step really pushes content people out of their comfort zone, because it involves math. And assumptions. I promise it’s not as hard as you think.
For each of the functions and characteristics you identified, assign a value based on data or educated assumptions. (You can use monetary amounts, percentages, or arbitrary point systems. Just as long as you use numbers.) Document all of the data and assumptions you use, so you can show them to your stakeholders later, if necessary.
Using our furniture website example from above, assigning values can go something like this:
The average chair costs $500
Analytics show that 50 people start the process of purchasing a chair online every day, but only 10 finish the process
User research shows that the instructions on the purchase pages are very confusing
We assume 5-10 people leave the purchasing process because of something unrelated to the site, and 5-10 leave the process when they see the shipping costs
We assume the remaining 20-30 people would complete the purchasing process if the instructions were more helpful
Therefore, the value of the instructional content is likely around $300,000-450,000 per month ($500 x 20-30 people x 30 days)
The cost of fixing the content is approximately $25,000
(In this case, we can prove with a large amount of certainty that the price of the project is worth doing!)
A lot of work? Yes. Worth it? Absolutely.
In some cases, documenting only your most important functions and characteristics is necessary to help your stakeholders make decisions with certainty. In other cases, you’ll have to do the whole enchilada. (Hint: Tons of data/assumptions can get confusing, so on big projects you may want to create a content scorecard or matrix. You could even put it in Excel—just like the CFO. See how official you’re getting?)
4. The more ways you measure, the more certainty you get
At Brain Traffic, when we ask a new web client how they measure content effectiveness, they often give us a Google analytics login and a smile. Analytics are great. But, no single measurement method captures the complete picture of content.
Try to use a variety of measurement methods, instead of relying on favorite or easy method. When you use two or more methods, you'll get more well-rounded results. Some common methods include:
Analytics: use technology tools to collect data
User research: ask the users directly what they want or observe their behavior
External expert review: ask content experts or industry peers to review/rate content
Internal expert review: get insights from knowledgeable people inside your organization, such as sales people or customer service reps
Competitive comparison: measure direct competitors and your content on the same factors and compare
The more ways and more often you measure, the more certainty you get. But, you likely won’t be able to use all of these methods—just choose the ones that are most applicable to your organization.
5. Establish a baseline
Taking a baseline measurement is simple: before you make any changes, make sure you measure your existing content using the same metrics you’ll use on the new stuff. It can be painful to get feedback on content you already know is crappy, but the baseline will help you measure the impact of your future content work. And if all goes well, you’ll have handy, glowing before-and-after stats to pass around at your company’s next board meeting.
6. Measure regularly
Once your new content is live, set a regular schedule to measure the content using the established metrics. This will help you see how content performs over time as business and user needs change. In addition, it helps you understand how content activities change due to events like holidays or product launches.
7. Be realistic about measurement budgets
It’s important to plan a budget for your measurement initiative. Although measurement isn’t always expensive, it does take time, resources, and money. Scale your efforts to the size of the content project. If the whole content project is going to cost $50,000, you can look at basic analytics and do some informal user testing with your friends. But, if your company is looking to invest several million dollars in a content venture, $50,000 on measurement is money well spent.
Phew, I had a lot to say
Well, there you have it. Two years of pent-up measurement info in one ginormous blog. Although this is probably too much information for a blog, it’s just the tip of the iceberg in the content measurement conversation. In fact, it’s a tiny ice cube.
Measuring content value is important to content strategists, but it’s not just a content strategy issue. It’s one of the most important business discussions of the information age. There’s still lots to learn, let us know what you think.
You need a spare tire in your content strategy. Otherwise, you’ll end up stranded with a blowout on the information superhighway.
Be Prepared
The Boy Scout motto is a simple two words: Be Prepared. (I am an Eagle Scout, you know.) I think of that motto often, in both personal and professional settings.
We’ve all encountered unexpected situations and issues of one sort or another while working with online projects. The anxiety level is usually in direct proportion to the lack of preparedness.
Online content emergency + no plan = TIME TO FREAK OUT
Online content emergency + content strategy = cool as the other side of the pillow
Preparedness is not always black and white. It’s more of a spectrum, really.
For example, I saw the cutest car in the parking lot the other day—a Fiat 500. I went right to my desk to look for more info on their website. While clicking through the options, I discovered an odd one: A SPARE TIRE.
A spare tire. As an option. Really? (Click to inflate)
Some car companies now include a “tire repair kit” instead of a spare tire. It’ll fix some minor problems like a slow leak or a nail puncture. No biggie.
But, if you hit a big pothole and completely destroy your tire, you’ll be left stranded. This happened to me earlier this year. No repair kit would have helped the shredded remnants of my tire. To be fully prepared, I needed a spare.
Issues Known or Unknown
In 2002, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said the following quote. It remains relevant, yet somewhat garbled, today:
[T]here are known knowns; there are things we know we know.
We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don't know we don't know.
Believe it or not, spare tires and unknown unknowns can have an impact on what you do online.
Online Content with a Slow Leak
The known/unknown quote serves as a reminder to account for the most likely and obvious things that might affect an online endeavor in some way. Take these flat-tire scenarios, for example:
Staff changes disrupt content workflows
A CMS update breaks your current site
Third-party content provider folds
These things can and should be anticipated. They are “known,” as Rumsfeld would say. Contingency plans to deal with them can be crafted and shelved until needed. It’s all in a day’s work for a sustainable content strategy.
Online Content-Shredding Blowout
But what about those pesky “unknown unknowns” that Rumsfeld talked about?
Plan as we may, there is always something that comes along to break even the most carefully assembled contingency plan. Often, the unknown unknowns are major and abrupt. For example, some tire-blowout-level scenarios:
New laws or regulations change your content ecosystem
Upper management changes the overall business objectives
Competitor innovation changes the market landscape
Technological innovation changes the industry
What can we do? Develop a fast and flexible approach that allows content teams to address those unknown unknowns as they come up. This is not meant to be an explicit plan. Instead, it should be a modifiable process that is informed by the foundation work that goes into every solid content strategy.
Using Your Spare Tire
When the unknown unknowns make themselves, um, known, established roles and responsibilities become even more important. Some things to consider when establishing your “unknown unknowns” approach:
Include the proper staff and stakeholders. Not every person needs to be at the table for each discussion, but the right ones should be.
Keep an eye on sustainability. Changes must be realistic, and within the true scope and capability of those involved (as with any content project).
Set everything in alignment with your core strategy and business goals. Any one of the tire-blowout-level scenarios can lead endeavors off course.
Take the time to put together plans for issues and situations that might threaten your online endeavors. Then, create a process that will allow you (and your team) to address any other situations that come up.
Before long, issues will be resolved and you’ll have your tires on the road again.
A couple of months ago, I wrote a post about the many kinds of content strategy currently going on in the world and how the diversity within CS gives us the chance to do more interesting things, and to learn from each other. Confab 2011 was just around the corner, and I was hoping we could set aside some of our industry loyalties and learn from each other.
Hippie campfire stuff. With marmots.
Then Confab happened, and there were marketing folks and UX people and publishers and journalists and data designers all speaking and listening and drinking Lorem Sipsums—and there was way more PLUR in the house than I’d dared to hope for.
So I think we’re heading in the right direction. But before I move on from the hippie stuff entirely, I want to clarify some things from the last post. Starting with this whole UX business.
I Come in Peace
First, a disclaimer. User experience (UX) design is a field in flux. Its central terms are in dispute, as are the boundaries of the field itself. There are those who believe that UX design is something very specific, and those who believe that anything that influences a user who has an experience counts. Blessedly, I’m a specialist, so this is not my fight.
For the purposes of my own work and writing, I tend to think of UX design as a kind of design work associated with certain methods, processes, and values. It’s not limited to the web, or even (theoretically, at least) to the digital world.
I’ve spent most of my career working alongside fantastic designers and developers, many of whom consider themselves UX people. That’s my world, and I believe CS is and should remain a critical part of UX design work.
For a long time, I tended to assume that the only “real” content strategy was the kind of content strategy that took place within the framework of UX.
But it turns out that CS doesn’t belong solely to people who do it the way I do it: CS is not a synonym for UX, or even exclusively a subset of UX. And that’s because CS is in contexts and fields both within and outside the purview of UX design. (Using the working provisional pseudo-definition above.)
CS ≠ UX, Take Two
One useful way to think about the relationship between UX and CS may be to consider the relationship between UX and programming/IT work.
Some kinds of programming—notably front-end and UI development—are inextricably entwined with UX design. (Or at least they should be.)
Other kinds of programming and IT work, including a lot of back-end coding, IT architecture (virtual and physical), security, and a host of other activities may well support and be influenced by UX design choices, but aren’t themselves part of UX design. That doesn’t mean that IT work is more or less important than UX work, just that they’re different.
In the same way, a lot of CS takes place within the boundaries of UX design projects and processes. And a lot of it—CS that deals with enterprise-scale data design, the long-term management of publishing processes, old-school marketing/communications planning, and so on—also goes on outside those boundaries.
This Is a Beautiful Thing
My slightly muddled point in the original post was that people are doing CS work within higher education, mass media and publishing, journalism, information science, marketing, and plenty of other fields without engaging in anything that resembles user experience design methods.
And that this is not only OK, but excellent, because it gives us chances to cross-pollinate and learn weird new things and get better at what we do. Developing a big-tent CS community that recognizes the virtues of diversity and niche work benefits us all.
Where Do We Go From Here?
A lot of great posts appeared after Confab, including two from Jonathan Kahn and Sara Wachter-Boettcher, that discuss ways of moving ahead as our community continues to gel. From Jonathan’s call to arms:
Confab showed me that we have a community of people who are spending their time sharing and learning from each other about how to change their organizations so that they can start to get hold of the overwhelming problems associated with content strategy, web strategy, and web governance.
That’s amazing. What I learned at Confab is that all of us can and should do more to broaden the conversation, involve more people, start to get this change train moving. Brain Traffic and others have led the way: now it’s your turn. Start a meetup, host a work lunch, write a blog post, submit a talk to a conference.
And Sara, echoing Relly Annett-Baker’s Confab presentation in suggesting that we need to spend more time and energy collaborating with our counterparts in UX/design teams:
Once you’ve established a bit of voice, it’s time for ears to take over – time to start listening to and collaborating with those people we fought so hard to let us in in the first place.
I’ve been super-lucky to work with content-savvy UX/design teams from the get-go, so I can attest to the benefits of close collaboration. And I think Jonathan’s quite correct to shoo us all out onto the streets to raise hell in our own ways.
I also want to suggest one more course of action: we need to be more aggressive about learning from smart content people who don’t work in the same ways and contexts that we do. And to that end, I have a proposal.
The Summer Blogging Challenge
Some of you may share my fond memories of the summer reading programs run by schools and libraries during summer break. Long, hot afternoons outdoors with a big stack of books are still my favorite way to experience the peak of summer, and I collected a lot of scratch-n-sniff stickers for my trouble.
It’s 100 degrees in New York City today, and I’m issuing a challenge. Between now and the end of August, in the spirit of cross-training, I challenge all of you who are practicing and learning about content strategy to read at least one book or blog series, attend a talk, or otherwise dig into an area of content strategy work that’s well outside of your own expertise. And then to blog about what you’ve learned and how it might affect your approach to your work.
And because I am still ALL about the stickers, yes, there will be (tiny, ridiculous) prizes. Comment here or send a note to @braintraffic on Twitter when your post is up to get in on the bounty. Southern hemisphere readers will receive especially fine (tiny, ridiculous) Winter Blogging Challenge prizes. Special awards will be given for the most prolific reader/poster; gummy rodents may be involved.
Every content project has stakeholders. And while developing and documenting your content strategy is super important, it’s nothing more than paper or electronic files without their support.
Getting to Kumbaya
Content projects touch a wide variety of stakeholders in an organization. Most of the time, these projects don’t start out with everyone holding hands and singing “Kumbaya.” As I regularly tell client stakeholders, “I’ll be surprised if you agree on everything. This is your time to talk it out.”
To get to the hand-holding and singing, follow these five steps:
1. Identify your stakeholders
First, make a list of the stakeholders for your project. Get specific—not just “someone from product development.” Find out precise names and titles.
Then, determine what type of stakeholder each person is. I categorize using these seven types (one person can be assigned to more than one category):
Sponsor – This is the person who gets the recognition or takes the fall. There’s usually only one.
Financial decision-makers – Again, there’s usually only one, but there could be more. These are the people who decide whether your project (or parts of your project) gets funded.
Strategic decision-makers – These are the people who have a problem that your project can or should solve. They are usually pretty vocal, and can approve/veto your work.
Champions – These are the people you can count on to evangelize the importance of content and content strategy.
Derailers – While these people don’t have official veto power, they can stop the project in its tracks (intentionally or unintentionally). They are often outside the obvious pool of project stakeholders, but impacted by the project outcomes.
Influencers – These people have opinions and insight that should be considered, but they don’t have veto power.
Implementers – These are the people who are responsible for putting your strategy into action. They often have very specific knowledge or expertise.
2. Get ’em involved
Alignment is not about telling people what you think and then asking them to agree. It’s about getting stakeholders to participate in the project, so they feel invested in and committed to the strategy. Work with your project sponsor to ensure all stakeholders are involved in some way. Some stakeholders need to be more involved than others, but everyone needs to be aware of your project objectives and updated on project progress.
3. Anticipate their needs
A very wise woman once told me that objections are needs or concerns in disguise. The more you know about your stakeholders’ needs and concerns, the better you can address them. Cultivate understanding between team members and avoid surprise objections later. Keep in mind that their needs will likely change as you progress through your project, so reassess as you go.
4. Craft your messages
Once you have a pretty good idea about what your stakeholders care about, start thinking of messages that will resonate with them most. For each of your stakeholders, complete the sentence, “She needs content strategy because …” Center your discussions with that person around what’s most important to her.
A simple stakeholder matrix can help you collect information about your stakeholders and organize your messages.
5. Don’t align ’em and leave ’em
Stakeholder alignment isn’t something that happens just once on your content project. It happens over and over throughout the project—from inception to implementation. Getting and keeping stakeholders aligned throughout the process is hard work. At every key point (or at regular intervals), don’t forget to stop, drop, and align.
If you pay attention to alignment, with any luck all of the stakeholders will be singing “Kumbaya.” And their favorite verses may include stuff like: “Someone’s creating content, Kumbaya …” or “Someone’s auditing stuff, Kumbaya …” Feel free to improvise your own.
“My feelings toward your company can only be described as a crush.” The first line of my cover letter to Brain Traffic was more of a confession than a compelling reason to hire me. I had been happy at my last job, but I had also spent several years getting more and more excited about content strategy. I was ready to take the leap. Even if you’re not a doe-eyed fangirl like me, you may be reading this and other blogs because you’re hearing the insistent whistle of content strategy’s steam engine, and you want in.
Everybody loves the sound of a train in the distance
Content strategy may seem far from your current career, but it might be closer than you realize. As Erin Kissane points out in The Elements of Content Strategy, we arrive at this work along different tracks, bearing different skills. I came from an enterprise publishing background. Others enter through marketing or information architecture. With such varied origins, how do newbies get started? How can you find a handhold and climb aboard?
Kristina Halvorson, American Hobo
We can take a few cues from the archetype of the American hobo. Living life on the rails, he kept his wits about him and looked for work wherever he could find it. Here’s the advice he might give to a wannabe content strategist:
Remember your bindle. What are the most valuable things you already know and carry with you? Content strategy is a hodgepodge of editorial instinct, business sense, and compassion. The strengths you already possess will help you succeed, so keep them tied securely in your pack.
Get a running start. To board a moving train, you need to sprint to gain speed. In the case of content strategy, that means educating yourself as quickly as possible while launching forward. Read voraciously. Follow content strategists on Twitter. Find out if there’s a meetup near you.
Share the beans. You will meet all kinds of interesting characters as you ride the rails. Stakeholders. SEO experts. Curators. Employ campfire etiquette and graciously exchange tasty morsels with everyone you meet.
Don’t wait for an invitation. You don’t need a ticket—or a particular job title—to begin the journey. Wherever you work, you can begin using The Quad and other content strategy principles to shape your projects. If you know this is the route for you, find a way to hop onboard.
You may feel vulnerable as you consider a leap from the safety of a familiar job into something that is still being defined. But that risk pays off when you realize, “I’m doing it! I’m on my way! I am on a magical locomotive bound for Contentville!” (At this point it’s important to note that no hoboes were harmed in the shameless manipulation of this train metaphor.)
Ready, Set, JUMP!
You may feel as if you’re on the sidelines, but you don’t have to sit there and wave sadly at the caboose. There has never been a more exciting time to board the speeding bullet that is content strategy. Organizations are recognizing the value of investing in high-quality content. Thought leaders are refining the philosophy while strategists refine the practice. Confab is next week! There are countless ways to turn your content strategy crush into a serious relationship. And? Brain Traffic is hiring. If you’re at Confab, visit the Brain Traffic booth to learn more.
Tonight, I’m headed to my first official “slumber party” in quite some time. My daughter and I are bunking with all the aunties, cousins, and grannies in anticipation of the royal wedding coverage—which starts at a painfully early 3:00 a.m. for us.
I know. It’s wrong on so many levels—there’s the anti-monarchy angle, the feminist issues, and it’s at 3-freakin’-a.m. But, my preschool daughter loves princesses and brides, and I’m a sucker for feel-good pageantry. So, we’ll be there, bleary-eyed in our jammies, celebrating Wills and Kate with toasts of the multigrain-with-butter variety.
Kate: “What? I’m on the BT blog? Now I’m really famous.” The official portrait photographs for the engagement of Prince William and Miss Catherine Middleton. (Copyright 2010 Mario Testino).
Saving the monarchy, sponsoring a content strategy project … it’s all the same
However, unlike watching Charles and Diana’s wedding when I was a kid, this time I understand that it’s not all fun and fairytales. I can almost feel the pressure on Kate Middleton from Minnesota. No doubt she’s getting exactly what she wants, but STILL. As if getting married wasn’t stressful enough, she’s a “commoner” expected to save the British monarchy (in fashionable, but not too extravagant, frocks).
Odd as it may seem, sponsors of corporate content strategy projects are often under a similar type of pressure. Obviously, they don’t have 130 billion people commenting on their fashion choices, but, like Kate, many are knowingly:
Committing themselves to a new role with increased responsibility and prominence
Tackling a huge, “mission critical” initiative, where related past efforts have had marginal success (if any)
Working in a fast-paced, technically-enhanced environment that their predecessors never knew and contemporaries don’t always understand
Facing political minefields and public scrutiny
With all that stress, why do they do it? I’d guess both Kate and the project sponsors would say it’s because there’s an exciting opportunity, there’s something they love about it, and they believe they can do it. Additionally, if it all goes well, the benefits for their organizations (not to mention themselves) will be great.
Help your project sponsors be royally successful
As content strategists, we have to be content experts, but we also need to be strategists. Part of the role of a strategist is to help each project sponsor navigate his or her environment. It’s a nice thing to do, and it’ll make the strategy a lot more successful.
So, take a cue from the royal couple’s advisors. When appropriate, don’t be afraid to help your project sponsor:
Be prepared and confident. The future Princess of Wales has a lot to learn, fast. She’s apparently taking lessons in a variety of topics: royal etiquette, dealing with the press, and even the Welsh language. Pob lwc! (That’s “good luck” in Welsh. She’ll need it.)
Good strategists ensure project sponsors are similarly prepared. Be sure your project sponsor is armed with knowledge about content strategy best practices, processes, and theories. That way, they can participate fully in project work and talk confidently about content strategy to other stakeholders when necessary.
Earn trust from organization leadership. Just last week the Queen gave her official, written consent to the wedding of Prince William and “our trusty and well-beloved Catherine Elizabeth Middleton.” Trusty? Nice work, Kate. I’m guessing the Queen never said that about Fergie.
Helping your sponsor earn the trust of the CEO, CMO, or similar stakeholders is critical to strategy buy-in and implementation. Whether it’s creating talking points for your sponsor, giving a presentation, or facilitating a workshop, do what it takes to get leadership on board.
Keep stakeholders informed, and interested. The PR wizards from Clarence House have done an excellent job of releasing information about the royal wedding at regular intervals. These timely updates throughout out the wedding preparations have kept everyone apprised of progress and kept them interested.
Once the project is underway, make sure your sponsor has regular progress updates to keep stakeholders interested and involved.
Get alignment before action. Kate and William were engaged for several weeks before it was announced to the public. That time gave the families and royal advisors a chance to get on the same page, coordinate activities, and come across as a unified, believable front.
There’s nothing worse than 11th-hour political controversy—it derails the project and makes your sponsor’s job a nightmare. So, when it’s time to make big announcements around your strategy (introducing the strategic plan, launching strategy implementation, etc.), plan a few days in your schedule to ensure all of the key members of the project and leadership teams are aligned in advance.
And then they lived happily ever after
Take some time to understand each project sponsor’s stress points and alleviate what you can. When project sponsors (and their teams) have a positive project experience, there’s a significantly better chance that strategic recommendations will be approved and implemented. And that’s a happy ending for everybody.
As for William and Kate, I hope they have a happy ending, too. I wish them “longyfarchiadau” (that’s “congratulations” in Welsh). I’d also like to tell them: mae fy hofrenfad yn llawn llyswennod (“my hovercraft is full of eels”). Apparently, it’s a common Welsh phrase.
Whether your content is produced in-house or licensed from a third party, make sure it’s complete from top to bottom. Otherwise, you might send someone off in a JAZZ RAGE.
LISTENING TO MUSIC HAS CHANGED
I love music. After a lifetime of being hooked on CDs and LPs, I recently jumped into the realm of getting a music subscription online. The charm of these services is that they don’t require any downloads—all of the music is streamed on-demand.
Services like this are not new. They’ve been around for some time, actually.
I took the plunge because one of the services, Rdio, had finally created an online experience with the things I wanted. It’s easy to use. And easy to sync across different devices and locations. BUT, there are some common content issues that keep it from being a fantastic experience.
PROVIDERS NEED CONTENT
Services like Rdio work by licensing content, making it available each month to eager listeners for a subscription fee. Record labels strike deals with these online services to provide access to their catalog of titles.
Rdio has done their part, making the layout and features downright lovely. So lovely, in fact, that I’ve been going about as if I were a salesman for the company, begging people to sign up.
Being a jazz nerd, I immediately typed “Miles Davis” into the search box on my first visit. This is where the trouble started.
BUT SOMETHING MAKES ME KIND OF BLUE
First, some jazz history: Miles Davis played trumpet with bebop sax legend Charlie Parker early in his career. They made fabulous recordings. Rdio makes enjoying these rather difficult. To illustrate, here are the entries for Miles and Charlie Parker:
Figure 1. Miles is agitated. (Click to enlarge/exasperate.)
Although it’s likely not the fault of Rdio, there are some serious content problems here. Content is duplicated. Other content has frustratingly incorrect or incomplete metadata. Some content suffers both problems.
Some of these distinctions make sense. But others feature almost comical misspellings or strange divisions (comma or hyphen or slash or semi-colon or … ).
A careful audit of this content prior to publication would have surfaced these content classification crimes. Miles himself would arrest you for such offenses against his music.
Figure 2. The Miles Davis album “You’re Under Arrest.”
At any rate, this many misleading options will bewilder even seasoned enthusiasts.
CONTENT MILESTONES OF THE UNWANTED SORT
Even more jazz history: In 1958, Miles recorded a classic album titled “Milestones.” Get it? Miles? Tones? Milestones? (This is as good as jazz humor gets, folks.)
That search I mentioned earlier? For Miles Davis? It yields 368 separate album choices. If you wanted to listen to the “Milestones” album on Rdio, you would be presented with yet another content conundrum:
Figure 3. (Click to enlarge/enrage.)
When faced with 368 album choices, a listener can get overwhelmed, to say the least. They may switch from navigating the search results via text to relying on visual cues (in the form of album covers).
In Rdio’s case, album covers and artist names are considered metadata. Inaccurate and incomplete metadata makes navigating the options difficult, if not impossible.
When metadata is incomplete or inaccurate, people will flee. They’ll unsubscribe from your service and take their money with them. You don’t want that.
METADATA TO THE RESCUE
In the interest of creating a satisfying user experience, the record companies would do well to clean up the catalog they license to services like Rdio. As newer editions of “Milestones” are released, this user experience will only become more unwieldy.
Complete and accurate metadata will make your life easier now.
New technology and its applications will find new uses for content in coming years. Make sure that your content—and by extension, your metadata—is complete and accurate. Because it just may make your life easier in the future, too.
No matter how many good ideas are strategized and agreed upon for a website’s content, somebody has to take responsibility for that content. Otherwise, just like an abandoned home where the owners have up and left, it will very likely fail from the get-go or fall into disrepair after its debut. Content ownership is important.
But assigning ownership isn’t enough. Owners need to be excited about the benefits and purpose of the content, understand their responsibilities, and commit the time it takes to make great content. You need content owners who care.
Just like a beautiful, functional home requires an owner who cares, so does great content. So how do you get content owners invested in making great content?
CARING FOR YOUR HOME
I own my house. Which means that here in Minneapolis, I shovel my sidewalks in the winter. I fix the furnace when it breaks. I plant flowers in the spring. I take time to care for my home.
But not everybody cares so much about their home. The house on the left shows all the signs of neglect. It’s weather-beaten, faded, and falling apart. Whoever owns it certainly doesn’t care much about it—and it shows.
House in need of care (left), house in good care (right).
CARING FOR YOUR CONTENT
Just like the house with weathered siding and an unstable foundation, content without a caring owner is easy to spot:
Content in need of care
No clear purpose
Too much or not enough information
Dead-end; no clear next steps
Boring; overly complex or simple
Typos
Broken links
Inaccurate or outdated
Content in good care
Serves a business or user need
Appropriate length and format
Action-oriented
Engaging, interesting
Grammatically accurate; tone and voice are consistent and reflect the brand
Functional, usable
Updated, accurate
THE BENEFITS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF CONTENT OWNERSHIP
Content ownership has its benefits—useful, usable, purposeful content. And just like home maintenance, content ownership requires dedication and time commitment from owners:
Content benefits
Save or make money (operational efficiencies, profits)
Bolster reputation or mission
Achieve business or user goals or results
Owner responsibilities
Define the purpose for content
Be involved with creating content
Keep content up to date as things change
Review content over time to make sure it’s still serving its purpose
GETTING CONTENT OWNERS ON BOARD
Caring for online content can be a thankless job. So how can you get content owners excited? The best way is to show them why it matters and give them the tools and information they need to do it well.
Make content ownership a measurable, written part of job responsibilities. By tying the content responsibilities to work goals and performance, you give content owners a personal stake. You also give content owners a realistic understanding of responsibilities and expectations—including expected time allocation.
Tie content to business goals, results, objectives, or purposes.
Identify content owners who are already invested in achieving the desired business and user outcomes.
Tell owners why they specifically were chosen, and what special skills or knowledge they bring.
Ask owners to help identify the purpose and benefits of the content.
Get owners excited about the benefits the content can provide, even if they are indirect.
Get your organization excited about the benefits of great content. Find an executive sponsor who champions and supports the importance of content within your organization.
Give content owners the tools they need to create and care for compelling content—which may include writers, designers, photographers, style guides, tipsheets, training on best practices, regular reports, user research, analytics, etc. Tailor your approach to the skills and experience of your content owners.
Check in with your content owners on a regular basis—don’t let them let content linger.
Don’t be afraid to retire content if it has no clear benefit or owner.
When content owners are invested in the success of their content, they make the difference between content that is just so-so and exceptional content that exceeds business and user expectations. What’s worked for your organization? How have you gotten content owners excited? Have a story, or something to add? Please share it in the comments.
("Disrepair" image on left by Flickr user Throwingbull (cc: by 2.0) )
One of the things that's consistently difficult about governance—the long-term management of content—is keeping sufficient resources available after a site launches.
If you think finding people to write, review, and revise content leading up to launch is tricky … you're completely right. But it's still easier than keeping those people available later on, once the adrenaline rush of launch has subsided and the never-ending process of reviewing and improving site content has kicked in.
One thing that helps is a set of good tools:
A style guide that genuinely supports your culture as well as providing clear mechanical guidelines;
A CMS that supports your workflow and makes publishing easier;
Page tables or content templates that clarify the fundamental purpose of each major piece of content.
But tools only work when there’s someone to use them.
People are really, really busy
The people who have the subject-matter expertise required to create and maintain content are often some of the most overworked employees in any organization—which is saying a lot, given the larger corporate trend toward over-commitment.
Content work—and especially online content work—is more often presented as an "extra" job for subject-matter experts and anyone else expected to contribute content whose title isn't "web editor." And when the work is presented as an extra task that isn’t central to employees’ job descriptions, it tends not to get done.
So although most content strategists aren’t especially well versed in the management side of organizational dynamics, the problem of governance forces us to consider ways of reserving time, freeing up resources, and recognizing effort. And that’s why a video made by content strategy thinkers at Autodesk has cheered me up so much this week: it does so much right, and sets a wonderful example for dealing with this seemingly intractable problem.
Here’s the video:
What’s so wonderful about this approach is that the video itself is aimed at an internal audience. It explains the purpose and importance of the Autodesk content strategy initiative in clear, unpretentious terms and then goes a step further by breaking down the ways in which the efforts of people who contribute to the initiative will be recognized and considered as a part of their overall performance.
(The underlying content strategy is also based on what appears to be a very smart, disciplined system of measuring and refining content over time, but that’s another whole conversation.)
Dragging governance into the mainstream
The problems that this video addresses so directly have been around for ages, and we’ve all had to find ways of trying to resolve them. And because it’s not yet a given that organizations know they need to staff and support their online communications, many of our attempts have necessarily been workarounds.
For example, when a company really needs more people to handle content work, but can’t hire another expert, I’ve sometimes suggested hiring a part-time administrative person to help ease the burden of paperwork and free existing experts to spend more time on content. And a great web editor can often perform a certain amount of resource-allocation magic through sheer force of personality. But these are temporary solutions, not sustainable long-term plans.
By bringing the realities of content-related resource allocation into the mainstream of performance management, the Autodesk team has provided a clear example of simple ways of bringing content development and governance into the core of an organization. And their strategy was developed within, rather than being brought in from outside, which is a great sign. When organizations begin to understand content strategy at that level, the whole CS conversation can become more sophisticated.
Circle up
Whether you do content work within an organization or as a consultant, you’ve probably bumped into governance challenges. So let’s talk. Are you finding it easier to explain the need for long-term content resources, or are things holding still for you? What kinds of strategies are working for you?
While a lot of our content strategy work happens at a quiet desk with a Word doc or an Excel spreadsheet, our recommendations would never be realistic or useful without effective client communication and partnership.
Our VP of client services, Julie Vollenweider, is a master at communicating with clients. She has a distinct style that is both professional and personable. She also happens to be our reigning queen of catchphrases.
Working with Julie, I’ve learned a great deal about my own communication style through these phrases. Here are a couple key Julie-isms that have helped me become a better content strategist.
1.“Spill it Christine.”
What it means: Be direct. When Julie says “Spill it,” it’s a cue that I’ve been avoiding what I really need to say.
How it helps: Be honest and open with the client and start difficult conversations early. Clients frequently ask for “blue sky” ideas that are “without limits.” But, there are real reasons why they have not, or cannot, achieve these dreamy outcomes. Specifically, workflow and governance challenges. The earlier you have those conversations, the sooner everyone can get focused on (and excited about) realistic solutions.
2. “I’m not sure what you’re telling me.”
What it means: Too many details. If I verbally problem solve, it’s just a rambling list of topics coming out of my mouth as soon as they enter my head. With no order or structure, it’s impossible for her to follow what I’m saying.
How it helps: Details are there to support your main idea. While details are important, they are not the star of the show. Make sure you have a main idea AND SAY IT before you jump into a million little points.
3. “What can I do?”
What it means: Focus on the information and issues I want her help with. Sometimes it sounds like I’m asking for help, but I’m probably just presenting a bunch of issues that:
- I may or may not want Julie’s help with
- Julie may or may not have the ability to help with
Figuring out what I realistically need from Julie before I go talk to her saves both her time and mine.
How it helps: Make sure supporting information ties back to the recommendations. When dealing with content, there’s no end to the amount of interesting information you’ll find. But, you need to determine what’s not only interesting, but also useful. The client doesn’t need a reference document about everything in their organization related to their content; they need an easy-to-understand plan—focused on the key ideas—that they can actually implement.
4. “Totes.” “Tawes.” And my personal favorite, “CMB, YATB. HOEDIESWY? YDABTITT!”
What it means: She makes up words and acronyms. There’s no point pretending that I get them. So I ask. Every time.
How it helps: Never be afraid to ask a question if something doesn’t make sense. Every industry and client organization has an internal language. If you don’t understand what the client is talking about, there’s a good chance their customers won’t either.
For more words of wisdom on managing the client side of content, check out Julie’s blog posts.
