So you're going to Confab Higher Ed. You're already pretty excited about content strategy. But your boss and colleagues? Not so much. To outsiders, content strategy is just another buzzword. And as more schools move to become "data-driven" organizations, talking about content can sound hopelessly qualitative. So don't say "content strategy": do it. This session will look at content strategy practices you can introduce to show even your most quantitatively-oriented colleagues the value of content strategy: content analytics, social media analytics, and user testing techniques. Rack up successes first—then start talking content strategy. • Introduce content strategy practices into your organization when your organization doesn't care about content strategy. • Use analytics to identify what needs improvement. • Learn how user-testing techniques can improve your content.

1. Get Better Content with
Analytics and User Testing
Mike Powers
Director of Electronic Communications
Indiana University of Pennsylvania

2. About Me

3. About Me
•
Director of Electronic Communications at
Indiana University of Pennsylvania

4. About Me
•
Director of Electronic Communications at
Indiana University of Pennsylvania

5. About Me
•
Director of Electronic Communications at
Indiana University of Pennsylvania

6. About Me
•
Director of Electronic Communications at
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
•
Taught web writing at Higher Ed Experts

7. About Me
•
Director of Electronic Communications at
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
•
Taught web writing at Higher Ed Experts
•
Ph.D. in English

8. About Me
•
Director of Electronic Communications at
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
•
Taught web writing at Higher Ed Experts
•
Ph.D. in English
•
@mjpowers

10. It’s almost over

11. What happens to the
excitement back at the office?

12. How do your co-workers feel
about content strategy?

13. Best Practices
Mobile
Digital Natives
Content Management System
Social Media
Branding
User Experience
Information Architecture
Enterprise
Big Data
ROI
HTML5
Analytics
The Cloud

14. Best Practices
Mobile
Digital Natives
Content Management System
Social Media
Content Strategy
Branding
User Experience
Information Architecture
Enterprise
Big Data
ROI
HTML5
Analytics
The Cloud

15. How does your boss feel
about content strategy?

19. Higher Ed is becoming
a data-driven world

20. You need to go
quantitative

21. You need to go
quantitative(ish)
quantitative

24. Analytics and user
testing are for
everyone.

25. “a data-driven life is
“the sexiest digital
“life you can imagine.”
—Avinash Kaushik

28. You’re doing it wrong.

29. Pageviews aren’t the goal.
Your goal is the goal.

30. Higher Ed Goals

31. Higher Ed Goals
1. Get students

32. Higher Ed Goals
1. Get students
2. Help students, faculty, alumni
succeed

33. Higher Ed Goals
1. Get students
2. Help students, faculty, alumni
succeed
3. Get money to keep doing 1 and 2

34. In content terms...

35. Content...
Get students
Help students,
faculty, alumni
succeed
Get money
• Appeals to H.S. students
• Provides correct, useful information
• Persuasive
• Helps students register, add/drop, etc.
• Continues to market school
• Gets audience’s attention
• Shows value of school
• Gets donors through donation
process

36. Once you know your goals,
you can measure them

37. Before you start,
turn your goals into questions
Image by Cyberslayer http://www.flickr.com/photos/cyberslayer/

38. Without goal-related
questions, you won’t find
the answers you need
Image by Cyberslayer http://www.flickr.com/photos/cyberslayer/

39. Some Questions
•
Can readers understand my content?
•
Does this page encourage donations?
•
Does this page encourage applications?
•
What should this section of the site be named?
•
What kinds of social content are most effective?
•
What content on this page is getting the most attention?

40. Sampling of Measures and Methods
•
User Test
•
Readability Score
•
Survey
•
Sharing Metrics
•
Card Sort
•
Social Media Engagement
•
Navigation Test
•
Pageviews
•
Heat Maps
•
Bounce Rate
•
A/B Test
•
Avg. Time on Page
•
Page Value

41. Sampling of Measures and Methods
•
User Test
•
Readability Score
•
Survey
•
Sharing Metrics
•
Card Sort
•
Social Media Engagement
•
Navigation Test
•
Pageviews
•
Heat Maps
•
Bounce Rate
•
A/B Test
•
Avg. Time on Page
•
Page Value

42. Five questions.
Five ways to answer them.

43. For answering and generating
questions:

44. For answering and generating
questions:
Usability Test

45. Photo source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/l-i-n-k/3654390818/

46. Do a User Test First
•
See people experiencing your content.
•
Experience their pain and joy.
•
Find some blindingly obvious stuff that
you wish you had seen earlier.

48. Advice for First-Timers
•
Just do three tests. (Use Jacob Nielsen’s useit.com
to convince colleagues)
•
Write tasks that center on your goals.
•
Who you get to do the test matters less than you
think. But—choose a reasonable audience to help
colleagues accept your results.

49. Advice for First-Timers
•
Just do three tests. (Use Jacob Nielsen’s useit.com
to convince colleagues)
•
Write tasks that center on your goals.
•
Who you get to do the test matters less than you
think. But—choose a reasonable audience to help
colleagues accept your results.

50. Advice for First-Timers
•
Just do three tests. (Use Jacob Nielsen’s useit.com
to convince colleagues)
•
Write tasks that center on your goals.
•
Who you get to do the test matters less than you
think. But—choose a reasonable audience to help
colleagues accept your results.

51. Can readers understand my
content?

52. Can readers understand my
content?
Readability

53. Readability scores measure
how easy to read a text is.

54. Now we are engaged in a great civil
war, testing whether that nation, or
any nation so conceived and so
dedicated, can long endure. We are
met on a great battlefield of that war.
We have come to dedicate a portion
of that field, as a final resting place
for those who here gave their lives
that that nation might live. It is
altogether fitting and proper that we
should do this.

55. 4 sentences
72 words
90 syllables
Now we are engaged in a great civil
war, testing whether that nation, or
any nation so conceived and so
dedicated, can long endure. We are
met on a great battlefield of that war.
We have come to dedicate a portion
of that field, as a final resting place
for those who here gave their lives
that that nation might live. It is
altogether fitting and proper that we
should do this.

56. Flesch Kincaid Grade Level
Formula
0.39 × (words ÷ sentences)
+ 11.8 × (syllables ÷ words)
− 15.59

57. read-able.com

58. read-able.com

59. read-able.com

60. Flesch-Kincaid
Grade Level: 6.2
Now we are engaged in a great civil
war, testing whether that nation, or
any nation so conceived and so
dedicated, can long endure. We are
met on a great battlefield of that war.
We have come to dedicate a portion
of that field, as a final resting place
for those who here gave their lives
that that nation might live. It is
altogether fitting and proper that we
should do this.

62. Our undergraduate and graduate
classes are designed to offer future
journalists—and private and public
sector leaders who will interact with
them—a thorough understanding of
the role of the press in the policy
making process. Through instruction
and internships, students learn about
the principles and the practice of
journalism, while mastering the
broader background of studies in
public policy, politics, economics,
history and other liberal arts.
2 sentences
67 words
113 syllables

63. Our undergraduate and graduate
classes are designed to offer future
journalists—and private and public
sector leaders who will interact with
them—a thorough understanding of
the role of the press in the policy
making process. Through instruction
and internships, students learn about
the principles and the practice of
journalism, while mastering the
broader background of studies in
public policy, politics, economics,
history and other liberal arts.
2 sentences
67 words
113 syllables
Grade Level: 17.4

64. Our undergraduate and graduate
classes are designed to offer future
journalists—and private and public
sector leaders who will interact with
them—a thorough understanding of
the role of the press in the policy
making process. Through instruction
and internships, students learn about
the principles and the practice of
journalism, while mastering the
broader background of studies in
public policy, politics, economics,
history and other liberal arts.
2 sentences
67 words
113 syllables
Grade Level: 17.4

65. Our undergraduate and graduate
classes are designed to offer future
journalists—and private and public
sector leaders who will interact with
them—a thorough understanding of
the role of the press in the policy
making process. Through instruction
and internships, students learn about
the principles and the practice of
journalism, while mastering the
broader background of studies in
public policy, politics, economics,
history and other liberal arts.
2 sentences
67 words
113 syllables
Grade Level: 17.4

67. We don’t need elevators.
We’re only going to put
athletes in this dorm.

68. Why care about readability?
•
Makes web reading easier, even for
highly skilled readers
•
• Readable content gets shared more
Readers read more, understand more
often

69. Solutions for poor readability
•
Shorter sentences
•
Less passive voice
•
• Less jargon
Shorter words

70. A LITTLE BIT OF A TUMBLER.
A shining indication of yellow
consists in there having been
more of the same color than
could have been expected when
all four were bought. This was
the hope which made the six
and seven have no use for any
more places and this
necessarily spread into nothing.
Spread into nothing.

71. A LITTLE BIT OF A TUMBLER.
A shining indication of yellow
consists in there having been
more of the same color than
could have been expected when
all four were bought. This was
the hope which made the six
and seven have no use for any
more places and this
necessarily spread into nothing.
Spread into nothing.

72. “Data is your eyes,
“not your brain.”
—Colleen Jones

73. Does this page encourage
donations?

74. Does this page encourage
donations?
Bounce Rate

75. A bounce is a
one-page visit.

76. The bounce rate is the %
of visits to that page
that bounce.

77. 36 entrances ÷ 23 bounces =
63.89% bounce rate

78. What does it mean?

79. “I came,
“I saw,
“I puked.”

80. So a lower bounce rate is better

81. Except when it’s not
So a lower bounce rate is better

82. Except when it’s not
So a lower bounce rate is better

83. Solutions for a high bounce
rate
•
Is there an audience that hits this page
with the wrong expectations?
•
Are there useful links on the page?
Anyplace to go?
•
Does the content actually interest
people?

84. Solutions for a high bounce
rate
•
Is there an audience that hits this page
with the wrong expectations?
•
Are there useful links on the page?
Anyplace to go?
•
Does the content actually interest
people?

85. Solutions for a high bounce
rate
•
Is there an audience that hits this page
with the wrong expectations?
•
Are there useful links on the page?
Anyplace to go?
•
Does the content actually interest
people?

86. Solutions for a high bounce
rate
•
Is there an audience that hits this page
with the wrong expectations?
•
Are there useful links on the page?
Anyplace to go?
•
Does the content actually interest
people?

87. Solutions for a high bounce
rate
•
Improve readability
•
Make it more useful
•
Make it shorter

88. Analytics Tip #1:
For content strategists,
pageviews do and don’t matter

89. Pageviews: how many
times a page has been
loaded into a browser.

90. Why not hits?
•
1 page = 10, 20, 30 or more files
•
A hit is the download of a single file

91. One thing about pageviews...

92. One thing about pageviews...

95. Average Net Worth in This Elevator
$50 Million

99. If pageviews are low, other scores
may not mean much

100. Does this page encourage
applications?

101. Does this page encourage
applications?
Page Value

102. To use page value, first set up
monetary goals in Google Analytics

103. Higher ed goals
1. Get students
2. Help students, faculty, and alumni
succeed
3. Get donations to keep doing 1. and 2.

104. $
Higher ed goals
1. Get students
2. Help students, faculty, and alumni
succeed
3. Get donations to keep doing 1. and 2.

105. GA allows these as goals
•
Clicking on something
•
Seeing a certain number of pages
•
• Staying a certain number of minutes
Getting to a page

106. Set up goals in Google
Analytics
Donation
[donation value]
Application
$???
Visit registration
$???

107. Set up goals in Google
Analytics
Donation
[donation value]
Application
$200
Visit registration
$100

108. Set up goals in Google
Analytics
Donation
[donation value]
Application
$2,000
Visit registration
$1,000

109. Page value is...
Value of any
Number of
“transactions”
unique
that happen ÷
pageviews for
after a visit to
this page
this page

110. Home Page
Admissions
B.S. in Math
Visit Campus
Visit Sign-Up
Form
Thanks for
Registering

111. Home Page
Admissions
B.S. in Math
Visit Campus
Visit Sign-Up
Form
Thanks for
Registering
$100

112. $20
$20
$20
Home Page
Admissions
B.S. in Math
Visit Campus
Visit Sign-Up
Form
Thanks for
Registering
$20
$20
$100

115. Solutions for low page value
•
Shorter, more readable, include calls to
•
Is this page related to a goal?
action
• Usability test
Content experiment (A/B test)
•

116. Analytics Tip #2:
What’s a good score? It depends.

117. Grade me! Look at me!
Evaluate and rank me!
I’m good, good, good and
oh so smart! GRADE ME!

118. Problems with analytics
•
Google Analytics installs can be
•
Sites are different
different
• Goals are different
Analytics isn’t always accurate...
•

120. 40?

121. 40?
40?

122. 40?
40?
40?

123. Use analytics data in
comparison
•
With similar pages on your website
•
• Dept. vs. dept.
Major page vs. major page
•
With last week, last month, last year

124. Analytics Tip #3:
Use segments

126. Bounce Rate: 95%

129. How did they get to the site?
Segment by Source

130. How did they get to the site?
Segment by Source

131. How did they get to the site?
Segment by Source

132. Are they new to the site?
Segment by Visitor Type

133. Are they new to the site?
Segment by Visitor Type

134. Are they new to the site?
Segment by Visitor Type

135. Where are they?
Segment by Metro

136. Where are they?
Segment by Metro

137. Where are they?
Segment by Metro

138. Were they on mobile?

139. Were they on mobile?

140. Were they on mobile?

142. What should this section of
the site be named?

143. What should this section of
the site be named?
Card Sort

144. Photo Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rosenfeldmedia/3343501403/

146. Open
Closed
•
Users stack cards then
•
Give users header cards
•
Give each pile a name
•
They assign cards to the
header cards

147. What should our top-level
portal pages be called?

153. What kinds of social content
are most effective?

154. What kinds of social content
are most effective?
Engagement

155. From follower to “customer”
Followers
Engagement
Shares/Actions

156. From follower to “customer”
Followers
Engagement
Shares/Actions

157. Social media engagement
measures show how many of
your followers interact with
your content.

158. Most go something like this:
clicks ÷ posts ÷ followers
This gives you the percentage of
followers who engage with each post.

159. What’s a click?
Facebook
Twitter
Like
Mention
Comment
Retweet
Share
Link click

160. So the formula for
Facebook would be:
(likes + comments + shares) ÷
posts ÷ followers

161. (30,286 likes +
703 comments +
7,170 shares) ÷
1 post ÷
4,165,311 fans =

162. (30,286 likes +
703 comments +
7,170 shares) ÷
1 post ÷
4,165,311 fans =
0.92% engagement

163. “0.92%? That’s tiny.
“George Takei is
“bad at social
“media.”

164. (101,010 likes +
2,266 comments +
9,144 shares) ÷
2 posts ÷
4,165,311 fans =
1.35% engagement

165. But isn’t a share or a comment
worth more than a like?

166. The Varsity Outreach Formula

167. The Varsity Outreach Formula

168. The Varsity Outreach Formula

169. (30,286 likes +
703 comments +
7,170 shares) ÷
1 post ÷
4,165,311 fans =
0.92% engagement

170. (30,286 likes × 2 +
703 comments × 2 +
7,170 shares) ÷
1 post ÷
4,165,311 fans =
1.66% engagement

171. (30,286 likes × 2 +
703 comments × 2 +
7,170 shares) ÷
1 post ÷
4,165,311 fans
× 1,000 =
1,660 engagement

172. Choose a formula that works for
you and stick with it.

173. Presenting Analytics
and User Research

174. Content analytics
spreadsheet

175. Content analytics
spreadsheet

176. Content analytics
spreadsheet

179. Visits
Campus Tours
1,500
1,125
750
375
0
1/16/2011
1/23/11
1/30/2011
2/6/2011
2/13/2011

180. Some Questions
•
Can readers understand my content?
•
Does this page encourage donations?
•
Does this page encourage applications?
•
What should this section of the site be named?
•
What kinds of social content are most effective?
•
What content on this page is getting the most attention?

181. Some Questions
•
Can readers understand my content?
•
the
questions and show how
Does this page encourage applications? content
Whatstrategysection of the site be named?
should this makes things better
•
What kinds of social content are most effective?
•
What content on this page is getting the most attention?
•
•
Most encourage donations?
Does this pageimportant: Answer

183. Questions?