Content strategy has had a lot of lightbulb moments since the first CS Forum four years ago. However after seeing the same problems over and over again I started to wonder how big businesses got themselves into such a hot mess of content in the first place.
So, I went back to the start – and talked to four startups – a mix of digital and physical products, those who relish content and those who struggle with it. I asked how much content they produce (a lot), do they have a content person (nope), do they plan to hire a content person (nope to that too), and how that all makes sense if content is valued to them (and it was).
Discover what I learnt, including where good practices and bad habits start, and how to create, grow and maintain a content strategy as your organisation grows.
3. content guidelines, writing for the web
training, design workshops, project
management, service/UX/mobile/app
design, wireframes (so many wireframes!),
copywriting under duress, content
migration, website maintenance, web
analytics setup and reports, testing, QA,
user research, user testing, writing release
notes, and probably more....
About me (the last 2.5 years):
62. [There were] things we started off
thinking were important - but once
tested in the market we found they
weren't important or got in people's
way...
63. We had a user experience timeline of
the product - all of the moments where
a user would receive an email - but it
was really hypothetical… Had to imagine
when should you do this and how you
should do it…
On creating content prior to launch:
71. If you look at startups - I don't think
there's a full-time CS role there... The
reason I say it's not a full-time job is
because in the early stages you're not
producing that much content...
72. A freelance content person would have
been great to have... Felt superfluous as
a UX generalist - didn't feel useful all the
time, [a full-time] content person
wouldn't be useful in the same way.
73. Ok, so how much time are you spending on
your content?
74. Depends, 5-10% for blog/twitter/
marketing, and 30-40% presentations...
Oh wow, that’s shocking...
A year and a half ago, my job was
designing this platform and making it
work... But if you make it work and no-
one knows about it, then who cares?