This presentation compares Lean Startup principles to content life cycles and shows how Chicago web company Mightybytes used these concepts to build a content-driven web application called Ecograder that crawls websites and grades them on sustainability criteria.
Micro-Choices, Max Impact Personalizing Your Journey, One Moment at a Time.pdf
Agile Content: Lessons from Lean Startups
1. Agile Content
Lessons from Lean
Startups
Content Jam
October 17, 2013
a presentation by
Tim Frick
@timfrick
Monday, October 21, 13
2. Mightybytes is a Certified B Corporation
B Corps use the power of business to solve social &
environmental problems.
Monday, October 21, 13
3. Think Like a Startup
Earlier this year, Mightybytes tried an experiment: we attempted to become a
lean startup, or at least act like one as we developed a content-heavy digital product
called Ecograder.
Monday, October 21, 13
4. Ecograder
Who it’s for:
•
•
•
•
Web designers & developers
Marketing managers & website owners
Environmental nonprofits
Any environmentally conscious person who works on websites
Monday, October 21, 13
5. Ecograder
Ecograder (www.ecograder.com) is a free tool that measures website
sustainability and provides a roadmap for making improvements and decreasing
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Monday, October 21, 13
6. Ecograder
How it works:
1. Input your URL
2. Crawls your website
3. Assesses its sustainability level
based on several key factors
4. Produces a score and report
for site improvements
Monday, October 21, 13
10. Content Science!
“Content marketing must be approached like a scientist.
There are no mistakes, just feedback.”
Srinivas Rao, Search Engine Journal
Applying Principles of Growth Hacking to Content Marketing
Monday, October 21, 13
12. Validated Learning
1. Specify a goal
2. Specify a metric that represents the goal
3. Act to achieve the goal
4.Analyze the metric—did you get closer to
the goal?
5. Improve and try again
Monday, October 21, 13
13. Minimum Viable Product
Product version which allows a
team to collect the maximum
amount of validated learning about
customers with the least effort.
Source: Paul Kortman, paulkortman.com
Monday, October 21, 13
14. How We Learned
• Hypothesis to prove: will building a
website sustainability grader help
create awareness about the internet’s
carbon footprint?
Monday, October 21, 13
15. Lean Green Lessons
• Eliminates the need to ‘know it all’.
• Testing hypotheses allows for rapid
iteration of ideas.
• Involving users throughout the
process speeds up feedback.
Monday, October 21, 13
16. Mighty Learning Lessons
• Waterfall habits are not easy to break.
• Team of 12 not so lean.
• Hard to create a ‘comprehensive
resource’ without a lot of content.
• Iteration: products don’t end
(unless you pivot).
Monday, October 21, 13
18. 1. Embrace Limitations
• Start small: use social networks to
bounce ideas first before executing them.
• Set realistic goals: keep word count low,
one idea per post, etc. etc.
• Create something worth spreading for a
small group of people.
Monday, October 21, 13
19. 2. Always Be Testing
• Build/Measure/Learn: create a fast feedback loop.
• Involve customers during process (not after).
• A/B Testing: produce actionable data.
• Custom dashboards: Google Analytics, Moz, etc.
Monday, October 21, 13
20. 3. Measure What Matters
• Find the One Metric That Matters
(Lean Analytics)
• Don’t get overwhelmed by metrics;
choose wisely.
• Once defined, benchmark often
and iterate.
Monday, October 21, 13
21. 4. Consider Curation
• Rapid feedback: share content
created by others first to see
how it performs.
• Curated post: create a list of
other people’s posts about a
specific strategic topic; test
performance.
Monday, October 21, 13
26. Ecograder Results
• 2571 unique URLs crawled since May.
• #4 page on our site in terms of page views.
• #3 landing page for audiences coming from
social networks.
• Media placements in:
•
•
•
•
Monday, October 21, 13
Fast Company
Chicago Sun-Times
Sustainable Brands
Fucking Homepage and more.
27. Ecograder Results
“I think you are not
in a position to give
Quebec citizen any
lesson about green
electricity.”
—Angry person at Domtar
Monday, October 21, 13