We can talk all day about creating great content, but if we don't have a process for sustaining it, our content strategy will fail. A big content governance challenge is ensuring that multiple content contributors maintain messaging, communication, editorial and content standards. This is particularly true for staff who have other responsibilities and for whom content is not always the highest priority. For many higher education … [Read more...]
The Content Strategy Knowledge Gap
July 11, 2012 by
I’ve had the pleasure of working with some amazing web folks — creative directors, marketers, digital strategists, designers, developers, information architects — and a distinguishing quality of their work was an understanding of content strategy. Being smart about content is the road to success for all web professionals. As prospective employees and consultants step up to the plate to bridge the content strategy knowledge gap, colleges must … [Read more...]
Update Your Style Guide to Keep It Useful
May 4, 2012 by
Are you ready to get pumped about editorial style guide updates?!! (Would it help if I added a third exclamation point?) If you have a hard time keeping your editorial style guides current, you're not alone. Even the best of us need to work at keeping our style guides updated and useful. Angie Halama of Brain Traffic shares a great style guide pep talk to raise our spirits (or "spirts" if your editorial oversight is lacking). A … [Read more...]
Be Interesting, Please
May 2, 2012 by
It's fast and easy to create and publish content, right? Maybe, but not if you intend for your content to rise above the onslaught of emails, tweets, blogs posts and ads people are hit with every day. Crosby Noricks of Fast Company makes the case to "think like a publisher" by referencing an Instagram photo that reads, "I'll be interested, if you’ll be interesting." That's the voice of our readers asking us for a reason to … [Read more...]
Content With Purpose: Ready, Set, Action!
April 23, 2012 by
What defines quality content? Does it communicate clearly? Does it attract new users? Does it engage current users? It can and should do all those things, but to what end? Ultimately, content should inspire action. On Meet Content, we talk a lot about purposeful content — goal-driven content for users and publishers alike. I think that's an idea most people can buy into. However, when you start talking about user actions, content contributors … [Read more...]