During our first Meet Content webinar, an attendee asked a great question: where do you start with web content governance? It’s a challenging question to answer because content governance requires that you first have a content plan. Content governance — a process of managing content roles, responsibilities, processes, documentation, tools and training — can’t be distinguished from your content strategy. In order to manage the elements of … [Read more...]
Evaluating the Mantra “Think Like a Publisher”
January 26, 2012 by
Over the last few years, a popular phrase has gained popularity in higher education as well as the broader community of web professionals: Think like a publisher and less like a marketer. This thinking is a backlash against outdated "push marketing" and communications that interrupt and distract users rather than inform and attract them. Hearing this message continually reinforced gets me pumped because it’s a mindset I strongly … [Read more...]
Keeping a Flexible Content Plan
January 19, 2012 by
Last week, Tim Nekritz, director of web communication at SUNY Oswego, tackled a great topic: content and serendipity. In it he shared an example of content that unexpectedly generated a record-breaking amount of engagement for the SUNY Oswego Facebook page: 275 likes, 48 shares and 28 comments. Not bad. This content wasn't a carefully planned editorial story or coverage of a campus event — and certainly not a report on the latest school … [Read more...]
Reimagine Content in Higher Education
December 13, 2011 by
Last week, the Content Marketing Institute blog asked contributors, "What is the most useful thing you learned about content marketing in 2011?" I chimed in and gave the badge to Ann Handley and C.C. Chapman for their lesson "reimagine; don't recycle," found in their book Content Rules. This is a valuable content marketing lesson, but it's also an important content strategy lesson. The idea is to not simply repurpose content … [Read more...]
Communicate Clearly With Less Content
December 7, 2011 by
I love content, but nothing gets me pumped more than cutting it. Crop. Delete. Remove. Archive. Why? Because the road to clear communication often leads to less content, not more. The purpose of content is to communicate. For higher ed web professionals, it's easy to lose sight of this. Many people are responsible for constantly creating content — new blog posts, twitter updates, event descriptions, landing pages, "related links." But … [Read more...]