Style guides are essential partners in the creation of effective content. They help ensure consistency of tone, voice, brand, spelling and grammar, giving our content credibility and value. Rick provided a great breakdown of the elements of editorial style for the web last August. But what about social media? Since we can’t erect an editorial process around every individual tweet, status, comment or response, it is critical to have a style … [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 This thinking is a backlash against outdated "push marketing" and communications that interrupt and distract users rather than inform and attract them.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...]
Selling Content Strategy: A Continuous Process
September 22, 2011 by
One of the top questions new content strategy practitioners have — as I did when first introduced to the discipline — is how do you sell it? How do you make the case for content strategy and convince web stakeholders that their content needs a better plan (assuming a plan currently exists — eek!)? It’s easy to get discouraged. Have you ever had an experience like the following? "I told my boss (or HiPPO [Highest Paid Person’s Opinion]) … [Read more...]
Meet Me in the Middle
September 15, 2011 by
In higher ed, we often talk about finding our champion -- a top-level administrator who gets the value of content, who will be our advocate in securing the resources to do it right, who will translate and relay our concerns to other decision makers and higher-ups. This “champion,” however, can sometimes be a holy grail -- invaluable, but elusive. What if our champion wasn’t at the top, but in the middle? And what if the the value of this … [Read more...]