Managing Content Workflow for Faculty

You’ve done it! You’ve captured the intricacies and practical applications of Professor Mumblemore’s groundbreaking work on glottochronology (or electrophysiology, or perhaps paleoentomology) in crisp, engaging, easy to comprehend prose (or a minute-thirty of video, if you prefer). Good work! All that’s left is to get his A-OK and we can get this puppy published. Wait… what’s this? Professor Mumblemore returned your piece with notes—lots of … [Read more...]

Margot Bloomstein and Colleen Jones on Higher Ed Content Strategy

While at Confab 2012, we sat down with renowned content strategists Margot Bloomstein and Colleen Jones, both of whom have done a significant amount of work with higher education, for a wide-ranging discussion about how the discipline applies in our field. Bloomstein is principal at Appropriate, Inc., and author of Content Strategy at Work. Jones is principal at Content Science and author of Clout: The Art and Science of Influential Web … [Read more...]

Of Content and Code

I am a big fan of imploring content folks to walk across the office and get to know their web developers. The more we understand the complementary disciplines in our field and seek out smart partnerships, the better off our web experiences (and our users) will be. (Our post last year about the relationship between content strategy and web development got at some of these ideas.) But, as with most things, achieving those smart partnerships is … [Read more...]

Selling Content Strategy: A Continuous Process

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...]

Stakeholder Support Is Key for Content Strategy Success

Content strategy depends on strong stakeholder relationships. You need stakeholders not only to help inform your content strategy but also to help implement and maintain it. Without involving stakeholders in the planning process and prioritizing their needs, competing objectives will compromise success. Meghan Casey of Brain Traffic offers great tips for gaining stakeholder support, as well as suggestions for group song. "Kumbaya," … [Read more...]