Pivot tables for content audits
Learn how to master pivot tables for content strategy and information architecture. Turn a spreadsheet with thousands of rows into a set of graphs that quickly help you understand what is going on with your content.
Defining content
Seven common content strategy problems with concrete examples of how you can start to tackle them.
Content is at the heart of all digital experiences. It’s the core reason anybody engages with a digital channel.
Content strategy
Prioritisation and decision-making are two of the most important elements of my work. At both a macro and micro level content strategy is about deciding what is important and starting work based on those decisions.
There are many different kinds of content strategy and that is a good thing. You can customise your practice and adjust it for your current context and objectives.
The practice of content strategy is dependent on an excellent understanding of business strategy. Find out how to get a handle on that ASAP.
Content activites
Content strategy is really hard. This framework helps you bring a level of clarity.
That clarity results in a place to start working, so that you can make an impact.
Learn how to master pivot tables for content strategy and information architecture. Turn a spreadsheet with thousands of rows into a set of graphs that quickly help you understand what is going on with your content.
If you thought conducting user research at home was tricky, imagine the challenges in another country and in another language!
Information architecture
So you need to create an information architecture .... there are so many different categorising systems you can apply. Learn how to select the best one.
Building an information architecture that meets the needs of users and business is a specialised craft. Learn what ingredients you need.
Measurement
Are you struggling with promoting your content? Do you have great things to say, but don’t know how to reach people who care? This could be via social media, email or even search engine marketing.
We know that measuring content is essential but it's also hard and expensive. Considering it through the lenses of quality, effectiveness and value will help.
We know that testing content is very important. But how do you do it in a way that gives meaningful results?
Communication
Most meetings are designed poorly (or not at all) without acknowledging key elements of how human beings communicate and collaborate. But we can do better.
Really effective communication is hard because it is extremely nuanced with many moving parts. To communicate with excellence, consider these ten elements:
Crafting blog content is a big overhead. Make all your hard work result in more than just promotion with the magic blogging value triangle.
Teams and people
Get a quick overview of the different content skill levels you need in your web team - from writing briefs to high-level strategic negotiation.
As a content strategist, finding ways to evaluate and improve your EQ (and the EQ of those around you) will make you much better at your job.
Sharing what you do with others is a really great way of consolidating, reinforcing and refining your skills and expertise - especially when done in a structured, but collegiate way.
Professional development
I think enhancing your imagination is a strong way to build your empathy. And reading, reading novels to be exact, is like the gym of the imagination.
You don’t have to be good at drawing to sketchnote - and it is a great way to hone your listening skills.
Karina Smith and I asked a bunch of leaders in the field about their journey to success and what human skills served them well.
Conferences and meetups
What an achievement! 13 years of content folk getting together to talk content, learn from each other and feel a sense of connection in a sometimes isolating profession.
I am pretty much always the sole content strategist on a project. This is why coming together with my peers is so incredibly important.
Artificial intelligence
Are you feeling pressure to improve your content discoverability by LLMs like ChatGPT or Google’s AI summary, but are struggling to find a place to start? Try this LLM discoverability experiment for beginners.
The Apple ecosystem’s handling of words and images is changing in a way that will positively impact how you do your job.
There is a lot of pressure to use LLMs like ChatGPT to create content. Long story short, it's helpful in some contexts, but has a long way to go before it can support high-stakes, public-facing content creation.
Content basics
The content canvas lets us take a complex task and break it down into understandable and manageable chunks - in that way it feels like an analogy for content strategy itself.
Don’t know what content strategy is? Start here for a quick definition and places to do further research.
Content fits into four main categories based on function. Action content, promotion content, bait content and content as product. This model will help you focus on outcomes rather than definitions sooner.