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Rachel LovingerMIMA Summit, October 5, 2009
Content Gone Wild!
Photo by wokka
About Me: Rachel Lovinger• Content Strategy Lead, Razorfish
• Scatter / Gather, a CS blog http://scattergather.razorfish.com
• Semantic Web affinity group
• Long time content enthusiast
Page 3 © 2009 Razorfish. All rights reserved.
Two Things I Want You to Learn From This Talk
1. For successful web projects, pay as much attention to the content as to the design and technology.
2. Be proactive instead of reactive.
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What is Content?
• Text on your site
• Images
• Video
• Audio
• Data
• User Comments
• Online Conversations
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Content is the reason people go to your site.
Photo by zandperl
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1997: Web Curmudgeon
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Content Strategy in the Design Process
Discover Design
ResearchAssessConceptVoice
SourceOrganizeTaxonomy
Build Deploy
PlanStyle GuideCopy DeckSocial
MaintainMonitorRespond
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Content Gone Wild?
What’s the worst that can happen if you design a site
or campaign without a clear content strategy?
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Experiences that are…
Not EngagingNot Satisfying
Embarrassing for the Brand
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“The best argument for content strategy is the failure of a project.”
- Elena Melendy, Minty Fresh Media
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But today, let’s learn from others
Several examples of content gone wrong…
and what should have been done instead.
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BrochurewareExample 1
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Corporate Brochureware Site
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Product Info
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More Product Info
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What Happened?
Discover Design
ResearchAssessConceptVoice
SourceOrganizeTaxonomy
Build Deploy
PlanStyle GuideCopy DeckSocial
MaintainMonitorRespond
Assessment and Concept: Failed to recognize what content customers and prospects might want, aside from product details
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Create content that engagesContent Best Practice
Present content that is:
• Consumable
• Interactive
• Relevant
• Current
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Another Corporate Site
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Telling the Company Story
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Sharing Information & Values
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Corporate BlogExample 2
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Johnson & Johnson Blog
Example via Mary McKnight, FastCompany.com
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Lacks Clear Message or Voice
Example via Mary McKnight, FastCompany.com
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What Happened?
Discover Design
ResearchAssessConceptVoice
SourceOrganizeTaxonomy
Build Deploy
PlanStyle GuideCopy DeckSocial
MaintainMonitorRespond
Concept: Goals of the blog aren’t clearly defined
Organize: Topics aren’t clearly defined
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Have a messaging strategyContent Best Practice
Content should be:
• On point (Business goals)
• Relevant (User needs)
• Authentic (Expert, passionate writers)
• Published regularly (Committed resources)
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Wal-Mart: Informative, Enthusiastic, Relatable
Example via Mary McKnight, FastCompany.com
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MetadataExample 3
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Interscope Records Artists Page: One Big A-Z List
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Artist Page: Chris Cornell
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Chris Cornell: Releases
Very little information
• No release dates
• No relationship between EPs / Singles and LPs
• No genres
• Not organized by bands
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Album Page: End of the Line
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Band Page: No Mention of Solo Work
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What Happened?
Discover Design
ResearchAssessConceptVoice
SourceOrganizeTaxonomy
Build Deploy
PlanStyle GuideCopy DeckSocial
MaintainMonitorRespond
Taxonomy & Metadata: Content is not well organized; meaningful data and relationships are not being surfaced.
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Dynamic & meaningful content organization based on metadata
Content Best Practice
• Define relevant facets and taxonomy
• Organize content by taxonomy
• Metadata provides valuable information
• Link to related content
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All Music Guide
• Content organized primarily by genre
• The metadata IS the content
• Every word is a link to further explore
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Lorem IpsumExample 4
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Place Holder Text
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The New York Times
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What Happened?
Discover Design
ResearchAssessConceptVoice
SourceOrganizeTaxonomy
Build Deploy
PlanStyle GuideCopy DeckSocial
MaintainMonitorRespond
Plan and Copy Deck: Without a detailed plan, content producers forgot to fill in the less prominent pages and sidebar items
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Carefully plan for content needs Content Best Practice
• Content Inventory
• Site Map
• Content Requirements
• Content Sourcing Plan
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Content Needs Spreadsheet
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Stale ContentExample 5
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Featured Band: Posted February 2005
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News: From 2004 & 2005
404 errors!
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Coming Soon? Not Likely
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What Happened?
Discover Design
ResearchAssessConceptVoice
SourceOrganizeTaxonomy
Build Deploy
PlanStyle GuideCopy DeckSocial
MaintainMonitorRespond
Ongoing Editorial Plan: They had a launch plan, but no one was responsible for regular content updates once it was live
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Plan for content maintenanceContent Best Practice
• Governance
• Editorial Strategy
• Editorial Calendar
• If community based, user generated content can keep the site content fresh
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Steady Stream of Songs, Bands & Playlists
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User-Generated ChaosExample 6
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Users Will Do Creative Things
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Users Will Do Creative and Unexpected Things
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Users May Do Horrible Things
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Users May Do Horrible Things
WARNING: Some of what you’re about to see is
definitely NSFW
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Huge Spike in Traffic (but was it worth it?)
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What Happened?
Discover Design
ResearchAssessConceptVoice
SourceOrganizeTaxonomy
Build Deploy
PlanStyle GuideCopy DeckSocial
MaintainMonitorRespond
Concept & Research: Did they ever look at Twitter, 4chan, YouTube, Fark or any other Internet community?
Social: No strategy in place to mediate the conversation
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Be part of the conversationContent Best Practice
But have a social media strategy. Consider that you may have to:
• Moderate
• Mediate
• Mitigate
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Age Confirmation? Disclaimer?
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YouTube Channel Instead of Twitter Search
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Fake GrassExample 7
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Poorly Rated Product
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Questionable Request: Astroturfing
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People Noticed
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What Happened?
Discover Design
ResearchAssessConceptVoice
SourceOrganizeTaxonomy
Build Deploy
PlanStyle GuideCopy DeckSocial
MaintainMonitorRespond
Social and Respond: Response was inappropriate and unethical (and not in line with corporate standards)
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Be authenticContent Best Practice
When you do participate in the conversation:
• Establish a social media policy for employees
• Be honest about who you are
• Communicate like a person
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Via Gapingvoid
Cartoon © 2009 Hugh MacLeod's Gaping Void
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Check Your ToneExample 8
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Fine Line Between Clever… and Flippant
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Twitter: #motrinmoms
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It's not easy to do snarky well when you're talking about parenting. Popular blogs like Motherhood Uncensored, Finslippy, Baby on Bored, White Trash Mom, Laid off Dad, and Metrodad to name a few, are not popular simply because they illuminate the ups and downs of parenting with brutal, hilarious honesty, but because they do it through the eyes of parents who truly, deeply love their children. It's the rare writer who can capture the negatives without bitterness,who can elaborate on the hell without sounding, well, like a 34 year-old male copywriter who's never had a kid. Whether or not that's actually the case.
Page 71 © 2009 Razorfish. All rights reserved.
What Happened?
Discover Design
ResearchAssessConceptVoice
SourceOrganizeTaxonomy
Build Deploy
PlanStyle GuideCopy DeckSocial
MaintainMonitorRespond
Voice: Communication strategy conflicted with the values of the target audience
Monitor and Respond: Campaign was launched right before the weekend, when no one was around to monitor it
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Know how your audience likes to be spoken to
Content Best Practice
• Tone & Voice Guide
• Brand Attributes & Values
• User Testing
• Be prepared to react
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Response Was Swift and Sincere
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Think GloballyExample 9
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Visual Metaphor
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Doesn’t Translate
Photo by Jennifer Dziura
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Dell.com
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Czech Version of Dell Home Page
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Investoři – Redirects to US Site
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Média – Content in English
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Kariéra – Content in English
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Product Information – In Czech
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What Happened?
Discover Design
ResearchAssessConceptVoice
SourceOrganizeTaxonomy
Build Deploy
PlanStyle GuideCopy DeckSocial
MaintainMonitorRespond
Every stage: The concept for the MTA campaign wasn’t reevaluated for Spanish language; the content for the regional Dell site wasn’t sourced, created, and QA’d like the English content
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Globalization involves more than just translation
Content Best Practice
• Content scoping
• Planning
• Creation
• Maintenance
• Experts in the language & cultural associations
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HP: Acclaimed for 85 Regional Sites, in 36 Languages
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Let’s end on a positive note.
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Billboard Relaunch
• Not just a redesign
• Consumer oriented
• The authority on popular music
• Launched July 2009
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Discovery Phase
Discover Design
ResearchAssessConceptVoice
SourceOrganizeTaxonomy
Build Deploy
PlanStyle GuideCopy DeckSocial
MaintainMonitorRespond
Research:
• For most users, the experience centers around the charts
• Active site visitors were also passionate about the editorial content
Page 89 © 2009 Razorfish. All rights reserved.
Discovery Phase
Discover
ResearchAssessConceptVoice
Content Assessment:
• Content not integrated with chart data
• Some charts & content types were not well defined
• Non-core content was not maintained
• Sections of the site linked off to the business property
• Search results messy, content hard to find
Page 90 © 2009 Razorfish. All rights reserved.
Discovery Phase
Discover
ResearchAssessConceptVoice
Concept:
• The site should enable people to discover and engage with popular music
Voice:
• The voice of the site should continue to be authoritative and unbiased, but more oriented towards consumer users
Page 91 © 2009 Razorfish. All rights reserved.
Design Phase
Discover Design
ResearchAssessConceptVoice
SourceOrganizeTaxonomy
Build Deploy
PlanStyle GuideCopy DeckSocial
MaintainMonitorRespond
Design
SourceOrganizeTaxonomy
Content Sourcing:
• Reduce number of charts to simplify
• Show more of Billboard’s historical data
• Focus on core content types
• Remove B2B links and content
• Partner for streaming music
• Partner for additional artist, album & song info
Design
SourceOrganizeTaxonomy
Page 92 © 2009 Razorfish. All rights reserved.
Design
SourceOrganizeTaxonomy
Content Organization:
• Charts must be prominent
• Organize content around Artists, Albums, Songs
• Related links from charts to content and from content to charts to keep users engaged
Design Phase
Chart Song
Album
Artist
Page 93 © 2009 Razorfish. All rights reserved.
Design
SourceOrganizeTaxonomy
Taxonomy & Metadata:
• Charts tagged as:
• Mixed Genre: Billboard 200, Hot 100
• Genre: Rock Albums, Pop Songs
• International: UK Songs, Japan Albums
• Each chart position on each chart includes Artist, Album/Song, Date and other metadata
• Editorial content tagged with: Artists, Albums, Songs, Events and Charts
Design Phase
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Latest News & Stories
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Launch the Visualizer and Search or Select
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Shows Entire Chart History for an Artist
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Exploring the Data
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Exposes More Details
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And Also Related Content
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Build Phase
Discover Design
ResearchAssessConceptVoice
SourceOrganizeTaxonomy
Build Deploy
PlanStyle GuideCopy DeckSocial
MaintainMonitorRespond
Build
PlanStyle GuideCopy DeckSocial
Build
PlanStyle GuideCopy DeckSocial
Plan, Style Guide, Copy Deck, Social:
• Editorial calendars, style guides, etc. all managed in house by their dedicated and experienced editorial staff
• Streamlined content types allowed them to focus on core content
• Partnering for basic info allowed them to focus on developing the .com voice
• Social strategy includes specific ways that consumers interact with music and content that don’t require editorial intervention
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Social Elements
• Ratings
• Comments
• Self-moderated
• Share
• Games
Page 102 © 2009 Razorfish. All rights reserved.
Deploy Phase
Discover Design
ResearchAssessConceptVoice
SourceOrganizeTaxonomy
Build Deploy
PlanStyle GuideCopy DeckSocial
MaintainMonitorRespond
Deploy
MaintainMonitorRespond
Deploy
MaintainMonitorRespond
Maintain, Monitor, Respond:
• The editorial team is responsible for maintaining and monitoring the content
• Streamlined content types and 3rd partner content make these tasks easier
• The low maintenance social strategy minimizes the need for editorial intervention
Page 103 © 2009 Razorfish. All rights reserved.
Summary: Content Best Practices
• Create content that engages
• Have a messaging strategy
• Dynamic & meaningful content organization based on metadata
• Carefully plan for content needs
• Plan for content maintenance
• Be part of the conversation
• Be authentic
• Know how your audience likes to be spoken to
• Globalization involves more than just translation
Page 105 © 2009 Razorfish. All rights reserved.
Thank You!
Kristina Halvorson
Elena Melendy
Web Curmudgeon, wherever you are
Karen McGrane
Diana Turner
Robert Stribley
Kat Jurick
Hugh MacLeod
Michael Spinella
Paul (wokka on flickr)
My colleagues at Razorfish
The Content Strategy community
Moms who blog
Twitter, the Internet, and the people who use them