A few weeks back I wrote the blog post 'Planning a Content Strategy' for which I received some great feedback, since then I've given some more thought to this subject and spent some time trying to get a sense of how brands view of 'content' is changing.
I think we are starting to see brands recognising that a more strategic approach to content is becoming increasingly important. It's moving from being one of the last considerations of a web dev project and is taking centre stage of the digital strategy.
So, what follows is a revised and more in-depth version of that post with an extended 10 step process.
Engage through conversation; power your conversations with awesome content.
It’s very easy for brands to get drawn into the hype around the latest format, platform or tactic. Where as a couple of years back brands were all asking for a ‘viral’ it feels like they are now all asking for iPhone apps. It is worth noting that content is merely a means to an end, content drives conversations and conversation are how you engage with people, and engaging with people is the only way brands will be able to survive in this social media disrupted world we now live in.
Formulating a content strategy can be a difficult process partly due to the many considerations and partly due to the number of stakeholders. So, to help here's a simple 10 step systematic process.
1. Principles
First off set some principles, this allows for the brand to have a healthy and robust discussion around authenticity, transparency and humility as well as an opportunity to define the engagement policy. There also needs to be acknowledgement that because brands no longer control when the conversations ends, unlike campaigns, there needs to be a commitment to continuous investment.
2. Business Objectives
Next we get into the 'Why are we doing this?' question, clarify your objectives, link them to appropriate metrics, if possible setting targets and define a budget.
3. Brand Purpose
Substance focuses the mind on what subjects and topics are important to you? What’s your position on things, your point of view? Where’s the evidence you’re serious about this stuff? What’s your story? What's your purpose? Why should people give a damn?
Ogilvy talk about identifying the brands ideal, so for example Dove believes the world would be a better place if women were allowed to feel good about themselves, Fanta believes the world would be a better place if we grew up less and played more, Scrabble believes the world would be a better place if we loved words more and Coca Cola believes the world would be a better place if we saw the glass as half full - not half empty.
I think that identifying your brand ideal is a great way to uncover your purpose and therefore gives you something to anchor your content to, just remember though that this needs to be backed up with evidence, just playing lip service is playing with fire.
4. Content Value (Social Currency)
What value will your content deliver directly to people? What value does it deliver indirectly, i.e. the payback I get for telling someone else about it?
The direct value is the contents' social currency and there are 5 types of value
4.1) Entertainment value – Advertising campaigns typically deal in this type of currency. It's worth asking if the idea lends itself to being parodied like Cadburys Gorilla as this can be a potent conversation multiplier.
4.2) Personal value - Fame delivers powerful personal value, the rise of Factor type shows and Reality TV shows over recent years indicate the value people place on this kind of content.
4.3) Knowledge value – B2B thought leadership via whitepapers is a example of this type.
4.4) Monetary value - Consumer PR typically deals in this type of currency with promotions and competitions, the Threshers 2006 40% off Voucher is a great example of this.
4.5) Utility value – a lot iPhone apps fall into this category like Sky+ app. Charmin installing 20 restrooms in Times Square is a great example as is the B&Q kitchen planner.
How can we blend some of these together to make them more potent? - A game with a leader board hits two types, a competition for the next flavor of Walkers crisps delivers a prize plus bragging rights. However attempting to blend various values together is the modern day equivalent of the challenges faced in creating an integrated campaign, i.e. you need a multi-disciplined/experienced/talented team to work collaboratively together.
Here are some other thoughts; can we tap into popular culture as T-mobile did with 'Dance', or can we ride a meme like EA Games did with the Tiger Woods 'walking on water' game glitch? I wonder if I've just coined the phrase 'Meme Riding'?
Who is going to be creating or producing all this great content for you. Well there are actually more choices than you may first realise.
5.1) Employees could be an effective choice, Zappo the US online shoe retailer encourages all staff to use twitter and even has a Leaderboard which introduces a competitive element into the mix.
5.2) Agencies are an obvious route.
5.3) You could use industry peers by simply sign-posting people to relevant, interesting stuff.
5.4) User generated content (UGC), crowdsourcing and co-creation can also be a viable option for some brands.
6. Spaces
Which social and digital channels will the content be going out through or put another way what's the distribution strategy?
6.1) Brand media; outposts, web sites, email or events
6.2) Earned media; influencer networks, communities or the media
6.3) Paid media
How are you going to balance and/or integrate content across these spaces? Experiential and social spaces work really well together. For example if we look at the T-mobile Flashmob in Liverpool St station they started with an event (or PR stunt if you like), word of mouth spread online and then the traditional media picked up the buzz and covered it via their channels.
Another challenging question, is the brand able to build a social destination? Not many brands can pull this off, if you try and you don’t currently have enough pulling power you could find yourself spending a lot of budget on traffic generation activates which is pointless. It may be better to get out into the communities that already exist.
7. Formats
What formats are appropriate to use; blog posts, presentations, videos, pictures, podcasts, tweets, Facebook or iPhone apps or live streams.
Can you re-purpose your content into different formats? For example a whitepaper could be re-purposed into a YouTube video interview with the author and then into a series of blog posts and then into an iTunes podcast.
Is it in a format that is easy for people to share? Is it in a format that is easy for people to remix? Cadburys Eyebrows actively encouraged people to parody by providing tools to enable people to remix and share it.
8. Schedule
Remember conversations can’t be turned off like campaigns so look to plan for a rolling 3mth content schedule. Consider what will be pre-planned and what will be left to be ad-hoc and reactive? How will you ensure a constant stream of content? How are you going to create peaks of interest?
9. Social Agents
Who will be manning your brand outposts? Who will be managing the conversations? Who will be building the relationships? Who will be re-directing questions or suggestions to the appropriate internal function? Who will be looking for early signs of a online crisis? Ultimately, who will be responsible for your social brand? Will your social agents by a central team, a distributed team, all employees or an Agency?
10. Actively listen
To find out what the reaction to your content has been you need to ensure you have set-up your active listening tools. What conversations have you started? What conversations do you want to join? How are you tracking against your objectives, targets and budgets?
For more detail on active listening please read my blog post - blog.stevesponder.com/active-listening-4
Lastly, it'll be interesting to discuss with people how the roles of a content strategist, traditionally focused on web site content and the new breed of content strategist, focused of social currency and objectives, relate to each other.
Thoughts? Let's discuss.
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