Content Strategy

After watching the Lynda.com course on Content Strategy I was left with a better understanding of how to create and get out to the masses great content. Bringing the right content to the right person and the right place at the right time and in the right context, that's Content Strategy.

What did I learn?

The following three things stuck out to me the most.

1. Defining The Audience

If we don't know who our audience is then our project is doomed to fail. Every project has to have an audience. To help find out audience Morten tells us to ask one simple question. Who are you trying to reach? Once you ask yourself that question a floodgate should open, your mind should burst with ideas, people and organizations you want to reach out to. Once you have decided on your audience allow those key traits of that audience to guide you in putting together your content.

2. Substance & Structure

This is the next step in creating great content. We must create content with substance. People don't want to read about or listen to fluff. It has to mean something to your audience. If they are invested in what you have to say they will keep coming back for more. Also, If we structure it in a way that the audience will accept it then we have found success. You want to create content that has a flow that goes from beginning to end and doesn't jump around if it does you will confuse your audience. You want to give them a clear picture of what you are trying to get them to buy into.

3. Content Creators

Some people can confuse the content strategist with the actual content creators. The strategist isn't necessarily creating the content but they help you get the content you created out there in a way that it will be received by your target audience. The people largely responsible for creating content are the people in your marketing department. These people are expert content creators and should be utilized as such. they will be able to take your ideas and put together pieces that with grab your audiences attention. Some companies have employees with specific job titles that do just that, create content.

Was there anything I wanted to know more about? Of course, there is. Information Architecture. This term was brand new to me. However, after Morten explain it. It makes complete sense. Knowing that there are people who are specifically skilled in this topic is interesting to me. I remember Morten pointing out that there is a course specifically on that. I may have to go and take him up on that course because I would love to know more about it. I think having a complete understanding of the way to construct information and put it together so that your audience grabs ahold of it is a pretty neat skill to have. Why? People look up and search for information every day. However, there is so much information in translation. Having the knowledge to structure information so that your audience can consume it as easy as possible, that is the key.

Throughout out this month, we will be working with a fictitious company and completing different scenarios. The major key that I will take with me will have to define the audience. As I stated before if we don't know who our audience is then our project is doomed to fail from the beginning. We must complete research to know who we want to give information to.