The 4 Dimensions of Content Strategy
The Rise of Content Strategy
Back in 1995, during times when services like social media, blogging, smartphones, and cloud computing were not on the radar, Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Inc., did the longest interview that the public had ever seen. Jobs emphasised the role of content as opposed to process and how companies scaling up fail to understand its relevance.
Twenty-five years later, content has become an asset that, when it is thoroughly designed, created, and distributed and has buy-in from key stakeholders, serves the wants of the audience, delivering a competitive advantage for businesses and initiatives.
The relationship between the value of content and the fulfilment it generates for the audience is intrinsic and proportional. Content is value when it is useful, usable, accessible, and sharable; when it leaves the audience with a positive experience, whether on the web or in traditional publications and venues.
The adoption of content at scale, however, has generated the misconception that the greater the amount of content, the higher the audience’s engagement. The lateral deployment of innovative digital media and platforms has, on the other hand, contributed to the proliferation of new job descriptions associated with CONTENT entwined with other content-related disciplines that deserve their own definitions: e.g. editorial strategy, web writing, metadata strategy, search engine optimisation, content management strategy, and content channel distribution strategy.
In the spirit of clarifying the definition of content strategy, as a discipline that connects the dots between journalism and marketing, its variations, and function, here are some insights to better position its mission in organisations.
A Unified Vision and Action Plan
Since its introduction, the definition of content strategy has been subject to multiple interpretations. Although the discipline has not been fully exported worldwide, the role of leading the ideation, creation, governance, and distribution of content is becoming increasingly important in organisations around the world.
Experts from English-speaking countries have converged in promoting the content strategy discipline; authors such as S. Abel, R. A. Bailie of The Language of Content Strategy, and K. Halvorson, Content Strategy for the Web, have produced ground-breaking publications, and although each of them has their own definition for content strategy, the common focus of most definitions is on an organisational vision for information and an action plan for achieving it.
Content strategy is an evolving discipline and a continuous process: it deals with the ideation and life cycle of content, covering not just planning, but also creation, delivery, and governance of content that is published on different channels, platforms, and devices with captivating storytelling.
A Cross-Functional Discipline Committed to Delivering Content that Matters
Content strategy traverses many groups within an organisation, such as marketing, research and development, information technology, and technical communication, integrating their differing needs and roles in creating content and providing a framework for interactions.
To its cross-functional and multi-dimensional nature, the role of the content strategist may focus on UX / Web Design, Web Content, or Content Writing, to mention some of the most common titles associated with the role, depending on the organisation’s goals and set-up, and the internal pool of expertise. While it is unrealistic for a single person to embody all these competencies, there is evidence that the content strategist is often willing and able to wear different hats to deliver relatable content for the audience.
Advancing the mission of content strategy demands an understanding of the ecosystem, competencies, and roles to deliver content that matters. Without meaningful investment and adequate commitment from stakeholders, the risk of distributing content that serves no objective, or has no impact, increases.
The 4 Dimensions of Content Strategy
Content strategy brings together various writing communities, including professional and technical communication, marketing communication, and web development, ideally breaking down disciplinary silos and biases and promoting the convergence of four key dimensions of practice.
Substance: planning what content should do, which messages it communicates, and in which genres and media. Although this may sound relatively straight-forward, it implies research and analysis of the audience, establishing a distinctive voice and tone for messaging, the purpose of content (to inform, inspire, engage or persuade), and also the choice of subjects that matter to the audience.
Structure: developing content models to support findability and usability of content items and potential uses and reuses for each content item. Once content is available, the choice of channels, platforms, and formats will determine the content distribution methods so that it tells the audience what they want to know and where to get it.
Workflow: assessing available resources (including tools, people, and practices) needed to create and maintain content quality.
Governance: creating mechanisms that ensure that content adheres to the strategy, such as policies, standards, joint authoring and publishing tools, and similar mechanisms.
While substance and structure are content elements, workflow and governance are people elements. These last two, in particular, determine how people play a part in the creation of new content, maintain existing content, evaluate content effectiveness, and govern strategies, plans, policies, and procedures.
A Growing Community of Content Advocates
Content strategists naturally possess and practise a set of skills that has them leading, collaborating, and interacting with multiple functions within an organisation. They advocate for elevating the conversation around the worth of content, its central role to the user experience, and strategic relevance for the organisation’s assets.
The growing community of content people share best-practices and experience across an increasing number of platforms, events, physical and virtual places around the world with one promise on their agenda: delivering useful, usable, and inspiring content.