Content Strategy

Content strategy is an emerging field of practice encompassing every aspect of content, including its design, development, analysis, presentation, measurement, evaluation, production, management, and governance.

Kristina Halvorson, author of Content Strategy for the Web (forthcoming)[5], defines content strategy as "the practice of planning for content creation, delivery, and governance."

In The Web Content Strategist’s Bible, Richard Sheffield emphasizes the importance of editorial process to content strategy.

Content Strategists

But the perspectives content strategists bring to content depend strongly on their professional training and education.

For instance, some specialize in content analysis, which roughly describes work with metadata, taxonomy, search engine optimization, and the ways in which the sound application of these concepts supports content.

Others outline web editorial strategies, guidelines, and tools, which may extend to organizational change management. This form of content strategy may be concerned with developing new forms of content, such as multimedia, or various “presence management” technologies like microblogging.[6]

There is yet another stream of content strategy advancing information architecture goals. In this case, content strategy may only involve writing site copy for new website pages and adapting the content on existing ones.

All content strategists are familiar with a wide range of applications and tools, and frequently are responsible for implementing and training individuals to best use them.

Education and Professional Background

Content strategists emerge from a variety of formal academic and professional disciplines:

Library and information sciences
Computer sciences
Creative and performing arts
Advertising and marketing
Rhetoric and composition
Technical writing and communication
Journalism
Communications
Liberal arts
Management consulting

Work Products

The work products typical of content strategy are equally diverse:

Content inventory
Copy deck
Content assessment
Editorial strategy
Content audit
Content gap analysis
Comparative content analysis
Content and messaging strategy
Content conversion/migration strategy
Content flow schematic
Content approval workflow
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy
Metadata strategy
Editorial calendar
Brand strategy
Style guide
Glossary
Terms of Use
Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some further ideas for literal applications of content strategy by Colleen Jones.

Related Entries

Wikipedia

References

Comments

Murry Shohat

Very nice Knol, excellent organization

As a long time content producer, I've not paid attention to the "profession." Now you've handed me a structure to improve my work and my professional appeal as a producer and writer. Please keep this excellent Knol up to date. It's going to help my writing team produce better Knols about writing Knols, reviewing them and dealing with content violations. Perhaps you'd consider including a category in your Further Reading for Knols about writing and reviewing content.

I've put your Knol at the head of my to-do Review list.

May 25, 2009 9:21 AM

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Lisa Trager

It all starts with content strategy

From my experience, especially in the agency world, the final deliverables from other internal teams like Creative, IA, Marketing and Tech are all dependent upon the foundation of good content strategy. Without the research, analysis, SEO strategy, competitive analysis, etc, which is under the domain of a Content Strategist, the project can turn into a house of cards and if not all together collapse, certainly not provide a cogent, relevant user experience, hence limiting the ROI for the business.

Thank you Jeffrey for putting together such a succinct, comprehensive overview of Content Strategy and the many hats we as Content Strategists wear. The reason I love this job is because this is a role that requires both right and left brain and one in which I will never be bored!

And thank you Jeff, Stephen, and Colleen for helping to evangelize Content Strategy!

Last edited May 30, 2009 9:16 AM

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RichSheff

Defining the Value Proposition of Content Strategy

This is indeed a big issue and a valid question. Anyone who has worked in an agency knows the battles you go through to get the customer to pay for services that they really need but are reluctant to pay for. I used to have to defend to costs a lot. I would usually sell content strategy based on the avoidance of late content, and WCMS planning, design, and implementation expertise.

Sometimes the clients have to learn the hard way. Late content is, from what I have seen, the number one cause of late project delivery. I know of late content causing projects to be weeks, months, and even a year late. This is generally a planning and tracking issue that a dedicated content strategist would take care of. My projects just never have late content surprises (unless there's a huge scope increase) because all of the content items are identified assigned and tracked. I know WAY early if there are problems and I ask a lot of hard questions early enough to do something about them. Having a lot of Web content experience gives you insight that most project managers just don't have.

A new WCMS installation is another place where someone with content development experience can make a huge difference. A good content strategist can act as a user advocate during design and implementation so that the the project is not dominated by IT and decisions of programming convenience. It's critical to have someone on the team who has actually used a WCMS before so that once the system is delivered it actually makes sense to writers and business users who will have to live with it for a long time.

Sometimes clients just have to suffer through a really troubled project where they tried to be frugal to eventually see that spending a few extra dollars to make sure the project is delivered on time could have saved them a lot of money and headaches.

Last edited Sep 4, 2008 3:40 PM

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Anonymous

Untitled

Thank you, thank you, thank you for pulling this together into a neat package. This is what I wrestle with every single day.

Here's how I've been thinking about it:

Content strategy helps businesses tell a clear, concise and compelling story by effectively balancing business needs/goals with customer wants/patterns.

Last edited Sep 4, 2008 8:52 AM

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