Content Curation - Content Strategy vs. Museums

Here's an excellent article by Jonathan Salem Baskin on applying the concepts of museum curation to the idea of content curation.

There is a lot that we as content strategists can learn from folks who do "real curation."

"The collection as a whole is what defines a brand for consumers, and its placement and propagation on the Web is the branding. You can't go to a marketing event without getting lectured on how to curate content. Books have been written about it.

But I know real curators -- I'm working with one of the world's preeminent museums right now -- and their work has nothing to do our version of it. Claiming that we build rocket ships would be about as accurate. Actually, we could learn from these curators, especially considering that the museums and other research-based institutions where they work score incredibly high on consumer rankings of authority and reputation."

Read the Entire Article

Microsoft Content Strategy Job

Microsoft just published a job ad for a Senior Content Publisher (a content strategist from reading the ad) to work for their Legal and Corp Affairs group. Sounds very interesting.

"Do you have a passion for the web? Are you customer-focused? Do you have experience creating client-focused, web-ready solutions in the form of content and tools - and the processes needed to achieve that goal? Come work in the Information Services & Solutions group supporting Microsofts Legal and Corporate Affairs (LCA) division and help us redesign our web portals to focus on the needs of Microsoft employees, legal vendors, and LCA personnel."

Check out the Senior Content Publisher (content strategist) job posting

Content Strategy - The Three Cs of Social Media Content

The blog -   A Passion for Wine – A Passion for Marketing -  has a great post about how to begin thinking about a content strategy for social media.

"To be sure, this process is one that takes time and getting to know the client deeply so as to be able to help in the conception, creation and curation of their content, a significant part of any plan or model that involves Social Media, as it is the content that gets people talking about their company online with more regularity.

So I thought that it would be valuable to briefly describe what I call The Three C’s of Content Strategy - Conception – Creation – Curation

Social media content strategy always begins with understanding your internal appetite for loss of control and transparency.  Are you going to be comfortable getting negative comments and are you prepared to deal with them in a positive way that turns a bad situation around? Going social is about having conversations and sometimes, conversations can get heated. Have a plan for monitoring and handling customer complaints whenever they post them.

Important Traits for a Content Strategist

If you've never met a content strategist before, and you know very little about content strategy, how would you begin to hire some one to fill that roll?

This is an interesting question that a new post over on CMS Wire attempts to answer.

Their list:

• Curiosity
• Cross Communication Skills
• Organizational Skills
• Attention to Detail
• Knowledge of Content Strategy Leaders

That's a pretty good list. In addition to cross communication skills I'd also add, an interest in basic Web technology. I'm not saying that you have to be a programmer, but if you don't have some idea of how all the parts work together, then spotting the specific content issues may be a problem.

Check out the whole article:
Five Traits to Look for When Hiring a Content Strategist

It's Content Strategy Week At Johnny Holland Magazine

Johnny Holland Magazine is an open collective talking, sharing and finding answers about the interaction between people and products, systems or processes. This week they are all about content strategy and how content strategy solves problems.

 

Here are some content strategy articles that will drop during the week:

• Monday: Problems with Owning and Organizing Content
• Tuesday: Problems with Creating Consistent Content
• Wednesday: Problems with Understanding Content
• Thursday: Problems with Evaluating Content
• Friday: Problems with Strategic Planning for Content

I'm looking forward to a lot of great conversation on top of the top-flight articles. Should be an interesting week!

Content Strategy Week At Johnny Holland Magazine

Listening Should be a Huge Part of Your Content Strategy

All too often, Web consultants rush to drive clients to what's new or trendy without stopping to see what the market is really interested in.

Beyond, a new content consultancy in San Francisco is focusing on just that. They have methodology that focuses on listening to the customers first, figuring out what kinds of things they like to talk about, and THEN developing a content strategy that creates and delivers the desired kinds of conversations, where they like to have these conversations.

A Web site is not always the answer and neither is a blog or social media. Don't start with the delivery platform in mind. Find out what the market wants first.

"Next Fifteen Launches Beyond, A New Type of Digital Consultancy
According to Matt Iliffe, Creative director and founder of Type3, "The days of Web strategy are gone. It is now about creating a content strategy grounded in what people want to talk about and then making sure that that content is available anywhere, on any platform. In some cases that could be an owned property, but in other cases it might be a third-party community or media destination.

"Just because we are a digital consultancy doesn't mean we will recommend you spend thousands on building something. We all know if you build it, they don't always come," concluded Iliffe."

For more about Beyond go to http://www.bynd.com/

Begin Web Design with Content Strategy

In his Lucid Plot blog, Jonathan Kahn makes some great points about content strategy and the Web design process.

"Embracing content strategy is about the web industry growing up. We’ve been happily distracting ourselves from the scary, messy reality of web strategy, governance, and content by focusing on tactics, features, and techniques. If we want to fix the broken user experiences that result, we need to make some difficult changes. If you’re up for that, you’ll prosper."

Check out the entire post.

New Content Strategy Column in CMS Wire

As a content strategist, the people who implement and control your web content management system (WCMS) can be either your best friends or worst enemies. Anyone who had been through more than a few new site rollouts can attest to this. If the CMS is overly complex, hard to use, and buggy, it will make the content development phase of your project a nightmare.

So it's great news to see CMSWire.com speaking directly to their audience about content strategy in a new, weekly column.

"Welcome to our new weekly column on Content Strategy. We will serve up a healthy dose of tips, tricks and tools related to content development, design, usability, search engine optimization and other content governance. This week we examine content for the sake of content and what makes it so darn important to the rest of what we do."

Take a look at what they are up to and help steer them in the right direction with good comments.

Content Strategy: Why Content Matters

Atlanta Content Strategy Meetup - July Recap

Thanks to Kim Ware for sending this along.

Here's a bit of a recap for those who missed this month's Atlanta Content Strategy Meetup. July's meetup featured Joe Pulizzi, content marketing evangelist and founder of Junta42. Joe gave an inspiring, practical presentation on "Higher Purpose Content Marketing" that left us all with great ideas for improving the content in our blogs, websites, and even our tweets.

CHECK OUT THE SLIDES >

Colleen live-tweeted during Joe's presentation, so for a recap via Twitter, search #atlcs.

We also posted some photos on the ATLCS flickr photostream, so check those out as well.

Content Strategy for Blog Comments

A blog post from Newt Barrett got me thinking about the whole area of blog comments. Blogs are conversational by definition and design, so comments are an essential part of the formula. But all comments are not created equal. Let's face it, most comments are not even really comments, they are just lazy attempts at backlinking for SEO purposes. Your blog posts say a lot about who you are, and what you do. They establish your reputation. The same holds true for the comments you allow to be posted.

Comment Content Strategy for Blog Owners

If you own or administer a blog, I don't have to tell you about how much time it takes to keep up with comments. It's easy to want to just ignore the whole thing, but comments can really bring life to your posts.

To Moderate or Not to Moderate - Whenever possible, I think moderation is essential. This is pure content curation (buzzword bingo!). When I scan a posts comments and see comments that are completely out of context, and obviously pushing a link to another site, it lowers my opinion of the entire blog. So yes, moderate your posts. If you have so many comments that you just can't do it (a high quality problem for sure) think about outsourcing. And don't forget to let technology help you. There are some really good WordPress plugins that do a great job in dealing with obvious spam comments (see below).

Moderate Consistently - You can't play favorites. Many of us have had the pleasure of dealing with returning visitors who seem to disagree with everything we say. If they are just plain vulgar and offensive, sure reject them every time. But presenting a valid argument should always be welcome. It's up to you as to whether you want to respond with a comment of your own or just let it go. But an hot argument can make for great content!

Write a Comment Policy - Once your blog starts to get a regular stream of traffic, you really should write a comment policy, similar to your privacy policy. (Yes, I know I don't have one yet, I'm just as strapped for time and lazy as everyone else - It's in the works). Your comment policy sets down the rules and expectations for both sides of the conversation. It can also be used to encourage comments, it you remove NoFollow tags from links in comments, let your readers know and let them know what kinds of links are OK.

Here are two short and simple examples from The Blog Herald http://www.blogherald.com/policies/ and Obama's Change.gov -http://change.gov/page/content/commentpolicy

Comment Plugins for WordPress - http://mashable.com/2007/07/24/wordpress-comments/

Mashable has a great list of comment-related plugins. These are my favorites - Akismet, Comment Timeout, BlogFollow, DoFollow, and AuthorHighlight.

Comment Content Strategy for Blog Commenters

For those leaving comments, you need to think about what it is you are trying to accomplish. Sometimes you just want to make a comment, sometimes you want to make a comment as a way of introducing yourself to the blog owner, and sometimes you really do want a link back to your site. All of these are fine, just know up front what you are trying to do.

For any kind of comment creation, the main rule is this - add something to the conversation.

Even nice comments that don't really add anything will likely be deleted. "Wow, great post. Keep it up," adds nothing to my life or the life of my readers. But add just a little bit of context and relevance, and I'll have no problem - "Good ideas. I'll add those thoughts to my current content strategy job search."

If you are including a link back to your site, a little more effort may be needed in order to pass the sniff test. Remember, the blog admin has a ton of comments to go through, make it obvious that there is value in your comment and you make it more likely that your comment will be approved.

Comments are a great way to start an online relationship with a blogger. But don't expect to become BFFs after one comment. However a series of well-thought-out comments is a great way to introduce yourself and maybe eventually get your sit listed in their blog roll.

Comments are Content

So comments are important content elements, and deserving of a content strategy of their own. If you are working as a content strategist for a client, consider adding a comment policy to your list of deliverables if they have a blog.

Think about how comments fit into your larger content strategy, define or understand the rules, then speak your mind and encourage others.

Has anyone written a comment policy? I'd love to hear what you think.

July Content Strategy Meetup!

Join us for a brief presentation and lots of interactive discussion with Joe Pulizzi.

Please SVP Here

This month's meeting is on July 13th.

Location

Hodges Room

75 Fifth Street NW
Suite 335
Atlanta, GA 30308

How to find us
"3rd floor of Centergy building"

Joe is a leading author, speaker and strategist for content marketing. He is first and foremost a content marketing evangelist, and founded content marketing client-vendor matching site Junta42 as well as Junta42's how-to sister site, the Content Marketing Institute. Joe is also co-author of the highly praised book Get Content Get Customers (McGraw-Hill), recognized as THE handbook for content marketing.

Please SVP Here

Nonprofits Need Content Strategy Too!

Are you interested in redefining the good life in a way that’s in line with the needs of people and planet? Do you want to guide people to an emerging, positive future that prioritizes sharing, community self-sufficiency, and well-being? Do you want to build a movement? This nonprofit neeeds you content strategy skills

Content Strategy Tasks to include:
Your main responsibility will be to build a community to support the operation of the magazine. You will use open source practices to achieve your goals. The goal of the community is to bring sharing as a lifestyle into the mainstream and create a useful how-to resource for those interested in sharing.

Online Organizer (40%) -Develop strategies that increase engagement in cause & catalyze action -Develop a community to create and promote the magazine -Create content and distribution partnerships with key sites -Grow the magazine’s social media community, RSS feed, and e-mail list -Foster intelligent dialog on the site -Develop earned revenue model & establish new distribution channels

Editor (40%) -Develop content strategies that bring our point of view into the mainstream -Shape the site into a useful resource for those interested in sharing -Manage the day-to-day production of a provocative, high quality stream of content -Scan media for relevant stories to respond to or republish on Shareable -Assign, edit & develop important pieces -Manage editorial budget and all administration related to editorial functions -Optimize editorial based ongoing analysis of traffic -Engage key project stakeholders on editorial issues with project director

Writer (20%): -Write key thought pieces to round out the magazine’s point of view -Regularly contribute posts that track projects, current events & people in the movement

About the candidate:
-At least one year online community management experience
-At least two years professional experience as editor and writer
-At least a Bachelors degree in English, Journalism, or related field
-A demonstrated interest in our topic area
-An experienced blogger, social media user, and multimedia content producer
-Ability to prioritize and deliver on deadline
-Excellent attention to detail
-Demonstrated thought leadership
-Experience addressing a young adult audience
-Self-starter used to a startup environment

Reports to: Project Director

About the organization: CommonSource is a Tides Center project that promotes sharing as empowering lifestyle & high impact social change strategy. Shareable Magazine is CommonSource’s first program. Learn more about the magazine at http://shareable.net/.

Compensation Competitive nonprofit salary & full benefits

Follow These Instructions To Apply: Please send an e-mail to neal@shareable.net with the following: -APPLICANT: COMMUNITY & CONTENT STRATEGIST in the subject line
-A brief cover letter in the body of the e-mail no more than three paragraphs long
-E-mail should be more than one page when printed out
-PLEASE DO NOT INCLUDE ATTACHMENTS
-Below your signature include the following:
-one link to an online resume
-Up to three links to sample articles most like those on Shareable.net
-And one sentence about salary requirements

CommonSource, a project of Tides Center, is an equal opportunity employer. We strongly encourage and seek applications from women, people of color, including bilingual and bicultural individuals, as well as members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities. Applicants shall not be discriminated against because of race, religion, sex, national origin, ethnicity, age, disability, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, color, marital status, medical condition (cancer-related) or conditions Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and AIDS-related conditions (ARC). Reasonable accommodation will be made so that qualified disabled applicants may participate in the application process. Please advise in writing of special needs at the time of application.

Compensation: Competitive nonprofit salary & full benefits
Telecommuting is ok.
This is at a non-profit organization.

Great Content Strategy Job in San Francisco

Awasu Design in San Francisco is looking for a talented Content Strategist to help round out their service offerings. They are a top-flight, user-centered consultancy with a strong reputation, good clients, and a great work atmosphere.

They currently advertise these offerings:

• Information Architecture
• Interaction Design
• Visual Design
• Usability

See anything missing from that list? Help them add Content Strategy and content development to that list of capabilities.

Great job, great clients, great city... seems worth checking out.

Here's more information about the Content Strategist job listing

An Interesting Content Manifesto

A tweet from @avantgame (Jane McGonigal - game designer, PhD. researcher, futurist) really struck a chord with me about Web content. With a few small tweaks it makes a good manifesto.

Here is her original tweet:

"Looking at an email query, I realized tonight: I don't make games ABOUT things. I make games IN ORDER TO do things. To achieve goals."

Content Manifesto: Don't create content ABOUT something. Create content IN ORDER TO DO something. To achieve goals. All content should be in service of a goal. If not, cut it.

For some projects this might even be a good field to capture in the content matrix - Page Goal. What are you trying to accomplish with the content on this page? Write it down and get agreement.

Agency Survey Regarding Content Strategy - Good News!

A few weeks ago, Eat Media (a top content-focused Web agency) sent out a survey to Web agencies and design shops. They wanted to get a feel for what they know and how they feel about the whole "content strategy" thing.

Well the results are in and there is a lot of good news there for content strategists. Here are a few nuggets:

• 82% selected content strategy as a current need, followed by ongoing content development at 65%
• 29% have content strategists/content developers on staff. 35% use a mix of freelance/contract and in-house talent. 31% use a third-party vendor or contract strategists.

So the work is out there! Check out the link for all the details.

Complete 2010 Content Strategy Survey Results