Elements of Content Strategy

Content strategy is a fairy new buzz word that’s been heavily promoted in the UX field for the past year or so. Focus on quality content is often neglected in almost any area of information architecture. I think it’s rather pathetic, considering the purpose of IA is to provide a good content experience to our users. Content development, in my mind, is made up of five different disciplines. One content strategist isn’t going to know all five areas, it’s more common for them to specialize in just a few of these. They are going to come from variety of backgrounds, including technical, marketing, literary, and subject matter related. Whether you already have a content strategist or you’re looking to invest in one, here are some roles to focus on:

1. The Content/Article Writer – This is the juicy stuff. Good article writers come few and far between, but our industry is overpopulated with content providers who fill websites with useless information. We have a core need for writers who can produce quality content. I feel the article writing business should come with no-strings-attached.  Too often, marketers and business gurus want something in return for providing such content, but I don’t believe this is the place for it. In a world where web surfers will leave your website in a blink of an eye, it’s important to continue to provide exactly what the users are looking for. With the help of an SEO, I find it is useful when this content is written by your subject matter experts.
2. The Call-to-Action: Copywriter – This person writes strategically to get a user to do something. This may include obtaining an e-mail address, making a sale, or any other call-to-action. This is especially important in regards to search engine marketing because when you pay for traffic, you want to be sure you get the lowest bounce-rate for the keywords you bid on. Getting a user to complete an action is the best way to quantitatively measure the effectiveness of an advertising campaign. It’s also a way to attribute a dollar amount to each of our users.
3. The SEO - Search Engine Optimization increases a website’s search engine ranking placement, also known as a SERP, in an effort to optimize the flow of traffic for certain keywords that users are searching for. This can include generic keywords (like Web Design, Information Architecture, User Experience Design) that are combined with a relevant location (like Washington, DC), or long-tail keywords (like “Top 5 User Experience Design Issues”). The point is to strategically expose web content to as many relevant users available. An SEO is usually involved with other writers to make changes to improve website quality.
4. The Multimedia/Social Media Consultant - This is a fairly new form of content provider who specializes in the development of other important mediums of content, such as video, podcasts, e-mail, etc. They’re often involved in social media, like YouTube, Viddler, Vimeo, and other video sharing sites to provide information to users. Be sure not to push this person aside, video marketing and other social media platforms are some of the most effective forms of internet marketing. You should consider including this into your strategy.
5. The Editor – This person makes everyone look good. They edit for consistency, grammar, spelling, and ensure a professional product.

As information architects, we bring all of this together to improve the products we develop. We specialize in organizing, generating the correct metadata and taxonomy, and ensuring consistency. Although writing content isn’t necessarily in our job description, I think it’s necessary to step up to the plate and fill these roles when needed.