Teaching students to make and assess a Content Strategy Plan

[Jared Spool]

Hello everyone,

I’m curious if any of y’all have ever taught students how to make and measure the quality of a content strategy plan.

What are the essentials to teach?
How do you assess if the students have done a good job?
How do the students measure if the plan has accomplished what they’d hoped?

This is a question that our students at Center Centre (centercentre.com) are asking about.

Any resources would be appreciated.

Jared

[Lisa M. Moore]

Hi Jared:

I live in London, but for the past couple of years I've been a lecturer and part of the program development team with FH Joanneum in Graz, Austria. They are offering the first (that I know of) MA in content strategy (https://fh-joanneum.at/content-strategie-und-digitale-kommunikation/master/).

Obviously, our program goes into a lot more depth than you might need, but all the students have had to produce CS plans as part of either project work or for their theses. If you want to DM me, I’d be happy to put you in touch with the program director who could share more insights and details of how the students were assessed.

—Lisa

PS: So cool that you are based in Chattanooga - I went to high school there many years ago!

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[Charlotte]

Lisa,
Interesting program--do you know whether the university is considering offering the program on-line? Thanks.
Charlotte

[Lisa M. Moore]

Hi Charlotte:

Most of the program is taught online already, although the Austrian higher ed system requires what they call “presence” sessions - some are full weeks, some are just weekends.

However, at the moment, most of the courses are taught in German. Rahel, Noz, Margot and I teach in English and the students prepare work for us in English, but the bulk of their work is in German. There is talk of offering the whole program in English, but there’s a lot to be done (just on the admin side alone) before that can happen. But maybe one day!

There has also been talk of other higher ed/certification initiatives for CS in the US and elsewhere. I think some kind of certification for CS is definitely important going forward, especially with so many popping up for UXers. But I keep coming back to the terminology - because here in the UK, we now have hundreds of people calling themselves content strategists but they’re really copywriters/editors/content managers and are all working in content marketing. Things such as XML or content modelling elude most of them :)

—Lisa

[Colleen Jones]

Hi Jared!

I have to tease you for a second...isn't "strategy plan" redundant? :D But I get what you're saying.

Here is a sample of criteria I like to use. I'm sure others have useful criteria.

Clarity of Vision or Purpose - If strategy is a plan to get from point A to point B, then point B is the vision. Is that vision clear? (Some characteristics of a content vision are in this article - http://review.content-science.com/2015/11/6-characteristics-of-a-kickass-content-vision/)

Use of Analysis and Data - Besides being unclear about point B, being deluded about point A (your current content situation) sets an unstable foundation for content strategy. Sound analysis and data about performance, user perceptions, user needs, and trends help ensure a realistic understanding of your current state. Is the understanding of the current state likely to be accurate because it's informed by data?

As a very simple example, a client once said they wanted to release content the way Beyoncé released her recent albums and videos--with no warning, causing a frenzy of demand. Of course, for that release strategy to work, your current situation has to be like hers. Most of us are not Beyoncé.

Alignment with Existing Content Strategies and Content Capacity - The reality is a content strategy for a product or experience has to synch up with content strategy for other products / experiences or other levels of the company. It also has to reflect awareness of the organization's current content capacity (or maturity level) and whether the strategy requires change to that capacity. (A bit about that here http://review.content-science.com/2015/10/stuck-on-creating-a-single-content-strategy-take-a-cue-from-nesting-dolls/ and here http://review.content-science.com/2016/04/complex-content-vision-strategy-3m/)

Competitive - In most cases, the approach to content is a way to win. The strategy has to reflect competitive awareness. Turbotax wins on its approach to microcopy and content / information design, and it's not an accident.

Those are just a few examples of criteria to evaluate a content strategy. Hope that's a helpful start!

We are rolling out Content Science Academy this week with online courses and certifications. Perhaps there is some "synergy" we can work out. Let me know if you'd like to discuss...no worries if not.

Colleen

CEO, Content Science

col...@content-science.com

[Hilary Marsh]

Hi Jared,

I’ve developed and have been teaching content strategy courses at Kent State University’s UX masters program and am developing an online school — http://content-strategy-school.com

I’ve been thinking about your message because “content strategy plan” isn’t a term I typically use. In my course, I teach students what students it takes to create a content vision that supports user needs and business goals, and develop the policies and procedures to ensure that the organization executes that vision sustainably. That would involve multiple things:

A content strategy statement

Voice and tone/editorial style guide

Governance principles, including roles and processes

Editorial calendar

Content lifecycle — conception, creation, publishing, management, maintenance, and expiration

Taxonomy

(For the school, my vision is to cover the full breadth and depth of content strategy, because it has so many facets and uses, so people can develop specific content strategy skills. This will let people have “badges” to include on their online profiles, and will also hopefully let employers understand which type of content strategist they are hiring.)

As far as your other questions, I assess whether students have done a good job by making sure they’re considering what I’ve taught them to consider in thinking about how to ensure that content:

has a goal — i.e. a measurable goal related to the specific user need or business goal

is written in the organization’s voice and tone

has a plan for its complete lifecycle

has the people and process to govern it effectively

And as far as how students measure whether their work is effective, that’s the most challenging part. That involves looking at various content goals and determining how well they are being met.

I hope that helps.

Best,

Hilary

Hilary Marsh
President and Chief Strategist, Content Company

312-806-7854  |  hil...@contentcompany.biz

Content strategy consultant, speaker, teacher
http://www.contentcompany.biz
Set up a chat: https://hilarymarsh.youcanbook.me 
Subscribe to my newsletter: http://www.contentcompany.biz/newsletter

[Kevin Nichols]

Hi Jared:

How wonderful that you are able to engage your students with this exciting material. I agree with what Colleen and Hillary have previously mentioned. Also, Paula Land and I developed a detailed workshop on creating and executing an objectives-based content approach. I am including an example from one of the slides. There are several inputs to an objectives-based model. But as Hillary and Colleen have noted, you need a vision / goal and measurable objectives. Those objectives should be written in a way that allows you to measure each. It is important to remember that when you define a measurement approach, that you consider hard and soft metrics. Hard metrics, such as web analytics (# of conversions, bounce rates, etc.) will tell you what is happening (E.g, X number of folks read my article). To get to the why it is happening requires soft metrics such as user testing. Because it's important to consider several inputs in any measurement strategy, Paula and I feel that measurement requires casting a wide-enough net to account for all the necessary inputs.

You can find our PPT here: http://www.slideshare.net/PaulaLadenburgLand/objectivesbased-content-72511655

The following example from the PPT shows how measurement can be used for specific objectives:

Objective	Measurement
Release weekly	•      Meeting all production and distribution dates; 4 articles per week online; two monthly thought leadership pieces in all targeted distribution channels; with all required associated content.
Increase subscriber satisfaction	•      Increase subscriber satisfaction by audience measured by semiannual subscriber surveys. Receive a ranking above 4.0 (out of 5.0) in all categories.
Inspire loyalty of existing customers	•      Leverage the following KPIs: Note a baseline is required; measure for initial six months and then create new targets for: •      Visit duration •      Clicks through to articles •      Number of articles viewed •      Number of articles downloaded •      Scroll depths on long-reads
Increase awareness	•      Measured by 20% increase of new visitors within six month of launch with 40% increase within 12 months from 2016. Also track the following: •      Unique visitors •      Amount of social shares •      CTR (Click Through Rate) from social media and announcement email to article
Emphasize User-generated content and social	•      Social media metrics for sharing, commenting, and referring.

I hope the following information is helpful!

Best,

Kevin
Kevin P Nichols
kevinpnichols.com
@kpnichols

[Heinz Wittenbrink]

Hi Jared, hi all,

this is the curriculum of our M.A. program in content strategy in Graz (the program mentioned above by our colleague Lisa): https://fh-joanneum.at/content-strategie-und-digitale-kommunikation/master/en/my-studies/curriculum/. This post may give you an idea of our goals: https://medium.com/@heinz/the-master-thesis-in-our-m-a-program-in-content-strategy-some-rules-draft-fe43d0e2bd60. We would be very happy to exchange ideas and experiences concerning the best way to educate content strategists.

Best

Heinz

Heinz Wittenbrink

Program Director

M.A. Program in Content Strategy

FH JOANNEUM University of Applied Sciences

Alte Poststraße 152

A-8020 Graz

mailto:heinz.wi...@fh-joanneum.at

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