content strategy for ux

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Content Strategy for UX

What, Why, WhenA short history of content strategy

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A few definitions…

The main goal of content strategy is to use words and data to create unambiguous content that supports meaningful, interactive experiences. Rachel Lovinger, “Content Strategy: The Philosophy of Data.” Boxes & Arrows, 2007.

Content strategy is about how we get the right content to the right people at the right time. Kevin P. Nichols, “Enterprise Content Strategy Practitioners’ Guide.” kevinpnichols.com, 2011.

Content strategy is the practice of planning for the creation, delivery and governance of useful, usable content. Kristina Halvorson, Content Strategy for the Web, 2010.

What?

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Our house view 2013…

Content Strategy is the systematic, thoughtful approach to surfacing the most relevant, effective, and appropriate content at the most opportune time, to the appropriate user, for the purpose of achieving a company’s strategic business objectives.

Simply, content strategy is…

A practice or discipline

A systematic way of approaching content development, creation, management and governance.

Content Strategy at SapientNitro

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Why content strategy?

Volume (of content) and complexity (of the digital environment)

Companies are producing more and more content, often with no sense of:

How much they have

Where it is

Who’s taking care of it

How effective it is at meeting business and audience goals (if they even know what these are)

ROI

Why?

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What’s the difference?

CopywritingIf copywriting is about the words on the page, content strategy is about everything that goes into getting them there and why they need to be there in the first place.

UXContent strategists and UX practitioners care about some of the same things, but from a slightly different perspective. If UX is concerned with the presentation layer, content strategy is concerned with the content beneath that presentation level that makes that UX vision a reality.

Content Strategy, Copywriting and UX

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Always

When?

Content should not be an afterthought.

02CS IN PRACTICEHow

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Content strategy work falls into two buckets

1. Tactical. This type of work covers the practical, operational aspects of producing, managing and governing content. This work includes things like defining template requirements for a CMS implementation, producing content matrix files to capture page-level copy, and content migration and production planning.

2. Strategic. This type of work (obviously!) covers the more strategic aspects related to content and content production. It tends to be more analytical and forward thinking in nature and includes things like content auditing and competitive assessments. Strategic work plans for content that speaks to your target audience.

Two types

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Content strategists ask clients questions like… What content do you have?

Where is it?

Is it enough or do you need more?

Is it effective?

Does it distinguish you from your competitors?

How?

They do things like…

Inventories and audits (“This is what you have.”)

Make recommendations (“This is what you need / need to do with what you already have.”)

Plan (“This is how to do what you need to do.”)

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User experience, content experience

Content strategy bridges the gap between the theoretical work of the UX practitioner and the real world of content by:

• Making sure content exists to support all design elements (tactical)

• Making sure that the design elements support content goals and priorities (strategic)

Content and UX

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Structured content and responsive design

Source content

Example

Tablet MobileDesktop

03Wrap upThank you

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In summary…

• Content strategists makes the theoretical real

• Content strategists facilitate, support and compliment the work of the UX practitioner

• Content strategists specialize in different areas

• The more complex the digital world becomes, the more content strategy and UX have to work together to make the vision a reality.

Key messages

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Content strategy at Sapient

Kevin Nichols (knichols@sapient.com)Director & Global Content Strategy Lead (Boston)

Julie Christie (jchristie@sapient.com)Manager, Content Strategy (London)Wrap up

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