But first, a few questions #Sourcing We have a good team of in-house writers and ad-hoc contributors across the industry. What other channels do we use to generate content?

#Production Apart from the usual articles, we produce videos, audios, chats, surveys and listings. How deep is their integration with our mainstream content?

#Packaging Our archive has five years worth of stories on every aspect of people management. Can readers find and experience our content based on their habits?

#Distribution All our content can be accessed on our web and mobile sites. What is our visibility on our audience’s most preferred platforms for media consumption?

#Metrics We generate several million pageviews a year and are know as the top media platform in our niche. But do we know which audience segment generates most of these page views? Or the location? Or device? Or time of day? What intelligence do we have?

#Monetisation Advertising, both in print and online, is our primary source of revenue. We also have a modest income from corporate and individual print subscriptions. Can we charge a premium by being innovative with our inventory? How do we encourage digital subscribers?

What  can  we  change  to  plug  these  gaps  in  our  publishing?  Let’s  pick  just  10  points  of  ac-on.  

Segment  audiences  by  industry  and  role.  Then  use  list-­‐based  tools  to  track  their  conversa>ons  and  preferences.      Look  for  and  engage  with  topics  or  influencers  with  high  social  gravity.  Include  these  in  our  editorial  checklist.    Establish  our  lists  as  great  resources  for  the  industry  to  follow.  Each  list  must  also  be  developed  into  a  good  sample  userbase  for  any  content  we  produce  in  that  segment.      Similarly,  use  Google’s  keyword  and  trends  tools  to  track  rising  searches  in  various  segments.  This  will  ensure  that  our  content  machine  responds  in  >me  to  changes  in  audience  interest  and  rides  these  graphs  to  their  peak.    These  tools  will  give  us  a  very  wide  pool  of  topics  to  address.  How  will  we  ensure  our  content  throughput  keeps  up?    

1. Build a list-ening grid #sourcing

Our  team  of  in-­‐house  writers  is  finite.  And  they  can  never  be  experts  at  everything.  Hence,  user  contribu>ons.    Brands,  industry  leaders,  even  bloggers  seek  a  share  of  voice  in  their  niche  media.  But  their  contribu>ons  are  usually  one-­‐off  appearances  and  inconsistent  over  >me.    Build  rela-onship  programs  that  connect  with  all  types  of  influencers,  map  them  to  an  area  of  exper>se  and  then  assign  and  retrieve  regular  contribu>ons  from  them.    Outreach  for  content  will  also  improve  our  speaker  selec>on,  lead  genera>on,  talent  referral,  even  audience  development.      Conversely,  can  we  get  such  non-­‐editorial  ac-vi-es  to  generate  content?    

2. Set up contributor programs #sourcing

The  Internet  Retail  Expo  ‘14  sessions  can  be  accessed  as  trailers,  full  videos,  slideshows,  Storifys,  even  audience  data  charts.  Can  such  event  archives  evolve  into  a  paywalled  and  searchable  knowledgebase?  

Our  events  —  we  do  several  each  month  —  aggregate  the  industry’s  best  around  meaningful  conversa>ons.  Why  do  they  need  to  have  a  shelf  life?  Document  every  interac>on  as  a  mul-media  recap.          

3. Get content, data at events #sourcing

4. Structure your content #production Create  content  like  code  —  in  modules.      Modules  can  be  reused  and  repurposed  across  mul>ple  stories.  They  are  more  adap-ve  across  pla?orms  or  contexts,  and  easier  to  search,  sort  or  filter.      Use  natural  language  processing  (NLP)  to  automa>cally  and  thoroughly  bag  and  tag  each  module  of  content.    This  structure  also  allows  us  to  produce  stories  with  mul-ple,  dis-nct  sources  and  creates  possibili>es  for  co-­‐crea>on  with  our  users  —  even  with  programs.    With  structure,  we  can  also  allow  users  to  follow  specific  topics,  writers  or  stories  instead  of  the  en>re  site.  But  how  will  we  ensure  content  relevance?  

Once  content  is  structured,  we  have  room  for  everything  from  gamifica-on  and  loyalty  programs  to  engagement  tracking  by  module  type,  number  of  modules  per  visit,  and  more.    The  key  is  relevance.  Know  who  and  what  our  audience  reads,  the  order  they  read  it  in,  the  pla\orms  or  devices  they  read  it  on,  the  >me  of  day  and  loca>on  they  read  it  at,  people  they  share  it  with.  Plan,  produce,  deliver  content  accordingly.  Merchandise  it.    In  >me,  each  user’s  experience  will  be  customised  to  his/her  preferences.  But  how  will  we  extend  these  insights  to  macro-­‐level  editorial  planning?  

5. Personalise #production #packaging

Audience  insights,  however  granular,  show  pa^erns  over  >me.  Broadcasters  have  always  used  these  as  the  basis  for  their  channel  programming.    That’s  why  we  know  that  Star  Movies’  Fridays  are  comedy  nights  and  Sunday  a`ernoons  are  thriller  marathons.      We  need  to  build  audience  habits  and  push  related  proper>es  that  we  want  to  be  known  for,  based  on  insights  gathered  in  sourcing  and  produc>on.    Set  up  an  editorial  calendar  to  start  building  monthly  themes  and  recurring  genres.  Then  assign  story  ideas  and  formats  to  writers  and  contributors.    Now,  do  we  bring  the  audience  to  the  party  or  just  go  where  the  audience  is?          

6. Ride the audience’s habits #packaging

Connected  audiences  today  consume  news  and  informa>on  in  bits  and  pieces  from  mul-ple  streams  —  mobile  no>fica>on  screens,  email  newsle^ers,  social  feeds,  aggrega>on  apps,  etc.      We  need  to  be  everywhere,  no  excuses.  The  key  is  to  automate  just  enough  of  the  process  for  it  to  stop  being  an  effort,  and  manually  coordinate  the  rest  so  users  don’t  feel  there’s  a  robot  across  the  channel.      But  what  happens  when  people  talk  back?  Social  media  management  is  exactly  like  running  a  contact  centre.  Be  quick,  be  relevant,  don’t  screw  up.  Set  up  guidelines.    At  a  cri>cal  mass,  our  communica>on  will  evolve  beyond  posts/replies  to  reminders/sugges>ons.  How  will  we  know  when?      

7. Show up and follow up #distribution

There’s  no  point  to  measuring  everything  if  we  don’t  know  what  to  do  with  it  —  and  when.  Hence,  lifecycles.    Use  cookies  to  iden>fy  users  and  compile  their  online  habits.  Assign  to  various  stages  of  the  audience  lifecycle.  Transi>ons  between  stages  can  trigger  user  prompts  to  dive  deeper  or  stay  on.      Track  acquisi>on,  reten>on,  leakage,  et  al.  Iden>fy  affini>es  between  user  or  content  segments.  Build,  act  on  data.      Correlate  these  with  performance  data  on  our  topics,  formats,  even  authors.      With  all  these  numbers,  can’t  we  also  give  adver-sers  beDer  opportuni-es  to  connect  with  our  audience?      

8. Track the audience lifecycle #metrics

Visitor  

New  Contact  

Engaged  Contact  

Evangelist  Contact  

Slipping  Contact  

Dropout  

9. Create new inventory #monetisation Why have just display ads? Why not brand multimedia content like infographics, photos, videos, live chats, ebooks, more? Note how IBM chose power of data as the single theme for useful content in various formats, then aggregated them in one unit. Sponsored widgets are a tremendous way for brands to build a reputation as a source of useful content in their niche. For users, we should also experiment with freemium subscriptions, micropayments. Steps 1 to 9 are all key changes in product, workflow and culture. How will we execute them without bringing the house down?

10. Work with iamWire #smartpublishing

Sourcing •  List-ening Grid •  Event Content •  Social Gravity •  Relationship

Programs

Production •  Tools, Strategy •  NLP Effects •  Structured

Content, Data

Packaging •  Programmed

Publishing •  Content

Merchandising

Distribution •  Tools, Strategy •  Social, Email,

Mobile, UI/UX Management

Metrics •  Tools, Strategy •  User Research

and Tracking •  Performance

Metrics, Alerts

Monetisation •  Inventory

Innovation •  Subscription

Programs

Pawan Gupta Founder & CEO, www.comezzo.com

+91 90087 88500

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pawanguptacomezzo

Twitter: https://twitter.com/guptapawan

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