Content Strategy

Overview

Content strategy refers to the planning, development, and management of content—written or in other media. The term is particularly common in web development since substantive content is what users come to the site for. It is a high-level concept that involves goals such as using words and data to create unambiguous content that supports meaningful, interactive experiences. It has also been described as planning for the creation, publication, and governance of useful, usable content.

History

The term "content strategy" has been used in various contexts and disciplines throughout history. In the late 1990s, the term began to be applied to web development with the realization that substantive content was what users came to sites for, and that managing that content was a complex task. The field of content strategy was born out of the need for more structured and strategic thinking about content.

Key Components

Content strategy often involves several key tasks and elements, including:

Content audit/analysis: This involves taking a look at all the content on a website and making decisions based on what's there. A content audit is typically a spreadsheet organizing all the website's content, often several hundred rows long.

Content structure: This involves how the content is structured and organized. This can include the use of content models, taxonomies and metadata.

Content workflow: This refers to the process and governance surrounding the content lifecycle, including creation, editing, approval, publication, and archiving.

Content delivery: This involves how the content is delivered to the audience. This can include the use of content management systems, API's, and other technologies.

A team of professionals working on a content strategy

Importance of Content Strategy

Content strategy is important for many reasons. It helps organizations provide the right content, to the right people, at the right times, for the right reasons. It ensures that the content aligns with the business goals, helps users achieve their tasks, and is sustainable over time. It also helps to avoid issues such as duplicated content, inconsistent messages, and inefficient processes.

Content Strategy vs. Content Marketing

While the terms "content strategy" and "content marketing" are often used interchangeably, they are not the same thing. Content strategy is the high-level vision that guides future content development to deliver against a specific business objective, while content marketing is focused on using content to build an audience and increase the visibility of the brand.

Developing a Content Strategy

Developing a content strategy involves several steps, including:

Defining the vision and goals: This involves understanding what the organization wants to achieve with its content.

Conducting a content audit: This involves taking a look at all the content on the website and making decisions based on what's there.

Creating a content plan: This involves deciding what content will be created, who will create it, when it will be created, and how it will be organized.

Implementing the content strategy: This involves creating the content, organizing it, and publishing it.

Measuring the results: This involves using analytics to see how the content is performing and making adjustments as necessary.

Challenges in Content Strategy

There are several challenges in content strategy, including:

Aligning the content strategy with the business goals: This involves ensuring that the content supports the overall goals of the organization.

Managing the content lifecycle: This involves managing the process of creating, editing, publishing, and archiving the content.

Ensuring content quality: This involves ensuring that the content is high-quality, relevant, and useful to the audience.

Dealing with content proliferation: This involves managing the growth of content, particularly in large organizations.

Future of Content Strategy

The future of content strategy is likely to involve a greater focus on personalization, automation, and artificial intelligence. As technology continues to evolve, content strategists will need to adapt and find new ways to deliver content that meets the needs of their audiences.