Lightning talk presented at ConFab EDU 2014 in Atlanta.

1. THE NEW
CONTENT
STRATEGIST
FOUR MONTHS TO IMPLEMENTATION

2. CHALLENGES OF ENTERING A NEW
ENVIRONMENT
YOU ARE EITHER LOVED
OR FEARED
Most are comfortable
in their processes and
have defined their
“spot.”
Everyone knows you
are there to make
change and that can
be scary.

3. CHALLENGES AT UOFSC
• Years of change, years of turnover
• Multiple reorganizations and
prioritizations
• Silos, as expected
• NO ONE HAD DONE IT BEFORE
You can’t be successful if you
don’t know the history.

4. World-renowned • Nationally ranked • Outstanding faculty • Student experience
THE CHALLENGE: FIND THE ‘SO WHAT?’

5. 5?SFORCONTENT
STRATEGY
Listen
Learn job roles, viewpoints, politics
Model
Find your content chunks
Connect
Discover pain points
Flow
Map the workflows
Support
Know your backers & get buy-in

6. LISTEN
Where can you listen?
Committees, standing meetings,
lunches, walks to meetings, coffee,
desks,
Why spend so much time
listening?
Learn job roles, viewpoints, politics
Bonus: They get to know you too,
which makes you less scary!

7. How to be a fly on the
wall:
• Ask to join meetings; just
to listen
• Ask to observe processes
• Coffee, coffee, coffee
Don’t form opinions yet.
LISTEN TIPS

8. MODEL
What are your content
chunks?
Identify each different content piece.
Articles, announcements, slideshows,
static web content, videos, events, etc.
Analyze and evaluate but don’t
get in the weeds yet.

9. It’s all subjective.
Get really into your personas.
What are your users’ goals?
Which team creates or is in
charge of each chunk?
Be a content explorer!
MODELING TIPS

10. How can it be displayed
in the CMS?
Where would users use
this chunk?
What is the audience for
this chunk?
How does it relate to
other chunks?
USING CHUNKS

11. CONNECT
What are the pain points?
Pain points create hurdles and
hurdles are a pain in your own tookus!
Pain points are often one of three
things:
• People
• Technology
• Management

12. The CMS is restrictive.
IT is difficult to work with.
Developers are overloaded.
There is no CMS!
It’s the wild, wild
west of CMS!!
PAIN WITH TECHNOLOGY

13. Most difficult part of
content strategy.
These are your implementors.
Dealing with:
• Agendas
• Fears
• Unhappiness
• Past experiences
• Prejudices
• Motivation
• Needs
• Personalities!
PAIN WITH PEOPLE

14. FLOW
What are the workflows?
Workflows can be some of the most
difficult change.
Workflows go beyond the CMS:
• How do we find stories?
• How do we communicate with
colleagues?
• What are the production schedules?
• Who maintains calendars?

15. Meet them where they are.
Small changes can equal
big impacts.
Use existing tools if
possible.
Understand the time
involved.
WORKFLOW TIPS

16. SUPPORT
Who is backing you up?
Content strategy takes a team.
• How are you going to implement
changes?
• How can you get others excited?
• Who will be your cheerleaders?
• What is your feedback loop?
• Who can give you confidential
feedback?

17. Understand the bigger goals.
Get to know the managers.
Ask about the budget.
Know what results you expect.
Consider a smaller test if you
can’t do everything.
GETTING SUPPORT

18. PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
A PLAN IS A TERRIBLE THING TO WASTE
Keep it useable.
Content model yourself.
Sections and subheads!
Use their terms.
Make the change less
scary by making the
plan approachable.

19. HIGHLIGHTS FROM UOFSC
Small changes! Easy to understand!
• Content tiers to drive strategic
editorial
• Editorial themes
• Tweaked workflows in existing tools
• Build upon team strengths
• Scalability

20. Listen
Learn job roles, viewpoints, politics
Model
Find your content chunks
Connect
Discover pain points
Flow
Map the workflows
Support
Know your backers & get buy-in
5 ?S FOR CONTENT
STRATEGY
Amy Grace Wells: agwells@sc.edu @amygracewells