So you're going to Confab Higher Ed. You're already pretty excited about content strategy. But your boss and colleagues? Not so much. To outsiders, content strategy is just another buzzword. And as more schools move to become "data-driven" organizations, talking about content can sound hopelessly qualitative.
So don't say "content strategy": do it. This session will look at content strategy practices you can introduce to show even your most quantitatively-oriented colleagues the value of content strategy: content analytics, social media analytics, and user testing techniques. Rack up successes first—then start talking content strategy.
• Introduce content strategy practices into your organization when your organization doesn't care about content strategy.
• Use analytics to identify what needs improvement.
• Learn how user-testing techniques can improve your content.
6. About Me
•
Director of Electronic Communications at
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
•
Taught web writing at Higher Ed Experts
7. About Me
•
Director of Electronic Communications at
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
•
Taught web writing at Higher Ed Experts
•
Ph.D. in English
8. About Me
•
Director of Electronic Communications at
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
•
Taught web writing at Higher Ed Experts
•
Ph.D. in English
•
@mjpowers
14. Best Practices
Mobile
Digital Natives
Content Management System
Social Media
Content Strategy
Branding
User Experience
Information Architecture
Enterprise
Big Data
ROI
HTML5
Analytics
The Cloud
35. Content...
Get students
Help students,
faculty, alumni
succeed
Get money
• Appeals to H.S. students
• Provides correct, useful information
• Persuasive
• Helps students register, add/drop, etc.
• Continues to market school
• Gets audience’s attention
• Shows value of school
• Gets donors through donation
process
39. Some Questions
•
Can readers understand my content?
•
Does this page encourage donations?
•
Does this page encourage applications?
•
What should this section of the site be named?
•
What kinds of social content are most effective?
•
What content on this page is getting the most attention?
40. Sampling of Measures and Methods
•
User Test
•
Readability Score
•
Survey
•
Sharing Metrics
•
Card Sort
•
Social Media Engagement
•
Navigation Test
•
Pageviews
•
Heat Maps
•
Bounce Rate
•
A/B Test
•
Avg. Time on Page
•
Page Value
41. Sampling of Measures and Methods
•
User Test
•
Readability Score
•
Survey
•
Sharing Metrics
•
Card Sort
•
Social Media Engagement
•
Navigation Test
•
Pageviews
•
Heat Maps
•
Bounce Rate
•
A/B Test
•
Avg. Time on Page
•
Page Value
46. Do a User Test First
•
See people experiencing your content.
•
Experience their pain and joy.
•
Find some blindingly obvious stuff that
you wish you had seen earlier.
47.
48. Advice for First-Timers
•
Just do three tests. (Use Jacob Nielsen’s useit.com
to convince colleagues)
•
Write tasks that center on your goals.
•
Who you get to do the test matters less than you
think. But—choose a reasonable audience to help
colleagues accept your results.
49. Advice for First-Timers
•
Just do three tests. (Use Jacob Nielsen’s useit.com
to convince colleagues)
•
Write tasks that center on your goals.
•
Who you get to do the test matters less than you
think. But—choose a reasonable audience to help
colleagues accept your results.
50. Advice for First-Timers
•
Just do three tests. (Use Jacob Nielsen’s useit.com
to convince colleagues)
•
Write tasks that center on your goals.
•
Who you get to do the test matters less than you
think. But—choose a reasonable audience to help
colleagues accept your results.
54. Now we are engaged in a great civil
war, testing whether that nation, or
any nation so conceived and so
dedicated, can long endure. We are
met on a great battlefield of that war.
We have come to dedicate a portion
of that field, as a final resting place
for those who here gave their lives
that that nation might live. It is
altogether fitting and proper that we
should do this.
55. 4 sentences
72 words
90 syllables
Now we are engaged in a great civil
war, testing whether that nation, or
any nation so conceived and so
dedicated, can long endure. We are
met on a great battlefield of that war.
We have come to dedicate a portion
of that field, as a final resting place
for those who here gave their lives
that that nation might live. It is
altogether fitting and proper that we
should do this.
60. Flesch-Kincaid
Grade Level: 6.2
Now we are engaged in a great civil
war, testing whether that nation, or
any nation so conceived and so
dedicated, can long endure. We are
met on a great battlefield of that war.
We have come to dedicate a portion
of that field, as a final resting place
for those who here gave their lives
that that nation might live. It is
altogether fitting and proper that we
should do this.
61.
62. Our undergraduate and graduate
classes are designed to offer future
journalists—and private and public
sector leaders who will interact with
them—a thorough understanding of
the role of the press in the policy
making process. Through instruction
and internships, students learn about
the principles and the practice of
journalism, while mastering the
broader background of studies in
public policy, politics, economics,
history and other liberal arts.
2 sentences
67 words
113 syllables
63. Our undergraduate and graduate
classes are designed to offer future
journalists—and private and public
sector leaders who will interact with
them—a thorough understanding of
the role of the press in the policy
making process. Through instruction
and internships, students learn about
the principles and the practice of
journalism, while mastering the
broader background of studies in
public policy, politics, economics,
history and other liberal arts.
2 sentences
67 words
113 syllables
Grade Level: 17.4
64. Our undergraduate and graduate
classes are designed to offer future
journalists—and private and public
sector leaders who will interact with
them—a thorough understanding of
the role of the press in the policy
making process. Through instruction
and internships, students learn about
the principles and the practice of
journalism, while mastering the
broader background of studies in
public policy, politics, economics,
history and other liberal arts.
2 sentences
67 words
113 syllables
Grade Level: 17.4
65. Our undergraduate and graduate
classes are designed to offer future
journalists—and private and public
sector leaders who will interact with
them—a thorough understanding of
the role of the press in the policy
making process. Through instruction
and internships, students learn about
the principles and the practice of
journalism, while mastering the
broader background of studies in
public policy, politics, economics,
history and other liberal arts.
2 sentences
67 words
113 syllables
Grade Level: 17.4
66.
67. We don’t need elevators.
We’re only going to put
athletes in this dorm.
68. Why care about readability?
•
Makes web reading easier, even for
highly skilled readers
•
• Readable content gets shared more
Readers read more, understand more
often
69. Solutions for poor readability
•
Shorter sentences
•
Less passive voice
•
• Less jargon
Shorter words
70. A LITTLE BIT OF A TUMBLER.
A shining indication of yellow
consists in there having been
more of the same color than
could have been expected when
all four were bought. This was
the hope which made the six
and seven have no use for any
more places and this
necessarily spread into nothing.
Spread into nothing.
71. A LITTLE BIT OF A TUMBLER.
A shining indication of yellow
consists in there having been
more of the same color than
could have been expected when
all four were bought. This was
the hope which made the six
and seven have no use for any
more places and this
necessarily spread into nothing.
Spread into nothing.
72. “Data is your eyes,
“not your brain.”
—Colleen Jones
83. Solutions for a high bounce
rate
•
Is there an audience that hits this page
with the wrong expectations?
•
Are there useful links on the page?
Anyplace to go?
•
Does the content actually interest
people?
84. Solutions for a high bounce
rate
•
Is there an audience that hits this page
with the wrong expectations?
•
Are there useful links on the page?
Anyplace to go?
•
Does the content actually interest
people?
85. Solutions for a high bounce
rate
•
Is there an audience that hits this page
with the wrong expectations?
•
Are there useful links on the page?
Anyplace to go?
•
Does the content actually interest
people?
86. Solutions for a high bounce
rate
•
Is there an audience that hits this page
with the wrong expectations?
•
Are there useful links on the page?
Anyplace to go?
•
Does the content actually interest
people?
87. Solutions for a high bounce
rate
•
Improve readability
•
Make it more useful
•
Make it shorter
115. Solutions for low page value
•
Shorter, more readable, include calls to
•
Is this page related to a goal?
action
• Usability test
Content experiment (A/B test)
•
117. Grade me! Look at me!
Evaluate and rank me!
I’m good, good, good and
oh so smart! GRADE ME!
118. Problems with analytics
•
Google Analytics installs can be
•
Sites are different
different
• Goals are different
Analytics isn’t always accurate...
•
123. Use analytics data in
comparison
•
With similar pages on your website
•
• Dept. vs. dept.
Major page vs. major page
•
With last week, last month, last year
180. Some Questions
•
Can readers understand my content?
•
Does this page encourage donations?
•
Does this page encourage applications?
•
What should this section of the site be named?
•
What kinds of social content are most effective?
•
What content on this page is getting the most attention?
181. Some Questions
•
Can readers understand my content?
•
the
questions and show how
Does this page encourage applications? content
Whatstrategysection of the site be named?
should this makes things better
•
What kinds of social content are most effective?
•
What content on this page is getting the most attention?
•
•
Most encourage donations?
Does this pageimportant: Answer