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LavaCon 2013 Content Audit in Three Simple Steps
1. Content Audit in Three Simple Steps
Allison Joyce
Experis Global Content Solutions
@Experis_GCS @AllisonYJoyce #ContentAudit @LavaCon
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2. About me
• More than 20 years in content creation and
management
– Looked at content from all angles
• Advertising, publishing, digital marketing, online
communications
– Worked with teams and alone
• Marketing/Communications consultant with
Experis Global Content Solutions
@Experis_GCS @AllisonYJoyce #ContentAudit @LavaCon
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3. What’s a content audit?
…A thorough look at all your content to see if it meets
your organization’s needs.
Why you need to spend your valuable time doing this:
• Check alignment with business objectives
• Anticipate needs vs. fire drills
• Streamline your content creation process to make
your job(s) easier
@Experis_GCS @AllisonYJoyce #ContentAudit @LavaCon
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4. What about you?
• How many of you have done content audit?
• When would you use it?
• Why would you need it?
@Experis_GCS @AllisonYJoyce #ContentAudit @LavaCon
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5. Why we’re here
Break down the content audit process into three
simple steps:
1. Ask the right questions.
2. Assess your content.
3. Address the imbalance.
@Experis_GCS @AllisonYJoyce #ContentAudit @LavaCon
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6. 1. Ask the right questions
• Is your content aligned with your business
objectives?
• Are they specific enough?
• Who are your target personas?
• Are you reaching them at all stages of the
buying process?
@Experis_GCS @AllisonYJoyce #ContentAudit @LavaCon
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7. 1. Ask the right questions
What are your business objectives?
• Review strategic plan
• Ask management
• Review sales and marketing goals for the year
or even three years out
• Listen!
• Watch trends in market and among competitors
– Have a realistic view of your product/service in
market
@Experis_GCS @AllisonYJoyce #ContentAudit @LavaCon
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8. 1. Ask the right questions
Are your business objectives specific enough?
• Raise awareness among industry thought leaders
• Generate leads for existing products
• Increase revenue in strategic accounts
• Be a thought leader
@Experis_GCS @AllisonYJoyce #ContentAudit @LavaCon
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9. 1. Ask the right questions
Are your business objectives specific enough?
• Raise awareness among industry thought leaders of
three new products
• Generate leads for existing products in two emerging
markets
• Increase revenue in strategic accounts by 20% over last
year
• Be a thought leader on key industry issues
@Experis_GCS @AllisonYJoyce #ContentAudit @LavaCon
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10. 1. Ask the right questions
Who are your target personas?
• Raise awareness of three new products among industry thought
leaders
• Media
• Bloggers
• Champions/Top Clients
• Generate leads for existing products in two emerging markets
• China
• France
• Increase revenue 20% over last year in strategic accounts
• Create word-of-mouth selling inside the account
@Experis_GCS @AllisonYJoyce #ContentAudit @LavaCon
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11. 1. Ask the right questions.
What kind of content do they need?
– Industry thought leaders
• White papers, blog posts, connection through
social media
– Two emerging markets (China, France)
• Basic sales content
– Translated, transcreated in Simplified Chinese and
French
– Strategic accounts (word of mouth)
• Sell sheets, data sheets, webinars, white papers
@Experis_GCS @AllisonYJoyce #ContentAudit @LavaCon
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12. 1. Ask the right questions
Are you reaching your personas at all stages
of the buying process?
Discover
Learn
Sell to
Management
@Experis_GCS @AllisonYJoyce #ContentAudit @LavaCon
Buy
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13. 1. Ask the right questions
What questions would you ask?
@Experis_GCS @AllisonYJoyce #ContentAudit @LavaCon
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14. 2. Assess your content
• Get organized
• Take an inventory by product and/or by
buying stage
• Find out what’s working
• Review all your content with a critical eye
@Experis_GCS @AllisonYJoyce #ContentAudit @LavaCon
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15. 2. Assess your content
Get organized
• Move everything into one
repository
– Make the tools work for you
Printers
• Tag away!
– Metadata is your friend
– Use taxonomy in your CMS
Commercial
Large Scale
Small Scale
Home
All-in-one
Printer only
– Product line vs. specific
products
@Experis_GCS @AllisonYJoyce #ContentAudit @LavaCon
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16. 2. Assess your content
Take an inventory by product or service
Product A
Product B
Product C
Product D
Slide Deck
X
X
X
X
Data Sheet
X
X
White Paper
X
eBook
Web Page(s)
X
X
Video
X
X
Webinar
X
X
Infographic
X
Product
Documentation
X
X
X
X
Blog Posts
X
X
X
X
@Experis_GCS @AllisonYJoyce #ContentAudit @LavaCon
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17. 2. Assess your content
Take an inventory by stage in the selling process
Discover
Learn
Sell to Mgmt
Buy
Slide Deck
X
X
X
Data Sheet
X
X
White Paper
X
X
X
eBook
Web Page(s)
X
X
Video
X
X
Webinar
X
X
Infographic
X
X
Social Media
Profiles
X
X
Conferences/
Events
X
X
Blog Posts
X
X
X
X
@Experis_GCS @AllisonYJoyce #ContentAudit @LavaCon
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18. 2. Assess your content
Find out what’s working
• Check web metrics/analytics
• Look at social sharing
• Ask internal stakeholders
– Sales people, management, PR, support teams
• Poll external stakeholders
– Use a blind survey - phrase so you will get candid feedback
• Go with your gut
@Experis_GCS @AllisonYJoyce #ContentAudit @LavaCon
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19. 2. Assess your content
Take a critical eye to your existing
content, one section at a time
• Keep business goals in mind
• Review for accuracy, currency
• Notice how and where the same content blocks or
components appear
@Experis_GCS @AllisonYJoyce #ContentAudit @LavaCon
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20. 2. Assess your content
Remember your target audience – personas
Tone
Length
Language
Knowledge
level of
reader
Content
channel
• Formal or friendly?
• Highlights or deep dive?
• Translation
• Experienced or new to topic? How
much jargon is right?
• Web, mobile, social media, video
@Experis_GCS @AllisonYJoyce #ContentAudit @LavaCon
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21. 2. Assess your content
@Experis_GCS @AllisonYJoyce #ContentAudit @LavaCon
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22. 2. Assess your content
Set aside time for this process – it’s worth it.
(Your readers will thank you.)
• Assess at least once a year; twice is better
– Schedule this so it doesn’t slip off your calendar
– Handle it in chunks so you don’t get overwhelmed
• Or when needed…
– When new products or services launched, old products or
services retired
@Experis_GCS @AllisonYJoyce #ContentAudit @LavaCon
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23. How would you assess your
content?
@Experis_GCS @AllisonYJoyce #ContentAudit @LavaCon
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24. 3. Address the imbalance
• Pace yourself
• Focus on high-value content first
– Existing
– New
• What needs localizing?
• Create templates for content
• Establish governance
@Experis_GCS @AllisonYJoyce #ContentAudit @LavaCon
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25. 3. Address the imbalance
Pace yourself - focus on high-value content
first
• Existing Content
– Update the content that’s working best
– 20% of content generates 80% of interest
• New Content
– Fill in gaps or expand in successful content areas
– Repurpose content you already have
@Experis_GCS @AllisonYJoyce #ContentAudit @LavaCon
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26. 3. Address the imbalance
Repurpose existing content whenever possible.
What can be repurposed? Everything!
Proposals
Case Studies
Videos
Web Page
eBooks
Social media
posts
Data Sheet
White Papers
Email
messages
Sales
Presentations
Webinars
@Experis_GCS @AllisonYJoyce #ContentAudit @LavaCon
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27. 3. Address the imbalance
What needs translating or localizing?
(Even if you think you’re not a multilingual company, you are.)
@Experis_GCS @AllisonYJoyce #ContentAudit @LavaCon
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28. 3. Address the imbalance
Create templates for your content
• Content “components”
– Title
– Taglines/slogans
– Product descriptions, short and long
– Charts, graphs, data
– Boilerplate
@Experis_GCS @AllisonYJoyce #ContentAudit @LavaCon
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29. 3. Address the imbalance
Create cleaner content (from now on).
• Consider an authoring tool for consistency, SEO
• Establish governance processes
– Document your content creation, approval, publishing, and storage
processes
– Revisit your CMS architecture once a year
– Use and share a style guide
– Keep a “Content Audit” folder to remind you of needed updates
• Decide when and how to archive
@Experis_GCS @AllisonYJoyce #ContentAudit @LavaCon
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30. A Quick Review
1. Ask the right questions.
• Aligned with business objectives? Get specific.
• Who’s your audience now? Are you speaking to them?
2. Assess your content.
• Get organized
• Take an inventory
• Find out what’s working
• Review for tone, accuracy, purpose and understanding
3. Correct the imbalance.
• Focus on high-performing content
• Repurpose, reuse, recycle
• Use templates/components
• Standardize your processes
@Experis_GCS @AllisonYJoyce #ContentAudit @LavaCon
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31. The Global Content Value Chain
Globalization
Strategy
User
Experience
Authoring
Enterprise
Content
Management
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Prompt through questions – annually, quarterlyWhy don’t you do it now?
Ask your salespeopleManagementTalking to Delivery team, got idea to focus on an offering (responsive design)YouTube videoSocial mediaEmail campaignWebinarsData SheetsEvents
Fancy term for who’s your audience, or who are you speaking to.Take the goal and attach personas to those goals.Make lists!
What about channels?Put yourself in your persona’s shoes. When and how would they use content? What state of mind are they in when they are looking for your services or products?
A potential client has to find you, learn more and be convinced that you are worthwhile. Then they have to sell you to their management, or whoever controls the purse strings. THEN they buy. It’s been said that it takes 7 touches before someone buys.
Use scenarios from earlier slideProduct line/ productsExplain taxonomy and how to organize Our SharePoint site – Offerings, and then products Direct Relief – types of content – Emergency Response, Program updates, Focus AreasSharePoint – Use examples of our stuff. Manage content library more judiciouslySpreadsheet with all your whitepapers on it – start somewhere!
Keywords, top landing pages, time on siteWhat gets retweeted, liked, shared?
Start creating the content you need, based on your work in Step 2. Fill in the gaps for your most critical personas along the buying process.
You want your content to be understood.
Talk about products that can help you keep it clean and strong. Or on Get Organized slide. Establish a system.
New data for chartsChanging logos, copyright dates
How do you decide when to retire content? What do you do with it?
Web is globally accessible 24/7(You’re missing out on lots of business if you ignore this.)Canada – French and EnglishU.S. – English, Spanish, Korean, Vietnamese
Make it easy to create new content in a standardized way.
What are your legal or regulatory requirements for content retention?