Explore expert advice on how to create your own center of excellence in content strategy. Hear from Frank Pipolo, Web Presence Manager at Bisk Education on how they built a world-class content organization with their focus on hiring the right people, training on content development best practices, and gaining company-wide adoption of content strategies.

1. BUILDING A CONTENT
ORGANIZATION
Frank Pipolo
Director of Internet Strategy

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BUILDING A CONTENT ORGANIZATION
Breakout Agenda Overview
• Introduction and Overview
• What Makes a True Content
Organization?
• Defining Content Strategy Goals
• Hiring the Right People
• Best Practices and Standards
• Results and Successes
• Company Wide Adoption

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BISK EDUCATION
Brief Introduction and Company Overview
• Bisk Education is a worldwide leader in online
education located in Tampa, FL founded in 1971.
• For over 40 years Bisk has focused on providing
lifelong-learning opportunities that enable working
adults to reach their personal and professional goals.
• “To be the end-to-end solutions provider of lifelong
learning that allows adult learners to reach their
personal and professional goals through education.”
• Bisk Education works with a handful of top-tier
universities: Villanova University, University of Notre
Dame, Michigan State University, University of
Florida, University of South Florida, Florida Institute
of Technology, and U.S. News University Directory.
• Since its inception in 2008, the web presence
management team at Bisk Education has grown
exponentially from just 2 people to a staff of 25+
people by the year 2014.

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BISK EDUCATION VALUE CHAIN
Excellence in Online Learning
The 6 Principles of Excellence That
Drive Student Success
• Strategic Planning
• Program Development & Instructional Design
• Systems and Integrations
• Brand and Image Management
• Enrollment Management
• Relationship Management

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WHAT MAKES A TRUE CONTENT ORGANIZATION?
Finding Inspiration and Getting Started
• A true content organization is a
collective that has the processes,
resources, structure, and proper
practices in place to create and
distribute valuable and compelling
content to attract, acquire, and
effectively engage audiences into
driving business actions.
• In other words, a content organization
is a collective that can own media as
opposed to renting it.

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CONTENT ORGANIZATION TEAM CONTEST
Real World Application Exercise
• Our web presence management team
was divided into several groups.
• Using criteria from the book, teams were
tasked to create a presentation of a
complete content marketing plan to
apply to any of their brands’ products.
• The winning group’s work went on to be
featured as a recurring brown-bag lunch
presentation shown to other depts.
• This exercise empowered our content
organization team to feel pride of
ownership in all processes of their work.

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DEFINING STRATEGY GOALS
Foundation for Success
• During the pre-Panda era, many organizations
in the industry were working with e-zine sites
and other forms of mass content farms.
• There was strive to separate and distinguish
our voice from among the crowds.
• Our Web Presence Team’s Strategy Goals
– Become leading ideological influencers by frequently
and consistently creating engaging quality content.
– Further our universities’ prestige and brand
reputation by strengthening our authority and
credibility in our respective discipline spaces.
– Use our distinct voice, identity, and quality content
(with the help of Conductor Searchlight) to drive
results and accomplish the goals of our business.

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HIRING THE RIGHT PEOPLE
Establishing A Strong Foundation
• Web presence management tech team consists
of 2 Supervisors, 3 Senior Techs, 5 Techs, 2
Associates, and several outreach specialists.
• Web presence management content team
consists of 3 senior editors, 2 editors, 2
associate editors, 2 in-house writers and 20+
freelance writers.
• We highly recommended hiring those with
creative writing and journalism backgrounds.
• It is important to allow them to be creative
and write freely to get the most genuine tone
as this will allow your content to create a
sincere connection with your audiences.

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BEST PRACTICES AND STANDARDS
Establishing Strong Precedents
• Get involved and get your team excited about content marketing.
• Instill confidence in your content organization through ownership.
• Equip your organization with the right resources (Searchlight).
• Have a content calendar to ensure organizational accountability.
• Plan your content around specific strategic times and events.
• Emphasize that ownership does NOT end after publication.
• Foster an environment that promotes innovation and creativity.

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CONTENT CALENDAR EXAMPLE
Accountability in Schedules

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EMPOWERMENT THROUGH SEARCHLIGHT (CONT.)
Content Insights Example - Performance

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EMPOWERMENT THROUGH SEARCHLIGHT (CONT.)
Content Insights Example – Performance Distribution

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EMPOWERMENT THROUGH SEARCHLIGHT (CONT.)
Content Insights Example – Optimization Opportunities

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EMPOWERMENT THROUGH SEARCHLIGHT (CONT.)
Content Insights Example – Segmentation Comparison

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ORGANIZATION ACCOUNTABILITY AND OWNERSHIP
Putting It All Together
• Having a calendar will allow your
content organization to be held
accountable and take full ownership
of the content curation processes.
• Conductor Searchlight content insights
provides the data and information
that will allow your content team to
make informed decisions and get
them fully invested in content
performance long after publication.
• Quantifiable and Measurable Actions

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RESULTS AND SUCCESSES
How Searchlight Helped Facilitate Our Web Prescience Successes
• Traffic Performance Numbers
– Villanova University [775,000+ Traffic]
• 83% Increase Year Over Year / 17,000+ Leads
– Florida Institute of Technology [750,000+ Traffic]
• 33% Increase Year Over Year / 16,000+ Leads
– Jacksonville University [250,000+ Traffic]
• 129% Increase Year Over Year / 5,000+ Leads
– University of San Francisco [200,000+ Traffic]
• 76% Increase Year Over Year / 1,400+ Leads
– University of Notre Dame [125,000+ Traffic]
• 132% Increase Year Over Year / 2,000+ Leads

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RESULTS AND SUCCESSES (CONT.)
Successful Content Performance Examples
• Top Quality Content Successes
– Infographics were featured in magazine.
– One of our editors received an inquiry to
be appear on a New York TV news show.
– Team members have received requests for
speaking engagements at conferences.
– We have also received multiple citations
for our content on various .GOV sites,
.EDU sites, healthcare organization sites,
the U.S. army career website, and the
U.S. Library of Congress’s website.

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COMPANY WIDE ADOPTION
Expansion and Evangelism
• Setting strong consistent precedents
make it easier to secure the necessary
buy-in from your local resources and
from your company’s executive core.
• Use your performance results to justify
the expansion and diversification of the
types of content you can offer.
• Leverage your findings to build a case for
ROI. This is what allowed us to go to the
decision makers at Bisk which ultimately
led to further growth and expansion of
our department.

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MAJOR TAKEAWAYS
How To Build A Content Organization
 Instill a confidence and a strong foundation by getting involved.
 Start your organization with slow and simple processes.
 Make sure your content goals are clearly defined. (Rent vs. Own)
 Create a strong support structure by hiring the right people.
 Know your audience and get the most from your buying personas.
 Follow best practices and maintain standards of excellence.
 Build a case for ROI to present to your executive core. (Searchlight)
 Leverage your successes to evangelize company wide adoption.

20. FRANK PIPOLO
Email: frank-pipolo@bisk.com
Twitter: @frankpipolo
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/fpinternetmarketings
pecialist