Content as Strategy
Clearly, we live in the golden age of content. Admissions, marketing and fundraising offices are producing more content than ever before. From blogs to YouTube videos, institutions are funneling this content into a wider array of internal and external channels. And this is as it should be. To succeed in the new century, you need to embrace the reality that content-not technology-is the engine that drives an effective digital marketing strategy. Relevant content draws users to your site. User-generated content keeps them there-it drives traffic, inspires interaction, and builds community. Quality content is what differentiates one blog from another-the difference between The Huffington Post and Perez Hilton, for example. And niche content dominates nearly every venue in the digital and media realm, from specialty sites to cable programming webcasts.
It seems obvious then that this focus on content should be driving our thinking about web design and web marketing. But unfortunately this is not always the case. A number of institutions seem to be taking a throw-it-at-the-wall-and-see-if-it-sticks approach to social media content-this seems especially true of institutional YouTube videos, which range from staged clips of college presidents hamming it up to disturbing-and unofficial-clips of student pranks. And while the content of many institutional web sites is getting much better, we can still find sites where the copy reads like an afterthought and the photographs appear to have been chosen at random. If we define content as everything on a web site, from the language to the images to the html code, some sites still appear jumbled.
Relevance and Structure
Content is now so dominant in contemporary web design that it has become the chief criterion for determining a site’s effectiveness. Strong sites, such as the Boston University site, are designed to facilitate a better interaction between user and content. Thanks to social media, content has also become the prime relationship-building tool in your marketing communications toolbox, the leading edge of delivering on your brand experience. Passed along, it gathers power as it moves from user to user-this is the aim of all viral marketing. Both uses of content can give you a strategic advantage in a number of ways, but how often is it a part of your initial strategy or planning sessions? Typically, content shows up in the architecture phase. Yet we often think about where content belongs on a site solely in terms of classification-placing like items with like items-not relevance. Given that most users will search their way past your home page-your front door-to specific pages, this is a risky approach. What if he or she searches to a specific academic program page that is a cut-and-paste job from your catalog? What if this is their first experience with your institution? And what if that YouTube video you spent months creating garners only 4 views and 1 comment?
A focus on relevance can save both potential digital missteps. It can structure an entire site and lend credibility to content you share on the social web. Along the way, focusing on relevance can also help you decide what to keep and what to trim. And content shaped to meet the unique demands of social media can help you significantly expand your brand reach. To accomplish all of this however, you need to think audience-first instead of institution-first (or message or slogan or brand propaganda first). What do your key audiences need to hear? What is crucial to them? What are they not hearing? How would they like to hear it?
Strategy
The goal of all content should be to capture the attention of the people whose attention you most want to capture and inspire them to start a relationship with you. The key elements of an effective content strategy should include:
- Content as action: how your content will influence your audiences and what actions it will drive-how you word forms and where you place them makes a difference.
- Content as varied: the best formats for your content should be decided by audience. Prospective students might respond better to video or social network feeds; older alums may be more comfortable with blogs.
- Content as shape: the appropriate size and length of individual types of content should be considered by location and purpose-Twitter feeds for PR news-blasts, 1-2 minutes for student video profile clips on home or 1st tier pages, long pages for faculty articles.
- Content as authentic: social media content favors honesty and full disclosure over taglines. Admissions counselors should focus on social skills instead of selling skills on Facebook.
- Content as all-encompassing: All of the content your institution produces-not just the marketing content-contributes to moving you forward. Faculty lectures on YouTube have been quite popular.
- Content as service: marketing copy isn’t the only kind of copy your site needs. How well you inform, instruct, and assist students will help you prove you care about them. How easy is it to understand your financial aid pages?
- Content as value: the golden rule works remarkably well on the social web. Give and you will always get something in return.
- Content as brand: your digital evangelists should not be constricted by brand talking points, but inspired by them. Your brand language should also match your search keywords.
- Content as creative: YouTube is a channel, not a genre.* If crude, raw, amateurish video were really the rule, Miley Cyrus would not consistently rank among the most-watched videos.
- Content as substantive: in viral executions, favor substance over style (content whose only value is its attention-getting power is limited at best and potentially dangerous to your image at worst). People pass along what they believe in, value, and are passionate about.
- Content as connected: relevant content articulates a hierarchy of relationships. The topic you click to should be connected to the article you just came from. The image on the page should express the content of the page.
- Content as voice: web copy works best with a consistent voice, one that takes into account your multifaceted character. Focusing on character and voice will help you articulate the value you offer students.
What’s Coming
In the near future, content use will evolve yet again. It will become even more user-generated and less tied to single devices like your laptop. Many of you are already redesigning your web sites to play on mobile devices…content decisions need to be made here, too. Now would be a good time to make it a key part of your planning process, not only in specific areas like your web site, but as part of your institutional strategy and brand development process. A place to start: what is the content of your brand?
*Thank you Scott Leamon!
Photo by: gordonr
