Post on 16-Jul-2015
Managing Content Projects with Success and Panache
Now What? Conference 2015
Ahava Leibtag, President
Aha Media Group
April 30, 2015
@ahavaL #NowWhat15
• 122.4 miles• 13 rest stops
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Content is like a rest stop.
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DEFINE YOUR TERMS.
What is content?
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Content Formats• Written articles
• Podcasts
• Video
• Photographs
• Infographics
• Slide Shows
• Whitepapers
• Polls/Survey data
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vs.
(don’t get confused)
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Content Delivery Tools• Websites
• Blogs
• Newsletters
• iTunes
• YouTube
• Slideshare
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TODAY: Set up for Success
1. Treat content like a product
2. People
3. Process
4. Technology
5. Checklist when things go wrong
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#1Treat content like a product
BRAINSTORM
WHAT WILL IT LOOK LIKE?
HOW MUCH?
DEVELOPMENT
TESTING
TAKE IT LIVE
ANALYZE IT!
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
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Step #1: BrainstormStep #1:
Brainstorm
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Step #2:
What will it look like?
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Step #3:
Budget
Step #4:
Content Development
Step #5:
Test
Step #6: Publish and Distribute
Step #7:
Analysis
BRAINSTORM
WHAT WILL IT LOOK LIKE?
HOW MUCH?
DEVELOPMENT
TESTING
TAKE IT LIVE
ANALYZE IT!
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
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People
#2Pick the right content strategist
or professional
What business problem are you solving?
• Messaging
• Delivery
• Navigation
• Usability
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Content Strategists and Writers
• Editorial & Brand Strategy
• Writing
• Style guides
• Voice and tone
• Character limits
• Brand strategy
• Technical
• DITA
• XML
• Metadata
• Structured content
• Adaptive content
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#3Clarify Roles & Responsibilities
Who is in charge?
Define roles and responsibilities.
• Project Manager: What is your job? Explain it to the content people.
• Content Strategist: EXACTLY what are you in charge of doing?
• Writers/Content Creators: Who is responsible for each of the steps?
• Quality Assurance: Who performs and to whom do they give that information?
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#4Identify a Scheduler
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Process
#4Have separate meetings about
content
Content is a separate entity.
• Templates
• Character counts
• Calls to action
• “The No Man’s Land of Content Development”
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#6SHOW editing and approval
timelines
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Establish Content
Governance
Content Analysis
Content Creation
Establishing workflows
Content Planning
• Persona Development
• Messaging Architecture
• Identity Pillar Identification
Build OR clarify the business
case
Content Auditing
Discovery
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Establish Content
Governance
Content Analysis
Content Creation
Establishing workflows
Content Planning
• Persona Development
• Messaging Architecture
• Identity Pillar Identification
Build OR clarify the business
case
Content Auditing
Discovery
WE ARE
HERE
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Start the clock
appropriately
Start
Green means the project is moving ahead
Caution
Yellow means the project is stalled
Stop
Red means it’s time to stop and regroup
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Technology
#7Define collaboration and
technology
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Don’t be fooled. Technology is not collaboration.
What to do when things go wrong?
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Checklist of how to avoid disaster
1. Identify the bottleneck(s)
2. Inform higher ups that timelines will slip if you keep repeating this disastrous content pattern
3. Bring in reinforcements (Who can help clean up this mess?)
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Ask artful questions.
TELL ME WHY…
I’M WONDERING ABOUT…
HELP ME UNDERSTAND…
Thank you!Ahava Leibtag
Aha Media Group
www.ahamediagroup.com
ahavaL