This article follows the previous one discussing the content audit. Having completed your content audit you now know where your content is and how it is organized. The next step is to determine the value of your content.  Performing a content analysis will allow you to identify what content is still needed, should be changed, or needs to be discarded.  Now before you get started there are a couple of important questions that need to be answered:

• What are your businesses goals with the content?
• What do users want and need from your content?
• How will you measure the results?
• What does your budget allow?

Business Goals

In order for your content to be effective it needs to be driven by goals. Examples: Increase revenue, increase market share, create an online community etc.

Tactics

The tactics we are concerned with here are the specific functions or activities that people want to see on the site. The tactics employed on your site are used to keep consumers busy. They are meant to facilitate, entice and inform. Examples: embedded video, a company blog etc.

Resource requirements:

• Budget
• Timeline
• Technology (Is your content management system capable of supporting this task?)
• Essential tactics (Features and functions that are used to attract and captivate the user on your website)
• Legal requirements (disclaimers, terms and conditions etc.)
• In-force agreements (Any contracts or agreements that may affect your content strategy)
• Accessibility

These elements are a guideline and may not completely apply to every organization, however each should be considered.

Project objectives

The project objectives should:

• Be specific to the task at hand
• Help to accomplish your overall business goals
• Take into consideration your project requirements
• Help measure and define tactics

Measurement

Set up a success metrics system or project manager, so that you can track your progress and the success of your content campaign. This may also come in handy, say, if you decide to make a case study of your content transformation.

The previous article in the series: A Content Audit in 3 Easy Steps; Next article in the series: Content Analysis Part 2

This article was inspired by the book Content Strategy for the Web by Kristina Halvorson, 2010.

Sound Idea Digital is a full service digital agency | www.soundidea.co.za
Julian Karstel is a Digital Marketing Consultant for Sound Idea Digital | @JulianKarstel | Julian@soundidea.co.za

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