attract & retain members with content strategy

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A"ract & Retain Members with Content Strategy RealMatch webinar, Jan. 29, 2015

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Page 1: Attract & Retain Members with Content Strategy

A"ract  &  Retain  Members  with  Content  Strategy  

RealMatch  webinar,  Jan.  29,  2015  

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About  me  

Helping    organiza<ons    communicate  online    more  effec<vely    since  1996  

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ABA HIMSS COMPT

IA Florida Realtors

FINRA Oswego

308 NAR

Cal State

Community

Health

Some  orgs  we’ve  worked  with  

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1.   What  is  content  strategy?  2.   Which  problems  can  it  solve  

for  associaBons?  3.   What  to  do?  4.   Where  to  start?  

What  we’ll  answer  in  this  webinar  

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Why  do  people    visit  your  website?  

Design?  Graphics?  Widgets?  

The  carousel  on  your  homepage?    

hMp://shouldiuseacarousel.com/  

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Content  lets  users  do  what  they  need  to  do  

•  Take  advantage  of  what  you  offer  •  Find  out  why  they  should  join  or  stay  •  Learn  how  your  associa<on  helps  them  in  their  profession  

•  Not  need  to  call  you  to  answer  a  ques<on  

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Content  lets  you  achieve  your  goals  

•  AMract  prospec<ve  members  •  Retain  and  engage  current  members  •  Increase  use  of  programs,  resources,  tools,  and  informa<on  

•  Increase  awareness  of  and  par<cipa<on  in  poli<cal  advocacy  efforts  

•  Increase  non-­‐dues  revenue  

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hMp://envisioningtheamericandream.com/  

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Department  

Message  

Audience  

Department  

Message  

Department  

Message  

Department  

Message  

Audience  Audience  Audience  

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The  number  one  challenge    to  membership  growth  is  “difficulty  in  communica<ng  value  or  benefit.”    

—2014  Membership  Marke<ng  Benchmarking  Report  

hMp://www.marke<nggeneral.com/resources/benchmark-­‐report/  

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What  is  content?  

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Many  types  of  content  •  Policies  •  Session  descrip<ons  •  Product  details  •  Course  catalog  lis<ngs  •  Execu<ve  biographies  •  Press  releases  •  NewsleMers  •  Magazine  or  journal  ar<cles  •  Program  informa<on  •  Etc.,  etc.,  etc.  

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Content  takes  different  forms  

•  Web  pages  •  Blog  posts  •  Infographics  •  Images  •  PDFs  •  Video  •  Audio  

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What  is    content    strategy?  

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Who  What  When    of  publishing  Where    content  online  WHY  How  How  

What  is  content  strategy?  

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•  Who,  what,  when,  where,  why,  and  how  of  publishing  content  online  

•  A  strategic  statement  tying  content  to  business  goals      •  The  people,  processes,  and  power  to  execute  that  

statement  

Defini<on  

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•  How  does  content  get  to  the  site?  •  How  long  should  content  stay  live?  •  How  can  we  make  sure  that  people  create  content  so  it  can  be  found  and  used?  

•  How  much  content  is  there  in  each  sec<on  and  how  oeen  it  gets  added  to?  

•  How  can  we  bring  together  similar  content  from  different  parts  of  an  organiza<on?  

Content  strategy  ques<ons  

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•  How  good  is  the  content  that  currently  exists  –  how  relevant  is  it  to  the  audience,  does  it  help  the  organiza<on  meet  its  goals?  

•  What’s  missing?  •  Who  is  pos<ng  the  content,  vs  who’s  crea<ng  it?  •  Is  the  system  working  to  help  make  publishing  and  finding  content  easier,  or  is  it  making  things  more  difficult?  

Content  strategy  ques<ons  

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•  How  can  we  make  sure  people  can  get  what  they’re  looking  for  on  any  device?  

•  How  can  we  proac<vely  share  informa<on  with  our  audience  most  effec<vely  through  ever-­‐increasing  digital  channels?  

Content  strategy  ques<ons  

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What  problems  can  content  strategy  solve  for  associa<ons?  

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Content  problems  •  Language/jargon  •  Priori<zed  promo<on  •  Content  hoarding  •  Bad  editorial  processes  •  New  content  missing  •  Different  content  on  different  channels  

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More  content  problems  •  Hard  to  find  informa<on  •  Too  many  publishers  •  Who’s  in  charge  of  the  home  page?  •  “4002.pdf”  •  Website  is  based  on  our  org  chart  •  Not  accessible  from  a  mobile  device  •  “We  should  be  on  YouTube”  

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hMp://xkcd.com/773/  

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What  to  do?  

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Department  

Message  

Audience  

Department  

Message  

Audience  

Department  

Message  

Audience  

Department  

Message  

Audience  

Old  thinking  

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36  

hMp://www.amazon.com/Have-­‐Always-­‐Done-­‐That-­‐Way/dp/184728857X/  

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 Organiza<on:  Programs,  offerings  

Audience  

Messages  

Audience   Audience   Audience  

New  thinking  

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Associations are complicated

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Content    

strategist  as    

orchestra    

conductor  

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Content  strategy    is  change  management  

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Myths  your  members  think  about  digital  

•  It’s  free,  instant,  and  you  can  do  it  in  your  spare  <me  

• Search  engines  will  find  your  informa<on  instantly  and  display  it  at  the  top  of  the  first  page  of  what  anyone  searches  for  

• Any  video  they  make  will  go  viral  

• Every  member  wants  to  share  informa<on  about  the  board’s  latest  ini<a<ve  

• Your  home  page  and  social  media  posts  should  be  primarily  about  your  associa<on  

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The  real  facts  

• Every  digital  channel  needs  a  strategy  and  the  right  iden<ty.  The  more  channels,  the  more  <me  and  complexity.  

• Page  views  are  not  a  goal  –  the  goal  is  the  goal.    

• You  can’t  succeed  in  your  goals  unless  your  users  succeed  in  theirs  

• Success  builds  over  <me  

• Think  >  plan  >  do  –  all  three  steps  are  required  

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Quality  takes  <me  Good  web  wri<ng  is  

• Short  • Ac<ve  • Scannable:  uses  bullets  and  subheads  • Leads  with  the  most  important  informa<on  

• Readable  –  aim  for  9th  grade    

– test  at  read-­‐able.com  

• Free  of  jargon  • Has  compelling  headlines  that  will  make  sense  even  out  of  context  

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“I  have  made  this  [le.er]  longer  than  usual  because  I  have  not  had  7me  to  make  it  shorter.”     Blaise Pascal, 1657"

 

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Content  needs  a    measurable  goal  •  What  the  user  should  do  aeer  reading  the  content  

•  What  the  user  should  know  or  feel  aeer  reading  the  content  

–  Download  

–  Register  

–  Understand  

–  Perceive  

–  Succeed  

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Content  results  come  from…  •  Quality  wri<ng  

•  User-­‐centric  terms  

•  Promo<ons  

 

Measure  and  learn  

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It’s  about  them,  not  you  

•  To  convert  a  larger  share  of  your  site  visitors,  the  content  must  focus  more  on  the  visitors  than  on  the  business.    

•  Customer  Focus  Calculator  hMp://www.customerfocuscalculator.com/  

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It’s  about  them,  not  you  

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It’s  about  them,  not  you  

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It’s  about  them,  not  you  

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It’s  about  them,  not  you  

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Content  Lifecycle  

Conceive   Create   Publish   Promote   Maintain   Re<re  

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Conceive  and  create  •  Conceive  •  Set  goals  •  Business:  make  or  save  money  •  User:  increase  sa<sfac<on/encourage  use  or  decrease  

dissa<sfac<on/reduce  customer  service  needs  &  costs  

•  Create  •  Op<mize  •  On-­‐site  •  Search  engines  •  Other  outlets  

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Publish  and  promote  

•  Publish  •  Review  process:  quality,  facts  •  Content  Management  System  (Wordpress)  

•  Promote  •  On-­‐site:  home  page,  landing  pages,  topics  •  Off-­‐site:  e-­‐newsleMers,  social  media,  adver<sing  

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hMp://www.lightboxcollabora<ve.com/2014-­‐editorial-­‐calendar  

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Maintain  and  re<re  

•  Maintain  •  Measure  •  Test  and  tweak  •  Refine  

•  Re<re  •  Archive/Delete/”Unpublish”  •  Renew  

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Governance  

•  Who  is  in  charge  of  your  content?  •  Who  reviews  and  approves  it?  •  Who  makes  sure  it  is  tagged  correctly?  •  Who  can  say  “no”?  •  What  processes  do  (or  should)  exist  to  ensure  that  the  right  content  is  published?  

•  How  will  content  be  archived,  and  what  does  “archived”  mean?  

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Be  a  “deejay”  for  your  content  •  Save  <me  •  Save  $$  •  Help  members  help  themselves  

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Act  like  a  user  •  Do  the  top  searches  yourself  and  see  what  you  see  

•  Go  beyond  the  first  few  pages,  and  you’ll  see  problems  

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hMp://loremoopsum.tumblr.com/post/37034901905/tweeted-­‐by-­‐my-­‐friend-­‐and-­‐fellow-­‐content-­‐strategist  

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Priori<ze  •  Put  the  most  important  things  at  the  top  of  your  content  –  Users’  goals  –  Business  goals  

•  Work  with  designers  to  make  them  prominent  

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Where  to  start?  

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•  Benchmark  where  you  are  today  •  Focus  on  one  thing  •  Ask  “why?”  

Start  today  

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•  Eliminate  ROT  (redundant,  outdated,  or  trivial)    •  Put  your  content  through  the  “we  we”  test  •  Use  their  words  

Give  the  users  what  they  want  

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Does  your  site  have  ROT?  

Taken  Jan.  27,  2015  

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•  Eliminate  jargon  •  Increase  readability  

Improve  the  quality  

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•  Ensure  that  content  has  a  goal  •  Show  budget-­‐holders  that  your  content  strategy  is  working  

•  Help  content  owners  share  their  successes  

Get  and  keep  buy-­‐in  

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•  Content  strategy  checklist    hMp://www.hilarymarsh.com/content-­‐strategy-­‐libraries/content-­‐strategy-­‐checklist/    

•  Content  strategy  roadmap  hMp://www.hilarymarsh.com/?aMachment_id=880    

•  Content  assessment  scorecard  hMp://www.hilarymarsh.com/?aMachment_id=879  

Some  useful  tools  

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Thank  you!  To  reach  me:    Hilary  Marsh  [email protected]  312-­‐806-­‐7854  www.hilarymarsh.com    Also:  twiMer.com/hilarymarsh  slideshare.net/hilarymarsh  linkedin.com/in/hilarymarsh