Purposes, Personas, Conversations
Janice (Ginny) Redish, Ph.D.
Redish & Associates, Inc.
Bethesda, Maryland
301−229−3039
www.redish.net October 19, 2012
Chapter 2
Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2012, Janice (Ginny) Redish User Focus 12 Slide 2
Halvorson and Rach, 2012
Develop and follow a content strategy
Content strategy =
Thinking strategically about your content
Aligning content with business goalsAhava Leibtag who blogs athttp://onlineitallmatters.blogspot.com
Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2012, Janice (Ginny) Redish User Focus 12 Slide 3
Content strategy = governance
Content must be
planned
coordinated
reviewed
managed and maintained
removed
Break down those silos!
Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2012, Janice (Ginny) Redish User Focus 12 Slide 4
Content strategy = resources
People
Who will write? edit? illustrate? produce?
What skills do these people need?
Technology
What systems and templates will you use?
How will people be trained to do what they must do?
Flickr cc photo by Rowens27
Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2012, Janice (Ginny) Redish User Focus 12 Slide 5
Content is everything you have on the web site
text
illustrations
charts
graphs
tables
forms
pdfs
videos
podcasts
blogs
forums
other social media
− and in all your other communication channels
Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2012, Janice (Ginny) Redish User Focus 12 Slide 6
Content strategy = messages and more
Messages
Tones
Styles
Right contentin the right amountto the right personat the right timein the right medium
Media
Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2012, Janice (Ginny) Redish User Focus 12 Slide 7
Plan at every level
Of course, content strategy = planning.
Every piece of content also needs a plan.
Answer these 3 questions:
Why? (your purposes)
Who? (your site visitors)
When, why, and how?(your site visitors' conversations)
Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2012, Janice (Ginny) Redish User Focus 12 Slide 8
Why? (Purposes) Align with the agency's overall strategy and goals
Be measurable
Focus on what you wantyour site visitors / readers to do
Be specific
$
Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2012, Janice (Ginny) Redish User Focus 12 Slide 9
Focus on what you want your site visitors to do
to sell lots of shoes
site visitors to buy lots of shoes from us
to inform doctors about the new network
doctors to join our network
to tell people about this topic
answer site visitors questions about this topic
We want
Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2012, Janice (Ginny) Redish User Focus 12 Slide 10
Be specific
http://www.manageyourwriting.com/
Kenneth W. Davis
Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2012, Janice (Ginny) Redish User Focus 12 Slide 11
Who are your site visitors? Name the different groups.
What should you keep in mind about these people? Write down adjectives or phrases.
attitudes
knowledge
context of use
not what content they are looking for − that's the question after this one.
Who? Personas
Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2012, Janice (Ginny) Redish User Focus 12 Slide 12
What is a persona?
a fictional person who realistically representsa major group of site visitors
composite
based on data about demographics goals and tasks contexts of use (environments) values
User profile:• system administrators• guys, 25 – 40 years old• know terminology• on the computer all day
Art
Words like "people""users""site visitors""readers"are all too vague for good conversations.
Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2012, Janice (Ginny) Redish User Focus 12 Slide 13
Persona from Epcor Utilities, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, used with permission
Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2012, Janice (Ginny) Redish User Focus 12 Slide 14
Site visitors come with their own goals, tasks, scenarios, = conversations.
Visualize the persona coming to your content.
When? Why? How? Conversations
Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2012, Janice (Ginny) Redish User Focus 12 Slide 15
Let's apply this planning to a real example
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© 2012, Janice (Ginny) Redish User Focus 12 Slide 16
My current draft revision
Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2012, Janice (Ginny) Redish User Focus 12 Slide 17
Ginny Redish
www.redish.net
@GinnyRedish
Ginny Redish
Thank you
2nd editionAugust 2012
Questions? Comments?
Purposes, Personas, Conversations