Content Strategy for Media and Publishers

Posted Aug 17, 2011 // 0 comments

Publishing always has been a highly competitive industry. Indeed, “getting the scoop” was a hotly contested goal of journalists everywhere. 

But the web and mobile devices have diversified readers and created new ways in which users can engage with content. It’s made “getting the scoop” something an everyday citizen can accomplish thanks to tools like Twitter. 

So the publishing industry has been exploring everything from user-experience-driven monetization practices (like the New York Times’ paywall) to simplified mobile applications that differentiate their brands and help them to stay competitive.

But regardless of these additional business and marketing avenues, a focus on content is arguably more important than it ever has been before. AOL’s acquisition of the Huffington Post brought this topic to the forefront when people asked why a news source that originally was an aggregated blog has become mainstream media. AOL answered that it’s still news.

This is where content strategy takes center stage. It’s not just for enterprise content organization; it’s what’s making a substantial difference between publishers who aggregate content to maximize “traffic” and publishers who strategically differentiate themselves as user-oriented content producers.

Take Wired magazine online, for example. This is a media outlet that I don’t think falls into the trap of feeling obligated to cram as much equal content as possible on their homepage. They don’t have obvious and endless taxonomies that confuse the reader or force a user to make one decision after another based solely on categorization. Instead, users are immediately directed to what is important -- a mere handful of stories that actually appear above the primary navigation. 

This visual hierarchy prioritizes the content and helps the reader understand what’s important; 4-6 stories, followed by ~14 less-important topics, followed further by an ongoing trail of least-important stories that may attract some users’ attention. 

Now, using content strategy in this case doesn’t mean that those least-important stories are not relevant; instead, it just helps the user understand what’s MORE important. And, in this way, the publisher again becomes the gatekeeper of content in the more traditional sense -- that is, knowing what should (and should not) be the news of the day.

Plus, with the glut of information online -- particularly because of the aforementioned Twitter or blogosophere -- users really *do* still want curation. Strategically prioritized content that’s been prioritized so they don’t have to think. 

Another example is The New Republic, a Drupal site we built using OpenPublish. As we thought through this global brand’s evolution online, we started with content strategy. We asked questions about their content and their users that would enable us to lay out the homepage, category pages, and deeper-level story pages to prioritize the most meaningful content for their organization and their users. This basic content strategy was absolutely essential to creating a visual hierarchy that helps the users navigate, engage, and then feel more compelled to re-engage later.

And since I mentioned the Huffington Post, I want to also note that I think it’s an extreme example of content strategy. Here’s a constantly-updated site that actually highlights (visually speaking) whenever a new piece of content is added to the queue. But what remains supreme is the giant, full-column story -- just one -- that appears on the “front page.” I’d argue that the remaining stories can get confusing in that they’re intertwined with advertising, imagery, links, and a lack of visual hierarchy... but, again, maybe that was consciously a part of their content strategy. To prioritize one top story, then enable the reader to peruse through an entire page of seemingly equal stories.

Ultimately, regardless of whether the technology enabling publishing is Drupal and OpenPublish or another open-source software, the content remains the priority. And increasingly successful and competitive publishers today understand it’s not about the latest gadget or tool, but about the content experience that still makes all the difference.