Six years ago, we gave a webinar entitled “Writing for the Web” that was easily the most popular Geonetric has ever done. It was so well attended, in fact, that we held a second session!
Although the online world has changed dramatically in the past six years, getting more complex and nuanced, the concepts promoted in that webinar continue to be relevant. The world of content has certainly changed – but basics of good content remains the same.
Let’s start by getting one thing clear: Creating well-constructed content is one thing. Creating good content is much more challenging. And requires a real strategic approach.
For starters, your digital content is no longer just the text on your website. Content now resides on blogs and social media sites and often includes video, audio and images, in addition to text. A single, well-constructed piece of content is great, but ultimately, the spectrum of content you deliver should be written to work well together across all mediums. This is the role of content strategy.
Content strategy addresses the following questions:
- What are we trying to accomplish?
- What audiences are we reaching? What do they need from us?
- What information is needed as a result?
- What do we have today? How well will it serve our needs in the future?
- How will we get from where we are now to where we need to be?
- How will we deliver information which is both consistent and channel-appropriate?
- How do we update and maintain this information over time?
Organizations — both inside and outside of healthcare — are rethinking their online operations. They’re focusing more on media production and management. Content strategy directs, coordinates and oversees an organization’s multi media empire.
Like so many changes in the evolution of the Web, this requires new skill sets and processes. For organizations that do it well, however, the ability to make content more effective for accomplishing its goals makes it all worthwhile.
