This article is a reflection of the most valid take-aways from the intense two years of studying Content Strategy at FH Joanneum in Graz. As the studies tackle content from many different angles, the learnings and insights gained throughout the courses program were very diverse and manifold.
Some insights I gained confirmed and broadened ideas that I already had about content, in most cases I got knowledge prior unknown to me.
Here are five major learnings i acquired in the past two years during the concentrated dealing with the wide field of content strategy:
#1 Content is everywhere
Although content has been crowned king (more to this later) for a while now, and the term resounds throughout the lands (to stick to the medieval lingo), I realized that it also appears in places, where one simply doesn’t bother to look or doesn’t acknowledge it as such. And that its appearance in these unimpressive — almost blind — spots also contributes to the overall appearance of a brand, as it also shapes the experience of the person interacting with it.
When thinking about content, the main, obvious associations are the copy on a website, the videos on a platform and so on. But who thinks about the logic and rationale of a message on a coffee-machine screen, the accuracy of the translation in the user manual of a product or the voice and tone of a chatbot, answering customers’ frequently asked question?
#2 Content is not king
This is a statement that has been repeatedly appearing throughout the course, and has been voiced by many of our lecturers. Although claimed the opposite, many projects are not set-up and designed around the best-possible creation and delivery of content. Often other departments that have a longer history and are more well-established are put first in the process. So — for example — the focus is put on super-fancy design and slick development, whereas the copy is put last in priorities. More along the lines of: Oh yes, somebody has to fill in some text into the templates!
This often also shows in the relation of personnel in companies’ departments.
#3 Your users are your best facilitators
Assumptions — especially in a hierarchically structured team, can be a hinderance in achieving the best results.
There is always this superior that claims to know a lot or at least has a very strong opinion about things that aren’t really in their field of expertise. Often they also have a say in important decisions, and it can happen that — although an effort has been made to counter with fact-based arguments — not the wisest choice is made.
This is where user testing proofs to be a powerful tool to proof the assumptions about user behaviour wrong or right, or — if set up regularly — is a helpful investment into avoiding the assumptions all together.
#4 The front end is only as good as the back end is
What good is the most elegantly, eloquently written piece of content if you either can’t find it, it shows up in the wrong place, is outdated, published in more than one place or all of the above? To keep your content up-to-date and keep an oversight on who is writing, updating and publishing it, you have to have two things properly taken care of:
Content operations, which is often also called the “back end” of content strategy, is the technical backbone of your organization: how content is stored and managed, how search- and findable it is, and how automate-able its output is.
Governance is the field of defining and managing who is making the decisions, who is responsible and accountable for it, and how authority is structured within an organization.
Without these two aspects managed carefully, chaos will prevail.
#5 The value of great teamwork and good spirits
This is a commonplace statement and might be rightfully so. During the studies, which were at times quite demanding in terms of group tasks to be delivered, papers to be handed in, and deadlines to be met, I learned again how joyful and fun it is to collaborate with like-minded people. Like-minded in the sense of sharing kind of the similar approach to getting things done: working hard, splitting up the work load fairly, and at the same time taking things not too seriously by keeping a pragmatic view on the goal and — very importantly — doing it in good spirits and having a lot of laughs while at it.
I’m very thankful and lucky to have found a couple of colleagues with whom this worked very very well! thank you guys, you know who you are!
