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Content Strategy Bitesize
TwitterContent strategy in 2011 – reasons to be cheerful
Is content strategy about to implode under the weight of self-proclaimed ‘content strategy experts’ or will web recruitment’s latest buzz area continue to grow strong next year? One of our favourite European content strategists, Ken Yau of Baddit Ltd in the UK, takes a look at the current content strategy scene and outlines why it should avoid the pitfalls of guru-plagued social media.
Earlier this year I expressed the fear that ‘content strategy’ would become a buzz term in danger of going the way of ‘social media’.
My fear was founded on the clear cynicism about ‘social media gurus’ as expressed in this article from The Telegraph: Time to ditch the blood sucking social media gurus. (It reads like the author has a personal axe to grind, but there’s a lot to agree with.) In social media, noisy self-appointed ‘experts’ or ‘gurus’ with no discernable relevant experience crowd out the good thinkers and grab the attention with articles and talks long on theory and short on practical demonstration. Social media consultancy fast became a scene that celebrated itself.
I thought I could see the same happening with content strategy: people with no background in content looking for the next bandwagon to jump on and make buckle under the weight of ignorance.
On reflection, I’m optimistic that content strategy as a practice will get stronger and avoid social media’s pitfalls. Here’s why:
1. What some people consider to be content strategy’s weakness – that it’s nothing new or original – is in fact its strength. There is real substance behind content strategy because the clamour for strategic thinking comes from people who have suffered from directionless requests for execution. If you produce a strategy that doesn’t address the issues, you will be found out.
2. A lot of people who have real experience of working in content can perform content strategy or will at least be able to tell you what help they need. There’s much less opportunity for self-professed gurus who have a content-free CV to blag their way in.
3. Content is huge. It’s utterly ludicrous for any one person to proclaim themselves an expert in the whole domain of content when the term can cover online, offline, marketing, technical documentation, internal knowledge bases, video, audio, and so on. There’s a very good reason for the precision of the last three words in the title of Kristina Halvorson’s book Content Strategy for the Web.
4. There aren’t any content strategy ‘gurus’. One thing that’s struck me about the people I meet at the London content strategy meet-ups is that most are incredibly humble. They introduce themselves as someone interested in content strategy, as opposed to a content strategist. If anything, they’re too humble because the experience they have, regardless of whether it was done under the job title of Content Strategist, is incredibly valuable and relevant. What is a strategist without solid experience of execution and just theories to propose? (An MBA? You might well think that. I couldn’t possibly comment.)
5. Content strategy conferences in 2011 are focusing on practical experience and application. It’s no longer about telling people that content strategy is A Good Thing. Now is the time to show people how to do it. In January, there’s the London conference Content Strategy Applied – it’s there in the title.
6. The speakers at content strategy conferences have the authority that only years of solid experience can bring. The test? It’s simple: use the job interviewer’s technique of paying attention to how many references to things that have actually happened and how much detail is in there. You should hear much more ‘I did this and this happened’ and not so much ‘we’, ‘you’, ‘should’, ‘would’. (As a bonus, this is great for sniffing out liars in general.)
If 2009 was the breakout year for content strategy and 2010 saw that position consolidated with Content Strategy Forum, I’m confident 2011 will be the year content strategy stands up to scrutiny and proves that it is here to stay.
Ken Yau honed his content strategy skills at eBay UK before founding Baddit Ltd – a UK-based company specialising in content strategy, user experience and copywriting.
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