Book Review: The Elements of Content Strategy

The Elements of Content Strategy by Erin Kissane (New York: A Book Apart, 2011. 86 pp)

Erin Kissane is a content strategist and editor based in New York City and Portland, Oregon. She was an editor at A List Apart magazine for nearly ten years, and has also been a freelance book editor and the editorial director of Happy Cog Studios. In 2011, she joined content strategy consultancy Brain Traffic, where she leads content projects and eats cake.

Now More than Ever, College Is the Best Time in Life 

Have you seen the job statistics lately? More to the point, have you seen the employment rates for recent college graduates? What about liberal arts majors in particular? A study of 2009 college graduates finds 25.2% of liberal arts majors unemployed after graduation. Those humanities majors employed often found their jobs low paying and college degrees unnecessary.

For years, the general assumption was: get a degree; get a job. Well the current economic context suggests a shift for college students. Either stay in school and earn more degrees, or major in a “marketable” field like accounting, business management, or engineering.

Could there be a third way? In The Elements of Content Strategy, Erin Kissane outlines content strategy as an emerging profession.

All Hail King Internet 

In case you haven’t noticed, the Internet runs the world these days. While some residual value remains in businesses running brick-and-mortar stores, the Internet is now the marketplace, a virtual mall so to speak.

With the rise of Internet communications comes the necessity of content strategy. Kissane writes,

“Content strategy is rising because organizations all over the world have begun to realize that they desperately need it to handle their rapidly expanding online communications” (2).

Not only do individual businesses need content to communicate with potential customers, Internet surfers desire content. Blogs and social media have replaced the days of the newspaper as the arbiter of information. Content, then, becomes the connection between a business and its potential customers.

“Content is perfectly appropriate for users when it makes them feel like geniuses on critically important missions, offering them precisely what they need, exactly when they need it, and in just the right form” (5).

If content bridges the gap between businesses and customers, the job of a content strategist is to connect these two parties by facilitating a web space meeting the needs of both parties.

The Content Strategist: An Amalgamate Profession 

Interestingly, Kissane breaks down the job of the content strategist into 4 separate professions:

“Though it lacks a goat head, content strategy also has a legacy. Several, in fact. And each has plenty to teach us. A complete genetic breakdown would require a separate book, so for now, let’s consider the four most influential fields: editorial work, curatorial work, marketing and persuasion, and information science” (16).

Editorial and marketing work appear self-evident. In order to create compelling content one needs to both remain consistent in formatting and grammar, and also write persuasively. In fact, information science, too, makes sense given its role in effectively storing and retrieving information.

But the curator field piques my interest. Curators conjure a vision of uptight tour guides in museums and overly informed janitors dusting ancient relics. But a curator, in truth, balances the job of an administrator and an artist. A curator not only knows what sine qua non forms of art an audience wants to see, s/he will also apprehend the need for benches and restrooms through the museum.

Similarly,

“On the web, we deal with each other in heavily mediated ways, but we’re still primates. We need accommodations for the thousand disabilities that we experience; ways of marking and saving information for later so we can take breaks; ways of skipping through content when we’re in a hurry; friendly orientation and navigation aids; access to real human assistance, via live help, telephone, email, or any other reasonable channel; and the ability to consume content on the devices and in the locations of our choice” (27).

Are You Looking for a Job?

A veritable mix of editor, curator, marketer, and scientist, the content strategist runs the engine of the business website. More importantly for those unemployed college graduates, a content strategist requires the skills of liberal arts majors.

An emerging field in a marketplace still suffering growing pangs, the world needs more content strategists. Look for entry-level jobs in web editorial, online marketing, or information management. You might soon find a lucrative career in content strategy. If you want to learn more, read The Elements of Content Strategy.

Verdict: 4 out of 5

Are you unemployed and seeking a job? Have you considered content strategy? What drawbacks could arise in this profession?
Share your thoughts below.

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Posted by: Donovan Richards

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Book Review: Launch

Launch: How to Quickly Propel Your Business beyond the Competition by Michael A. Stelzner (Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2011. 255 pp)

Michael Stelzner is CEO and founder of Social Media Examiner, an influential business blog boasting a monthly readership of over 450,000 people. Michael earned a master’s degree in communications from San Diego State University. In addition to Launch, Stelzner has authored Writing White Papers, a best seller. Michael lives in Southern California.

The Emerging Might of Social Media

Not yet a decade old, social media has transformed the way we live our lives. From the way we interact with our friends and family to the way information disseminates, social media now operates integrally in our lives.

For businesses, social media creates both unique problems and unique opportunities. Where a business could previously rely on dissatisfied customers sharing their vitriol to a handful of people, social media expands the platform for customers to proliferate discontentment. Likewise, the free flowing nature of information on social networks provides opportunities for businesses to create viral campaigns, a promotion more influential and lasting than classical marketing techniques.

With Launch, Michael Stelzner outlines a compelling case for social media content to replace classical marketing messaging.

Great Content Fuels Business in the Internet Age 

Photo by Trey Ratcliff

Stelzner believes social media to be the fuel by which a business launches itself into the stratosphere. With a straightforward metaphor illustrating a rocket ship, Stelzner sketches the ways in which a business can leverage great content. In simple terms, Stelzner introduces the core principle upon which the entire book stands:

“The elevation principle is the process of meeting the core desires of prospects and customers by helping them solve their basic problems at no cost” (7).

For a business seeking to utilize social media, content is king. To gain traction, followers, and eventually customers, businesses must freely share valuable information.

In consideration of the target market, companies must provide valuable and applicable content to its potential customer base. For example, if one owns a juice shop, he or she should consider blogging about the health benefits of juices. Similarly, if one runs a photography business, video blogs detailing the process of photo shoots could provide valuable insights into the photography world.

Social Media as Service 

No matter the market, the elevation principle seeks to reorient marketing principles toward the notion of service. While classic marketing schemes view potential customers as fish in need of stentorian bait stimuli, Stelzner suggests a different strategy.

By freely providing valuable content, a business positions itself as an expert in the field; blogging and tweeting foster relationships with a potential customer base. By freely giving, devoid of apparent marketing messaging, the customer becomes more willing to learn about the company.

How Does Free Work in a Competitive Environment? 

Many, however, might question the strategy of giving away valuable content for free. If a business bestows its valuable trade secrets, how can it make money in a competitive environment?

Stelzner suggests,

“If your marketing strategy centers on helping people with their smaller problems, many will seek your help to solve their bigger issues” (7-8).

Much like the gift principle where a freely given gift offers the recipient a chance to return the favor, free and valuable content inspires an audience and causes them to consider the business for deeper needs.

Beware of the Simple Fix 

Photo by Thos Ballantyne

With inspiring examples of businesses successfully implementing these principles, Stelzner writes in a motivating manner.

But, I urge caution.

Business is never as simple as a singular motivational statement. While I agree wholeheartedly on the principle of service, I do not assume adhering to this principle consistently results in a successful business.

Ultimately, Launch depicts Stelzner’s success story. In following his principles, Stelzner gained massive success. Perhaps Launch functions as a blueprint worth following. But, I would suggest not relying on it and assuming success will necessarily follow.

In a plugged-in world, businesses must master social media. With loads of free, valuable content one click away, a business must offer value through blogs and social media in order to serve its customers. Stelzner’s elevation principle provides the foundation of service upon which a business can soar through the heavens.

Will it always work? I’m not convinced. Nevertheless, anyone interested in integrating social media into a business needs to read Launch.

Verdict: 4.5 out of 5

Do you use social media in your business? Why or why not? Do you find social media to be a valuable tool? Does it scare you to give away valuable content for free? Share your thoughts below.

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Posted by: Donovan Richards

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Book Review: Flickering Pixels

Flickering Pixels: How Technology Shapes Your Faith

 

By Shane Hipps (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009. 208 pp)

Before committing to professional vocational ministry, Shane Hipps held a position with Porsche Cars North America working on communications strategy. After a stint in the corporate world, he received a master of divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary. Hipps pastored Trinity Mennonite Church in Phoenix, Arizona, before he became teaching pastor of Mars Hill Grand Rapids in 2010.

Little Dots Comprise the Image

Merriam-Webster's Dictionary defines a pixel as any of the small discrete elements that together constitute an image. The pixel is a building block, a portion of the larger whole. Without pixels, no image exists.

Similarly, people are the building blocks of culture and society as a whole. If the entire population of one country moves to another continent, no culture remains. In Flickering Pixels, Shane Hipps attempts to break down technology in order to analyze its building blocks and its effects on society.

With his prior career in advertising providing a unique perspective on the relationship between media and culture, Hipps writes Flickering Pixels in a skeptical voice. The basic thesis found in these chapters is a request to pause, take a step back, and evaluate the way media and technology influence our culture and more specifically our faith.

 

Technology's Relationship With Culture

Although not evident in everyday life, technology continually reshapes culture. The Greatest Generation remembers life before and after the television set; Baby Boomers consider life before landing on the moon different from life after the moon landing; Generation X defines itself in relation to the computer, and the Millennial Generation identifies life in pre- and post-iPhone terms.

Looking back at how society functioned decades earlier provides evidence for changes in culture, but we do not often consider how technology has altered culture over the years. For example, text messaging enabled people to send quick and efficient messages to each other. This technology, however, included some unintended consequences: the rise of text messaging prompted the rise of chat speak (e.g., Lol, wut, 2kewl4u, rotfl).

 

Technology's Relationship With Faith

Just as technology creates inadvertent outcomes for culture as a whole, Hipps narrows the focus to effects of technology on the Christian faith. Referencing the influence of the printing press on the Reformation, the author contends that technology has been shaping Christian tradition for millennia.

More specifically, when the printing press provided Bibles in the vernacular of the common people, the way culture viewed Scripture fundamentally changed. Whereas stained-glass windows were previously the medium of choice when depicting gospel messages to the masses, the printing press created access to the logically linear arguments of Paul. Exchanging icons for a text, those Protestants participating in the Reformation paved the way for a Christianity defined by logic and reason.

As Hipps contends, since the presentation of the gospel through technological means carries residual effects, it is important to evaluate its impact. Should churches simulcast sermons on video screens? On the one hand, simulcasting offers the benefits of increasing the number of people capable of hearing the message. On the other hand, presenting a sermon on video creates a pressure to place unwanted preference on the appearance of the pastor and his or her surroundings.

 

To What Extent Should We Accept Technology in Our Faith?

Even though I find value in stepping back and continually evaluating the effects of technology on my faith, I am afraid that Flickering Pixels reads as a warning against the uses of technology in the church — as if a wrong technological step in the modern church leads to heresy.

When Hipps references his previous career in marketing, he seems to be ashamed of his actions. His starting position is that his work of marketing luxury automobiles was morally wrong. In my opinion, the author seems to associate the use of technology to promote Christianity in the same skeptical light.

As a pixel is the building block for an image, perhaps technology is a building block for successfully sharing the Christian faith. Although we should avoid uncritically accepting technology in our faith and cultures, it is important that we avoid the overreaction of skeptically dismissing technology.

Despite Hipps' cynicism of technology, Flickering Pixels is a short, quick, and thought-provoking book worth reading.

Originally published at the Center for Integrity in Business.

Thoughts on Women and Literature

A couple weeks ago, I happened upon this article at the Huffington Post. In summary, the author of the article interviewed two popular novelists – Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Weiner­ – about literary fiction and the critically praised novel, Freedom, by Jonathan Franzen. Both Picoult and Weiner criticize publishers and reviewers alike for exalting a novel about a broken family while avoiding similarly-themed novels by female authors. Simply put, when men write about family, their books are considered literary fiction; when women write about family, their books are labeled romance.

Looking at my library, it is extremely male dominant. My library coupled with Picoult and Weiner’s revelation makes me particularly troubled. I want to read well-written books no matter the race, creed, or gender of the author. Yet the way publishers promote their books, I have subconsciously gravitated to the “literary fiction” genre which is dominated by men. When I observe my tendencies in music, my tastes are much more evenly divided highlighting both men and women artists. I believe the equal division is a result of music being marketed to a broad audience instead of being promoted to a targeted audience. Thus I believe that novels written by women sparsely populate my bookshelf not because I have no desire to read them, but because I am unable to differentiate between a crappy romance novel and a well-written novel.

Thus, I believe it is time to change my tactics. What are your favorite books written by female authors? I would love to put them on my wish list.