Tag: Kristina Halvorson

Content Strategy: An Interview with Kristina Halvorson

Kristina Halvorson was talking about the importance of web content way before others chimed-in on the discussion. In her book, Content Strategy for the Web, she makes the case for having a well-thought out strategy that involves getting others in the organization on board early on, and not leaving content as an after-thought to the design process.

Recently I had the pleasure of doing an interview with Kristina for WebDesigner Depot. The timing was great since she and Melissa Rach have revised the book which was recently published in a second edition by Peachpit.

Check out the interview on WebDesigner Depot and do yourself ( and your team) a favor and invest in your content by getting a copy of 2nd edition of the book.

How to Commit to a Social Media Content Strategy

To create a social media content strategy that will work for your business you can think about it in simple terms. One word. Six characters. C-o-m-m-i-t.

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Article first published as How to Commit to a Social Media Content Strategy on Technorati.

To create a social media content strategy that will work for your business you can think about it in simple terms.  One word.  Six characters.  Begins with C.

C-O-M-M-I-T

One of the most important aspects of a successful social media content strategy has to do with commitment and adhering to two key elements: 
1) create social media profiles that you won’t abandon or let the content die on the vine;  2) Nurture and grow your content.

Let’s take it step by step. Think:
 Channels, Original, Maintain, Messages, Inventory, Tone (and Voice)

Channels
Check out the social media landscape for the best fit.  Whether you decide to have presences on multiple social media channels or a select few, come to those channels with good intentions.  If you’re using social media platforms to communicate with your existing customers and people in your industry, think about what they would be interested in.  Whether it’s a link to a blog post, video, slides, infographic–put yourself in their shoes.  What benefit will this content serve your target audience? Why will they want to spend time on your page?

Original
Re-tweeting and linking to other people’s content can be highly valuable in terms of helping to spread great material but it’s good practice to set aside time to develop your own original work.  As discussed in my earlier post, Four Ways  to Make Your Blog Posts More Readable, content can be repurposed; it doesn’t always have to be created from scratch.  You can take segments from a white paper, a slide presentation, an earlier blog post and narrow it down into more concise messages.  Highlight something different this time around.  Even update how things have changed since you wrote it.  Be sure, also, to dedicate time to staying up-to-date with what’s happening in your industry and writing about it.

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