Content Strategy News & Articles

The customer is the marketer; that's what social media is for. The customer is the advertiser; that's what Google is for.

While at Gilbane Boston 2011, we've met with vendors to get the inside scoop about their newest projects and greatest insights about the state of web content management. In a world of rapidly increasing data, customers demand more meaningful content, while companies demand better control over how they create, share and manage it all. So what do you do, and how do you manage it all? 

Your website is dead. But your content lives in other formats, across other devices. What is currently available is only the beginning -- the world is changing, and as a result the way we interact with information is changing. In the session, Managing New Kinds of Content Mash-ups, Stefan Schinkel of Hippo walked us through the endless possibilities that content engagement afford us.

If you're currently using Google Analytics to track your website traffic, you may have noticed a New Version tab on the top of the platform. You've probably been intrigued enough to give it a click already, but if you haven't yet, go ahead! This is Google's new interface that has been in beta for the past year. They've officially announced that everyone will be switched over to the new version in January.

With this article, we'll go through a few key components related to the change. Future articles will explore in further depth each of the new features of Google Analytics.

"This website needs a total redesign," Bartholomew Daehria guffawed enthusiastically. "It needs to be much more interactive and visually attractive."

The more you integrate your content strategy with other disciplines within digital strategy -- SEO, social media, usability and information architecture -- the more successful it will be.

Mobile is a platform. It is a tactic, not a strategy. What you need is a strategy for the connected customer.

The mobile web holds enormous potential for business success. From the perspective of customer engagement, customer service and increasingly for commerce, its role within a business’s overall online strategy is continuing to grow.

However, despite investing a lot of time and money in mobile web strategy, many organizations aren’t yet reaping the full benefits -- and there are several common reasons why. Here are three of them -- and some suggestions for how you can avoid them.

We compare in order to make the best decision. To do that we need to consider the opinion of both experts and crowds.

At the giant search and social media conference Pubcon in Las Vegas, Google’s top Spam cop Matt Cutts said in his talk the company is getting out the knife again.  He reported Google is looking to discern “…what are the things that really matter, how much content is above the fold.”

You may remember the last time Cutts’ team went after low-quality content was with its Panda algorithm, also known as Farmer, that targeted content farms gaining top search hits on “shallow” content.

If customers get the first click right they have twice as much of a chance of completing their task than if they get it wrong.

There has been a lot of press over the last month or so on Netflix’s pricing and product missteps. Starting with the 60% price increase and the subsequent user revolt,  closely followed by a mea-culpa by Reed Hastings, Netflix’s CEO, which in the 10th paragraph introduced the world to the Qwikster spinoff that lasted less than 3 weeks before the culmination of which was a full retreat from the product split.

The "mobile web" is a blanket term for the type of web surfing done on mobile devices, whether it be a smartphone or tablet device. A huge issue for the mobile web is lack of content and websites that are optimized for these devices, which have smaller screens and touch interfaces. Some innovative web publishers have launched mobile sites, but Google wants to assist the ones who desire a mobile-enabled website, but lack the resources to build one alone.

Social media is a powerhouse of change for several areas of customer experience. In regards to marketing,  the social web has provided a less expensive, more communicative alternative that's poised to replace traditional methods -- billboards, TV spots, etc. -- altogether. The following infographic from Voltier Digital highlights how things currently stand.

There is a growing resistance to traditional marketing techniques. Today's customer is more logical, less emotional.