Learn the importance and process of UX content strategy
Content strategy is one of the essential elements of a UX strategy. It is mostly used in marketing and sales. However, content strategy has a significant impact on user experience. Therefore, you should understand and execute it for your design project. Hence, you will get beneficial results.
In this article, you will learn:
- What is UX content strategy?
- What’s the importance of content strategy?
- Prerequisites for conducting a UX content strategy
- Components of a UX content strategy
- How to conduct a user experience content strategy?
- Common methods of content strategy
- Content strategy tools
Content strategy is a marketing term. It is mostly used in copywriting, marketing and sales. You may be familiar with its importance in the marketing industry. However, you may wonder what content strategy’s role is in UX.
For this purpose, you should understand what content is.
Definition of content:
Any type of information is content. It can be infographics, videos, blogs, articles, white papers, ebooks, emails, social media posts, images, and audios. Content is widespread. Therefore, it has a deep influence over internet users. Resultantly, it impacts user experience.
Importantly, you can’t define user experience without content. Content communicates with the audience. As a result, users depict their experience with it. This experience is crucial for the success of your design project.
Quality content and design:
Furthermore, content creation is not enough. You will need quality content that meets user expectations. A great design with bad content won’t improve the user experience. Therefore, you should focus on producing quality content and design. This way, you will have a perfect design strategy.
Content strategy and UX design:
Content strategy is one of the bases of UX design. Therefore, it is reflected in the design process. It is noteworthy every content strategy doesn’t require UX design. However, every UX design project requires content strategy. Therefore, you will need both content and design strategies.
What is UX content strategy?
UX content strategy is an approach to creating, governance, and publishing useful, user-oriented, and accessible content. This process ensures the best quality content for users. Furthermore, it enhances user experience and satisfaction.
Content strategists create valuable content according to business and audience requirements in content strategy. They produce a viable content strategy aligned with the design process. In addition, they manage and process the whole design content. Hence, content strategists play a crucial role in design success.
What’s the importance of UX content strategy
A massive amount of content is published every day on the internet. Therefore, a content strategy is required to organize and publish the content. This way, it will help create useful and valuable content. Resultantly, users will get a good experience.
The role of content strategy becomes more important in UX design. UX design revolves around user experience. An effective content strategy can result in a good user experience. Ultimately, you will experience design success.
Additionally, content strategy helps identify the main stakeholders having governance over content in the organization. Thus, it collects insights to improve the content process.
Essential prerequisites for a content strategy:
Following are the essential prerequisites for conducting a content strategy:
- Understanding user interviews, surveys, and other research methods
- Creating user personas and scenarios
- Analysis and audit for finding useful content
(It helps find the flaws in the existing content).
- Customer journey maps
- Understanding business goals and priorities.
- Identifying Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
- Clear process of the content creation
- Familiarity with the design process
Components of a UX content strategy:
Brain Traffic, a content strategy agency, created a model for content strategy. It has four main components.
- Editorial
- Experience
- Structure
- Process
Content strategy is divided into two main groups. This division helps understand the content strategy process. These are:
- Content design
- System design
Content design:
Content design is the process of content production for the audience according to their expectations. This process includes user data and research to deliver user-oriented content.
According to Sarah Winters, “Content design is using evidence and data to produce content your audience needs, at the time they need it, on a channel they are on and in a way they expect. Content design uses tools and techniques from different disciplines to create a user-centered, accessible experience.”
Brain Traffic’s model further categorizes content design into editorial and experience quads.
- Editorial elements:
Editorial elements of a content strategy address the potential customers. They set up the voice and tone of the business. Overall, it includes brand guidelines for the success of the design process.
- Experience elements:
Experience elements of a content strategy are:
- User needs and expectations
- Customer journey maps
- Content Format
System design:
Brain Traffic defines systems design as “the process of defining the architecture, modules, interfaces, and data for a system to satisfy specified requirements.”
It includes structure and process quads.
- Structure:
Structure or content engineering deals with content organization, tags and categories, personalization, and AI for the elements.
- Process:
Process elements are:
- Content lifecycle
- Content governance
- Content measurements
All four quadrants are required for a proper content strategy.
UX Content strategy process:
UX content strategy process starts with the discovery and research phase. It covers some essential activities and deliverables. These are audits, CMS research, mapping, and brand guidelines.
- Content catalogs and audits:
Content catalogs include existing content for the project. The content can be in the form of images, videos, text, or pdf. Your content strategist will assemble all the content for the audit and analysis. Hence, the audit process will start. It is the qualitative analysis of the catalogs.
Audit is essential to examine the quality of content. Content strategists follow different types of audit processes. You should discuss with your UX content strategist to select a specific audit process based on business requirements.
This process is a valuable activity. It takes time. Therefore, your team should handle every activity carefully. In the end, the content strategist will create a report. He will discuss the amendments with the stakeholders. Finally, he will execute them.
- Core strategy:
Content strategy is a complete process. It involves auditing, CMS research, governance, mapping, and guidelines. However, some content strategists also add core strategy to their process. It results in a strategic report explaining content issues, recommendations, analysis of business goals, and time duration of the process.
You can discuss with your UX content strategist for planning the core strategy. It will help you better understand the user experience.
- CMS research:
CMS research aims to find the best CMS for your business. It includes research and analysis of the goals and complexities. Your content strategist will select the perfect CMS based on existing resources and management issues for the design project.
Also, CMS research helps better understand the stakeholders. It highlights the main roles in the design process with their importance.
- Content mapping and modeling:
Content mapping identifies the type of content. It helps discover the content direction and process. Thus, you will have a clear content map.
Modeling describes the structure and layout of the CMS. These two processes will help you discover the best content for your business. Furthermore, you will be able to execute the content plans properly.
- Style, voice, and tone guidelines:
Brands follow a consistent language style, voice, and tone. Hence, they build credibility and professionalism. You can’t build a strong brand without a consistent tone and voice. Therefore, you should ask your content strategist to execute the brand guidelines. He will research the market to plan a constant voice and tone for your business. In this way, you will achieve the desired branding results.
- Content governance and maintenance:
Content governance ensures content quality. It maintains content sourcing, viability, organization, and publishing. This process can be conducted before and after content publication. Before publication, it focuses on the creation of quality content. After publication, it analyzes content performance and suggests improvements.
- Content creation and publication:
Next step of content strategy is content creation. It aims to create quality content with the help of user information and SEO insights.
Main activities of this process are:
- Setting up the plan for content creation
- Communication with the designers and writers
- Completion of the content process
- Approval from the stakeholders
- Content publication
- Content feedback
Common methodologies of UX content strategy:
Common methodologies of UX content strategy are:
- Omnichannel publishing:
It is a content strategy process to create a user experience perfectly suited for all users across the channels. Simply put, omnichannel publishing creates a single user experience for mobile phone, desktop, and tablet users.
In contrast, multichannel publishing creates different user journeys across different content channels.
Omnichannel publishing provides a simple experience across all channels. Therefore, customers want omnichannel publishing to enjoy a good user experience.
A professional content strategist understands the importance of omnichannel publishing. Therefore, he will implement omni channel publishing for you.
- Marketing:
Content strategists create content. Usually, they don’t require marketing. However, a perfect content strategy may require a marketing strategy. Therefore, ask your content strategist to use marketing tactics where required. These are the advanced skills to better communicate with the users.
Furthermore, editorial and planning are sub-part of marketing. Content strategists use these tools for content creation.
- Governance:
Content strategists use a governance model to maintain a good user experience via quality content. It is an essential part of content strategy. Governance is involved in the content strategy from planning to publishing and improvement.
- Information Architecture:
Information architecture is a separate design field. Content strategists will use the learnings from the information architecture to create content and navigable sitemaps. It will help fulfill user expectations.
- Branding:
Branding is a significant element of Content strategy. Your content strategist will use branding techniques to set up unique language, style, tone, and voice for the business. Hence, it will help create recognizable content.
Branding will make your content appealing to the users. Ultimately, your design content will flourish.
Common tools for content strategy:
Here are some of the main tools that will help you in the content strategy process.
- Content Analysis Tool (CAT):
Content strategists use this tool for audit and analysis. This tool extracts massive data from sites. Hence, it helps form a better content strategy.
- Microsoft Excel:
Microsoft Excel is the best tool for content extraction and organization.
- Google Analytics:
Google analytics delivers detailed information about a website. It helps content strategists work efficiently.
- GatherContent:
It is a helpful software for content organization before publishing.
- Content Management Systems (CMS):
You can choose from different CMS. Major CMS are Blogger, Squarespace, WordPress, Drupal, Sharepoint, etc.
More Articles to Read
UX content strategy is the process of creating and publishing quality content. It is crucial for your design project. A perfect content strategy will help you better understand the user experience. Hence, you can attract them to your products or services.
You will need to hire a reliable content strategist or agency to create useful content for your design project. Ceptz will help you to create a content strategy for your design project. Contact us now for the details.