Slides for a workshop session on "Design a content strategy to optimise engagement with international users" facilitated by Miao He, University of Bath at the IWMW 2016 event held at Liverpool John Moores University on 2123 June 2016.

1. How to develop a content
strategy to engage users
Miao He
Digital Editor (Internationalisation), University of Bath

2. About me

3. What to expect from this workshop
1. Engaging international users with relevant content: our story
2. How to develop a targeted content strategy around your user
journey (with two group exercises)
3. Learn to test your assumptions and iterate often
4. Q&A

4. “
There is no single perfect strategy. It’s a matter
of launch, learn, refine, re-launch. By making an
effort and being able to say here is what went
well and what went poorly will allow you to gain
credibility to further your digital initiatives.
◎ Perry Hewitt (Harvard University)

5. 1.
Engaging international users with
relevant content: our story

6. ◎ According to Content Strategy Alliance, content
strategy is ‘Getting the right content to the right user
at the right time through strategic planning of
content creation, delivery, and governance’.
◎ Engagement is the collective set of experiences that
users have with your brand. It is about how they think
or feel about your brand/products.
◎ All content creates user experience.
Definitions

7. Our story

8. Our international content before the makeover
buried
fragmented
hard to find

9. www.bath.ac.uk/collections/worldwide/

10. 2.
How to develop a highly-targeted
content strategy around your user
journey

11. Understand your users’ needs
The first question to ask is: What information do our users need
and how do we get it to them when they need it?
Sources to build your user journey:
◎ Your internal analytics
◎ Third-party data
◎ User interviews
◎ Key dates in your diary

13. Exercise 1
(10 minutes)
1. Think about your specific group of key users.
2. Mock up key dates and events on your user journey.
Write them down on the paper.

14. Map your content to the user journey
Think about your:
◎ Content objectives
◎ Key messages
◎ Message formats (texts, podcasts, video, etc.)
◎ Channels to deliver your messages (email, blog, social,
etc.)
◎ Calls to action

15. “
The bottom line is, we want to create value to our
users. Give them something valuable, so they will
give you the time to consume your content.
◎Randy Hlavac (Northwestern University)

16. Tips
◎ Focus on two or three messages you really want to send out to
your users to support your organisation’s goal
◎ Be aware what messages you do not send out
◎ Target your communication methods and deliver in the way that
your users want to receive
◎ Different types of media deliver different experiences. Format
follows story, not the other way around.

17. Exercise 2
(15 minutes)
1. Identify the content for each event
2. Identify the appropriate channel(s) for each piece of
content

18. 3.
Test your assumptions and iterate
often

19. A/B testing of your hypothesis
● Headlines
● Images
● Calls to action

20. What I have learnt
● Use analytics to measure what matters and iterate
based on user needs.
● Don’t be afraid to fail - knowing what’s not working is
also part of the learning process.
● Do fewer things better. Drop the ‘big bang’ mentality.

21. “
Ultimately, the best approach is to help
your users accomplish their mission. If you
do this, you will likely achieve your overall
objectives.
◎ Randy Hlavac (Northwestern University)

22. Thank you!
Any questions?