I gave this talk at the very first Content Strategy Cape Town Meetup, in September 2010. It was meant as a pretty broad overview and history of the discipline of content strategy.

1. What’s all this fuss about content strategy? Kerry-Anne Gilowey Cape Town Content Strategy Meetup 22 September 2010

2. Back in the day…

3. I thought I’d spotted the problem.

4. But there was a bigger problem.

5. Things that were not getting attention: Labelling Tone and style Business goals Brand voice Error messages Consistency Terminology User needs

6. I needed a new identity.

7. Turned out, content strategy was a thing.

8. And it was bigger than I’d ever imagined.

10. Oh noes! We’re stranded! In Paris!

11. What do content strategists do all day?

13. Identify user, business and stakeholder needs

14. Carry out content audits and analyses Some sites are harder than others.

15. Create style guides Instead of… we use… ensure make sure endeavour try wonderful killer

16. Develop user-oriented IA

17. Create content plans, menu taxonomies, and page templates

18. Write error messages

19. Set up editorial calendars

20. “ But I’m n-n-not a c-c-content strategist. What can I d-d-do?”

21. You can be a content champion.

23. That’s all. For now. Join us on the web: http://www.meetup.com/cs-cape-town Kerry-Anne Gilowey | [email_address] | @kerry_anne