Empowering higher education to create and sustain web content that works
In a recent post, Rob Engelsman talked about using students to create “authentic content” through social media. Indeed, this can be one of the greatest benefits of social media content. It’s often raw and unfiltered (or less filtered). It’s “authentic.” However, authentic content is not reserved for social media. In fact, all content should be authentic. But why is authenticity good for content? What does “authentic content” mean and how [...]
For web professionals in higher ed, keeping content up to date is an uphill battle. Regardless of the size of your institution, as a content professional you still have to deal with numerous subject matter experts, content contributors, editors, approvers, and publishers. Content has a shelf life, and without processes for maintaining it, it can quickly become ROT. Editorial workflow for the web is a challenge for day-to-day work, not [...]
What defines quality content? Does it communicate clearly? Does it attract new users? Does it engage current users? It can and should do all those things, but to what end? Ultimately, content should inspire action. On Meet Content, we talk a lot about purposeful content — goal-driven content for users and publishers alike. I think that’s an idea most people can buy into. However, when you start talking about user [...]
With 140-character tweets and short, scannable web copy often top of mind, it can be difficult to think of a situation where we would willingly want to publish thousands of words. But longform content is carving out a significant niche in the habits of online content consumers, as evidenced by trends in journalism and ebook publishing. In higher ed, there are opportunities to capitalize on this trend, as well as [...]
I love content, but nothing gets me pumped more than cutting it. Crop. Delete. Remove. Archive. Why? Because the road to clear communication often leads to less content, not more. The purpose of content is to communicate. For higher ed web professionals, it’s easy to lose sight of this. Many people are responsible for constantly creating content — new blog posts, twitter updates, event descriptions, landing pages, "related links." But [...]