Lot’s has been written in the social sphere (here, here, here to name a few) about developing and maintaining a content management strategy in the new digital age. Most of the advice follows the same lines of think like a publisher, write for SEO value, content is king / frequent content is the pharaoh, create an editorial calendar, an so on. All of those thing are right. Yet still there is something missing.
When I go to companies (fortune 100 at least) and talk about content strategies, we can go through the list above, they shake their heads like they understand and go off and create the first version of the plan. When they come back, they have an editorial calendar, SEO strategy that ties into the calendar and is the basis for the content development, a framework (style guide) for the channels (tweets, releases, blogs, etc) and a list of every piece of communique that is to be released in the next two months, already pre-approved by legal. Time to sit back and enjoy the fruits of our collective work, right?
This type of approach is provides the same one-way push mentality and does not set the tone for the type of change that has to take place within a company in order to truly adopt a pervasive content strategy suitable for today’s Social Business. Here’s what I mean:
Pre-approved content, style guides and a the PR team misses the point of today’s connected enterprise. Before developing a “traditional” content strategy (like the one listed above), develop an employee training schedule. If any employee expresses an interest in communicating digitally, take them through the type of PR training that you would give to your senior executives. Have an ongoing training curriculum on key SEO terms to be included, strategies for each person (thought leader, helper, insider’s view to company, etc) and ideas for participation.
This is a new way to think about PR. Instead of outward focus, PR should think of themselves as content enablers not creators. Enable an army of employees to communicate effectively, in unison, on purpose, with trust. Enable them with the industry influencers they should connect with, the blogs they should comment on, the though leadership pieces that are timely. Maybe an effective content strategy for the enterprise is made up of dozens of individual strategies that all feed into the same corporate goals that includes the proper training. Is this the new look of content management strategy?
Content management is usually an afterthought. Companies decide to become social, set up their tools then wonder why it looks so bare. It’s that point when someone thinks to adopt a new content strategy that includes social. To help us re-consider our approach to content management for social, we are happy to have the CEO of Social Media Delivered, Eve Mayer Orsburn. Eve is a recognized figure in social media circles and has a new book being released in just a few days entitled: Social Media for the CEO: The Why & ROI of Social Media for the CEO of Today and Tomorrow. Our topic and questions this week are:
Topic: Social Media Content Strategy
Q1: Why is a SM content strategy important?
Q2: How can you make content really work for your business?
Q3: What are the key components of a good content marketing strategy?
Please join us Tuesday October 26, at 12 noon ET. You can follow along using #sm83 from your favorite Twitter client or simply use our home page at www.hashtagsocialmedia.com/live.
that “public relations owns the responsibility for web strategy relative to blogging, podcasting or RSS; social search; social networking; microblogging and, to a lesser extent, web content management. PR prevails in comparison to marketing, IT, HR and Executive Management.
al web. With the social web, a new age of public relations “faces” are appearing from all over within companies. Starting their own blogs, taking to Twitter to streamline customer help issues or using Facebook to sell product, these social pioneers are re-defining “Public Relations” in its traditional sense. They are coming from customer service, product management, research, operations and even the cleaning crew. This new age of PR pros are taking a different approach from their brethren of past, they are now out in FRONT of the Brand. 
Thinking about incorporating social media into your company? This session is a must, if not for the topic, then certainly for the moderator, 
The first quarter of 2009 was riddled with vexing corporate issues. Earnings are challenged along with everything else in this economy and Brands of all shapes are getting hammered for their mishaps. Social media is exacerbating those mishaps and creating urgency in PR and communications departments worldwide. 
