The Fetch Blog

Curated reads and events for professionals

Tag: Content Strategy

Event Review: Networx Marketers Meetings — October 1, 2012

Event Review: Networx Marketers Meetings

/Beck Waite

What: Networx Marketers Meeting
Topic: Content Strategy – create and develop engaging online content
Where: Hotel Urban, Brisbane
When: 26 September 2012
Event review by: Nicole Jensen and Amilia Cunningham, Brisbane Ambassadors

Content strategy – the newest marketing buzzwords…  What does it really mean? And once we get our heads around it, will there be new terms to replace it?  We went along to find out!

The Networx team put a lot of effort into making their events as engaging as possible, even before the audience has met the panellists. Networking time is used well to promote new connections, and there are always plenty of prizes up for grabs. Networx events are also those kind of events where you definitely need to know, for absolute certain, which pockets you’re using for incoming versus outgoing business cards – there’s a lot of exchanges!

Facilitating the panel discussion was marketing strategist Cat Matson, drawing insights from the panel of three, comprised of Scott Esdaile from Publicis Mojo, Emma Croston from News Queensland, and Iain Calvert from Reload Media.The panel brought together a broad range of perspectives and experiences with the topic, relating to analytics, the business of content, and creativity overall. Each question received a great balance of information from these areas.

Top tips from the panel:

  • Work out who your audience is – where and how are they engaging with content online.
  • Ask yourself why – In relation to the types of platforms you use to engage with your audience and share your content, ask yourself what you want to achieve and why is that platform right for you?
  • You don’t have to be everywhere – There’s no point being across all social media if your audience isn’t there.  Tailor your strategy to engage your audience directly.
  • Be strategic – Consider your objectives an tailor your content strategy, leading to content that is more tailored and less ad-hoc and haphazard.
  • Check share-ability – ask yourself would someone link or share this content? If so, then it’s worthwhile putting online.
  • How will you ‘mousetrap’ your audience? – Emma explained this as tailoring your content and your site to enhance the user experience and keep them on your site longer.

The audience dynamics during the panel were that of your standard Brisbane marketing event – professional but with a hint of cheek when the odd joke arose in discussion… or the tweet stream!

Overall the event was informative, engaging and entertaining. It’s great to see the formula has been working for Iceberg Events all these years, and we look forward to seeing many more in the future.

As for the venue, Hotel Urban was a pleasant networking and seminar spot, joining the two spaces with a vibrant stairwell of street art.

What did you miss? An intelligent panel, bright social media buffs, cool interactive media and a shiny rooftop view.

Nicole and Amilia attended the September Networx Marketers Meeting courtesy of Iceberg Events.  To see Nicole’s tweets from the event, visit @thefetchbris. The upcoming Networx Marketers Meetings event is on 24 October, and covers visual social media content.

Interview: Brisbane local, Sally Bagshaw — April 9, 2012

Interview: Brisbane local, Sally Bagshaw

/Lani Pauli

Our Brisbane editor Lani Pauli says Sally Bagshaw, Brisbane-based copywriter and content strategist, is one of the first people she noticed actively talking about “content strategy” before it was hip. We sat down to talk to Sally about her niche in content strategy and what it all means.

Website: www.snappysentences.com and www.webcontentstrategy.com.au

Where does your passion for content strategy come from and what keeps it going?
I’m passionate about content strategy because it treats content as a business asset, not just pretty words on a web page. It aligns everything you do regarding content—from its planning, to its development, management and maintenance—to the overall goals of the business. In a world where we are all publishers, good content strategy is a way to stay focused and put your energy into the right areas. I also like that it shines a light on the business processes and technology needed to do these great things with content.

Who do you think is doing cool stuff in our industries?
That’s a tough one, there are cool things happening in different areas. Some people are doing great things with technology, some with voice and messaging, and some with cross channel content. Online retailers are often ahead of the game with content, especially as it’s easy to measure the ROI for great content (more sales).

What was your first job?
My first ever job was at the Eumundi newsagency on Saturday mornings for the markets. The early starts were hard, but it was a fun place to work and it taught me to count change very quickly!

What’s the biggest misconception about content strategy?
The biggest misconception is content strategy is content marketing. Content strategy is broader and can go across many traditional silos like IT and marketing. That said, content strategy isn’t only for big business. Smaller businesses can be smart with content too; it doesn’t have to be complex.

What’s the biggest opportunity and challenge for content strategy to be more consistently employed by businesses?
Even though content strategy has a higher profile than it used to, it still can be a hard sell to senior executives who are used to thinking of content as an operational (rather than strategic) part of the business. The big opportunity is the way technology is evolving so quickly, it’s not realistic to keep repurposing content for all of these different platforms anymore. It’s causing a shift to smarter thinking around content.

What’s next?
I’m starting a meetup group to bring together all Brisbanites interested in content strategy. The first catch up is planned for early June and will be a debrief about Confab – a content strategy conference that I’m going to in Minneapolis. I’ll announce further details soon on Twitter via @ContentBNE and the Brisbane Content Strategy Group meetup page.

You can follow Sally on Twitter here.

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