In most organizations where I worked, the digital strategy group responsible for Web functionality and content rolls up to marketing and works alongside customer support and marketing communications, which in turn often include brand and public relations teams.
The size of the first group depends on the volume and percent of Web commerce as compared to direct or channel retail. Introduce social media and the plot thickens. Especially when it comes to content, every group should get involved and contribute based upon experience and visibility into data and customer feedback.
It's early days, and companies are still figuring out where they need to be and which digital experiences to tackle first.
Designing for the way you do things
I have worked inside and with many different organizational structures.
While what happens on the inside impacts the customer experience, buyers don't give a second thought to how a business is organized when they interact with brands.
Increasingly, social drives the concept home for companies -- online media are two-way. Links subvert hierarchies. A good starting point for many companies is fixing broken Web experiences. Get the customer experience right, regardless of who it takes (in the room) to make it happen.
100+ perspectives and 3 key themes
Designing for the way you do things means that when you ask a bunch of marketers and pros in charge of social media where they think they will focus content strategies in 2013, you get a broad sample. Joe Pulizzi did just that and extrapolated three key themes:
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Marketing teams will continue to reinvent themselves to support content marketing efforts
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Visuals and video will play a more important role
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Marketers need to re-think “web-only” to adapt to consumers who want info
Contributions had to fit within 75 words, so I had to curb my Italian enthusiasm to enter. Many thanks to Joe Pulizzi and the fine team at the Content Marketing Institute for selecting the quote among the few to highlight in the cover post:
Tablets, smartphones, and laptops make up the buyer’s multi-device ecosystem. Responsive web design meets the challenge of not knowing which screen the user prefers by providing an optimal viewing experience: easy reading and navigation with minimum resizing, panning, or scrolling across a wide range of devices. Content needs to be structured in chunks that can be flowed into this architecture. Personalization addresses: 1) who I am (e.g., location, preferences) and 2) what I’m doing (e.g., learning, buying). — Valeria Maltoni, Sr. Director of Strategy, Empathy Lab
Go download the prediction now and feel free to come back and discuss where you see your organization designing the next chapter in content strategy.
My own take on early comments -- tactics will change when they stop generating traffic, downloads, and conversions, or something better comes along. That could be your very own ideas and execution.
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Valeria is an experienced listener. She is also frequent speaker at conferences and companies on a variety of topics. To book her for a speaking engagement click here.