Content Inventories and Audits with Paula Land: All Things Content
For my very first All Things Content podcast, I wanted a guest who could help set up my show with a topic that spoke to many different factors regarding content and content strategy. Paula Land stood out as an obvious choice. Why? Because not only does her knowledge span a variety of content topics, she remains one of the foremost authorities in auditing content for more effective business and customer outcomes. And guess what, this week the 2nd edition of her book, Content Audits and Inventories: A Handbook just dropped this past week. And I ready it already. A few months back, I had the honor of Paula asking me to write the foreward to her book. I knew it would be good, but I had no idea that it would be as great as it is. In her latest edition: Paula makes a strong case for the necessity of ongoing content audits as a critical component to and for any successful customer content experience. She also shows you how to do one! After reading her book, you will understand how content inventories are not just a precursor to a content improvement project but also, a critical part of ongoing content governance.
So please, listen to my PodCast, but after hearing or viewing it, make sure to head to your favorite book and ask them to order you copy. If you don’t have a bookstore nearby, then by all means, order it from Amazon (For some reverse digital window shopping, I include the Amazon.com link)!
I often say that much of content strategy begins and ends with a content type, but the fact remains, content audits and inventories form that basis from which content strategists and content creators make our judgments, plan for future content, evaluate customer trends, design new content experiences, and understand where and how our content needs to take shape.
Similarly to Grand Central Station in New York City—the hub going to various destinations in NYC and beyond—a content audit provides the foundation and compass for an organization to make content decisions. Done correctly, an audit can guide a brand to the various conclusions that lead to making competent, informed, and data-driven decisions around conten. For example: We should invest more in topics surrounding cat health, because our top searh queries make clear that our customers need content in this area and we lack such stories. A content audit does not just look at a content inventory, but also the analytics, customer insights, and business decisions that drive the development and management of the existing content in the first place.
In my inaugural show, Paula and I delved into why a content audit for the Wall Street Journal failed and what a content audit actually means for an organization and how to set one up appropriately. Paula speaks of a “clear and well communicated mandate” to align key stakeholders at the beginning of the process on the objectives of the audit and the expectations. She offers such insights as the benefit of leveraging other folks than those responsible for the content to audit the content when possible. She notes that successful audits start with objectives, and she concludes the show with the following wisdom: “This is not the work, this is the preparation for the work.” Meaning that although an important project, an audit is the starting point for all that follows, whether future content creation or an entirely new approach or platform.
You can view or listen to the Podcast:
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