Last year I taught Digital Content Strategy Demystified for the first time. I had a blast, and I’m looking forward to teaching it
again this year. (Hint, hint, my course starts on October 2, and is offered through the
University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies. I urge you to sign up soon
if you’re interested).
Based on student feedback, along with the
trends and patterns I’ve observed over the past 12 months, here are some course
elements I plan to add or augment this year:
Viewing content as a business asset
One of the members of the Toronto Content
Strategy Meetup, Pamela Kostur, recently taught a course entitled “Treating Content as a Business Asset.” Rahel Anne Bailie and Noz Urbina also tackle content strategy through the lens
of ROI and business objectives in their recent book. Not that other content strategists avoid ROI, but as the discipline has
matured, the conversation has moved away from justifying the need for content
strategy in the first place (Kristina Halvorson et al) and toward a more explicit cost-benefit analysis.
Way more social media
The headline is pretty self-explanatory. I
underestimated the interest in this aspect of content strategy by a significant
margin. More social media, more earlier and more often during this year’s
course.
Even more design thinking
I designed an entire class around ideation,
brainstorming and design thinking. I plan to squeeze some quick-and-dirty user
research into the experience this year, along with a few other nifty surprises.
A stronger push for mobile-first content strategy
Less is more. Less is better. Regardless of
whether you’re viewing a site on a mobile device or a desktop computer.
Brand journalism
I talked in some detail about content
marketing last year. This year I will add brand journalism into the mix.
Plus…
I’m careful to always ask students what they
hope to get from my course. This year will be no different. Don’t see something
important to you? Avoid panic. Just let me know and I’m sure I can accommodate you.
