The past couple of weeks sparked some new possibilities to test out, in hopes of resolving ongoing requests from content teams. Everyone has a role in making this possible. What then is the role of the content strategist? It involves listening for commonalities, looking for bright spots, and asking questions to facilitate people thinking about strategy.
Currently, group conversations have generated insight into:
- Facilitating workflows that can support a new way of doing things.
- Creating a way to share human interest stories that show the value of Extension’s work.
- Improving access to resources in ways that audiences want.
1) Workflows
A lot goes into identifying, writing, reviewing and tagging content that only experts in the subject can do. Entering, coordinating and managing educational content by the content team, however, needs further discussion.
Events, announcements, newsletters, and county focus areas can all still be managed by the county office groups. Educational content, however, shifted to the program areas. Regardless of where faculty are stationed, the content is valuable regionally and statewide, and no longer seen as tied to a county. Who then is best to enter and manage this content of the statewide teams? How do we leverage existing resources to do so?
Some new ideas include:
- Write into your annual work plan 5% of website responsibilities that go beyond creating and updating content, so that your time as a team member is acknowledged and supported.
- Shift responsibilities and offer incentives, so a champion wanting to spearhead this innovative change can take time to set up topic pages and tagging guides as needed to organize and maintain content.
- Leverage support professionals from the program area, such as education program assistants or research assistants, to learn the entry, tagging, and coordination processes.
2) Stories
“We need to capture the essence of who we are as a community in Extension and how we meet the needs of our communities,” said Anita Azarenko recently at the Quarterly Conversations. She asked, “How do we put feeling back into our website?”
Content analysis published in the Journal of Applied Communications* found the majority of awareness campaigns on agricultural websites used logical appeals with education-based and fact-based content. However, content with emotional appeals can be more effective in connecting with and being remembered by web visitors.
Stories showcase the value of what we do for the public by putting a face to our work. Publishing stories ourselves in addition to media coverage can increase the longevity and reach of our stories, and help show people how they too can benefit by being engaged with our programs. EESC is moving forward to capture these stories and to find the best way to showcase them online.
3) Audience navigation
Technology can level barriers for some, and be a learning curve for others. Audiences come with all different preferences and skill levels. The new content management system helps to customize how content is displayed, even for the audience that just wants a straight list of resources in one place.
Topic landing pages came out ten months ago so teams could organize the content based on audience needs and interests. The “custom topic sections” can gather similar content under easy to skim headings. Keywords (which are now easier to modify) can help filter less relevant content. Links to these resources can still be reached from county page focus areas if people enter the site that way, and topics continue to evolve based on content developed and how audiences look for it.
We’ll continue to work with faculty on improving audience access to resources they depend on in the coming months.
Web updates
- A recording is available from Quarterly Conversations on Extension’s digital strategy.
- Updates to the faculty and staff directory fixed filter functionality, added new filters and fixed links to county, program and unit/department on profile pages
- A pesticide safety disclaimer is now an option to add in English or Spanish on articles (just check the box on relevant content)
- Content that appears in web-based newsletter issues and or collections now have an attribution stating this connection.
* Assessing the Content of Online Agricultural Awareness Campaigns Joy N. Rumble, Quisto Settle, and Tracy Irani, This research is available in Journal of Applied Communications: https://newprairiepress.org/jac/vol100/iss3/10
My favorite part of this was about telling stories. I have been drawn to the art of storytelling for a long while. In my own journeys around the Internet, for example, I see firsthand how I get drawn in to the message when the appeal it’s making to me comes in the form of a story or in some way tugs on the emotional strings. I resonate with the idea OSU Extension can get more people to engage with Extension content and programs by appealing to them with all the stories we have to tell them about our ideas and expertise across all our program areas—there are SO many stories to tell!