This workshop will take you from narrative to chunks—without losing the story. If you come from an editorial background, content “structure” doesn’t mean the same thing it does to a technical person. But an editorial understanding of narrative structure gives you a solid framework to craft a technical content structure that can make your work even more effective. This workshop will give you a new lens on your content and walk you through the steps to structure your content into an architecture for a more effective customer experience and simplified content management experience. Attending this workshop will help you: Figure out the building blocks of your content’s structure. Learn how to design and communicate a content architecture/model. Understand how to incorporate structure into content creation. Identify resources that help you find and get the technology you need. Who should attend: People who come from an editorial, marketing, or general content strategy or management background, but who are newer to the technical side of things, or who don’t feel confident in their content-structure-specific technical understanding. This workshop is technology-agnostic, and will talk about the kinds of questions you need to ask of technology instead of prescribing a particular solution.

1. CONTENT STRUCTURE FOR ANY STRATEGIST
Laura Creekmore | @lauracreekmore
https://www.flickr.com/photos/londonmatt/

2. TODAY’S PLAN
Just so you know
WHO’S HERE CONTENT STRUCTURE BUILDING TYPES, MODELS,
AND RULES
TECHNOLOGY IDEAS

3. Who are you? What do you do? Is your compe6tor here?
INTRODUCTIONS

4. Content structure:
What is it?
https://www.flickr.com/photos/56218409@N03/

10. A liBle history
https://www.flickr.com/photos/elbokkie/

13. CHALLENGES WITH
TRADITIONAL CONTENT STRUCTURE
1
2
3
4
5
Inefficient
Impossible to reuse
High level of risk
Not extensible
Can create poor UX

16. A new way of thinking
https://www.flickr.com/photos/duncanh1/

17. Chunks
not pages

18. Chunks
Small bits of informa1on
that can be shared in a
useful way. Machine-
friendly.

20. Movies
Actors
TV Shows
Directors
News Videos
Rankings
Reviews

23. Recipes
Products
Links to
Brand Sites
Tips
News Videos
ArScles
Reviews

25. Content
model
Diagram that shows the
rela1onships of all
content types to one
another

26. STRUCTURING CONTENT
• Determine business need
• IdenHfy elements (fields)
• Define metadata
• Create relaHonships
• Write rules (and other great stuff)

27. FACETS OF CONTENT
• Audience
• Time/Date
• LocaHon
• Use
• Outcome
• Input
• Topic
• Source
• Feature
• Industry-specific

29. Person
Former name
Name
George Timothy Clooney was born on May 6, 1961, in
Lexington, Kentucky, to Nina Bruce (née Warren), a
former beauty pageant queen, and Nick Clooney, a
former anchorman and game show host (who was also
the brother of singer Rosemary Clooney). He has Irish,
English, and German ancestry. Clooney spent most of this
youth in Ohio and Kentucky, and graduated from Augusta
High School. He was very active in sports such as
basketball and baseball, and tried out for the Cincinnati
Reds, but was not offered a contract.
Bio
Often plays scoundrels that are likable and have
redeeming qualities
+
Best man at the wedding of [Richard Kind].Trivia
▿
Trade Mark
▿
+
I don't like to share my personal life... it wouldn't be
personal if I shared it.
Personal Quotes
▿
+
Related Media
Remove Link
Select Title Date Released Salary Type Role Character Name
Sisters 1991 $40,000/episode TV Series Actor James Falconer
Nickname
Also credited as
Birth place
Birth date Height FT ▿ IN ▿ English ▿

31. STRUCTURING CONTENT
•
•
•
•
•
Determine business need
IdenHfy elements (fields)
Define metadata
Create relaHonships
Write rules (and other great stuff)

32. But why?
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lojane16/

33. CHALLENGES WITH
TRADITIONAL CONTENT STRUCTURE
1
2
3
4
5
Inefficient
Impossible to reuse
High level of risk
Not extensible
Can create poor UX

34. BENEFITS OF STRUCTURED CONTENT
1 Efficient opera6ons
2 Publish once, use repeatedly
3 Reduced risk
4 Extensible into other plaHorms
5 Can enable posi6ve UX, even with complexity
BONUS Findability
BONUS Improved analysis

35. The secret:
Requiring structured
content creates be>er
content…and be>er
customer experiences.

37. Dealing with change
https://www.flickr.com/photos/grongar/

38. MOVING TO STRUCTURED CONTENT
• Build an interdisciplinary team
• Get everyone’s voice at the table
• Make a business case
• Build your technical understanding
• Don’t over-structure up front

39. POTENTIAL BUSINESS CASES
Try these on for size
SEO AND FINDABILITY EXTENSIBILITY EFFICIENCY AND RISK REDUCTION

40. Own
your
tech
stack

41. SOME TECH THINGS ANY
CONTENT STRATEGIST NEEDS TO KNOW
• Full descripHon/understanding of your tech stack
• Do you have an API? How could you use one?
• What metadata do you collect?
• How can you report and measure your work?
•
How will AI, smart speakers, chat technology
change your work?

42. CONTACT
LAURA CREEKMORE
@lauracreekmore
laura@creekcontent.com
+1 615-500-4131