Content Strategy – Don’t let them decide now.

An ongoing debate in the world of content strategy, design, experience and development is that of how much is too much. I have been around the development world for a while now and have seen many philosophies implemented. The basic question is “Do you want to let the audience make a decision about you, your product or your service just by reading your information?”

History
In the 90’s and early 2000’s, the thought was to shove as much information on a website or application. Back then, the average user would sit at the computer and actually read it. There was no social media, and the attention spans were longer. An analysis of web stats saw the avg time spent on pages in the 5-7 min range (for sites with good content). You also saw that you could lead a user through your site and have “deep linking” that was sometimes 8-10 levels deep.

Current
Today, attention spans are much shorter. The max time on page has shrunk to less than 2 minutes. And that is for really engaging content like blogs not for marketing sites. Social media has not just updated how we communicate with each other, but also the method in which we distribute content via sharing and hashtag trending. Most companies are starting to change the way they think of content distribution and how it fits into social media.

It is not just how you distribute the content but the development of that content as well. Because of how fast lives are and the quick communication channels, people are making impulse decisions even faster. This is the reason that I recommend that you do not let people make those decisions without a touchpoint. Email, SHORT online form, social, or old school phone calls. I say give them just enough information to want to talk to you in order to make a decision. Clear, concise and engaging content is one of the most important pieces to a good digital strategy. It means the difference between a 5-10% call to action ratio and generating 0 leads.

Align with a company that knows how to do this and does this well. At W2O, we understand the complexities of digital content strategy and know that your business objectives are not met with a one-size-fits-all solution. It’s important to understand the industry, audience and problems in order to develop the ideal solution.

If nothing else there is one truth in digital strategy. Engage, engage, engage. This is a social world, don’t stand in the corner while everyone else dances. Get out there.