Content Strategy: The Philosophy of Data

Posted by Francis Raymond May 5th 09

Developing content, either for white papers, thesis, the web or any other platforms, is not an easy task. Everyday we are confronted to increasing amounts of information that we need to process and make sense of - thousand of blogs keep popping up each day while Twitter's incessant feed adds noise to the mix. More than ever before, having an efficient content strategy is crucial to produce relevant and significant information.

Razorfish has been producing quality white papers for years. In Content Strategy: The Philosophy of Data, author Rachel Lovinger explains why content strategy needs to be considered:

Perhaps the problem is that, because content is so pervasive, everyone thinks they know all there is to know about it. If you can read and write, you can make content, right? (Nearly 60 million blogs may prove that.) But the fact is, as interactive experiences become more complex, so does the nature of content. A superficial understanding of content isn’t going to cut it anymore. Content strategists in the digital age need to become data philosophers and explore the metaphysics of content, starting with the question “What is content?”

Developing Content Is Like Building a Relationship

Content goes beyond literary and semantics. There are relationships between pieces of text, text and images, images and images, text and links, links and structure - the list goes on. According to Lovinger, building meaningful content means you have to build relationships between all elements that constitute your content. For instance, if you're writing a white paper, you need to consider other writings on a similar subject as well as the relationship between your text, graphics, images and layout. Creating content means that you're setting the table for interactive experiences.

The Razorfish white paper makes for a great introduction to content strategy and how strategists can help you construct meaningful relationships. You may also want to have a look at this article by Jeffrey MacIntyre and this one called The Discipline of Content Strategy by A List Apart.

Have you used content strategies to write and market your white papers? Please tell us about your experiences! We're always eager to learn about your practice.