Content Strategy¶

## Content Audit Checklist

### Inventory
- [ ] List all existing documentation
- [ ] Note location, format, owner
- [ ] Record last update date
- [ ] Identify traffic/usage data

### Quality Assessment
- [ ] Accuracy review
- [ ] Completeness check
- [ ] Consistency evaluation
- [ ] Usability assessment

### Gap Analysis
- [ ] Features without docs
- [ ] User needs not addressed
- [ ] Competitor comparison
- [ ] Support ticket themes

## User Research Questions

### Who are our users?
- Job roles and responsibilities
- Technical skill levels
- Goals and motivations
- Context of use

### What do they need?
- Tasks they're trying to complete
- Problems they're solving
- Information they're seeking
- Formats they prefer

### How do they find information?
- Search vs. browse
- Entry points
- Device usage
- Time constraints

## Content Strategy Statement

### Vision
Our documentation will be the primary resource for users
to successfully adopt and use [Product], reducing time
to value and support costs.

### Goals
1. Enable self-service for 80% of user questions
2. Support product adoption and feature usage
3. Reduce documentation-related support tickets by 30%
4. Maintain high user satisfaction (4.5/5 rating)

### Principles
- User-centered: Organized around user tasks and goals
- Complete: All features documented at release
- Current: Updated within 24 hours of product changes
- Findable: Optimized for search and navigation

### Success Metrics
- Page views and engagement
- User feedback scores
- Support ticket correlation
- Feature adoption rates

## Content Type: Tutorial

### Purpose
Guide users through completing a specific task step-by-step.

### Audience
Users new to the feature or product.

### Structure
1. Introduction (what you'll learn)
2. Prerequisites (what you need)
3. Steps (numbered procedure)
4. Verification (how to confirm success)
5. Next steps (where to go from here)

### Length
500-1500 words, 5-15 steps

### Metadata
- Difficulty level
- Time to complete
- Prerequisites
- Related topics

### Examples
- Getting Started tutorial
- Integration tutorials
- Workflow tutorials

## Content Model

Product
├── Feature
│   ├── Overview (1:1)
│   ├── Tutorials (1:many)
│   ├── Reference (1:1)
│   └── Troubleshooting (1:many)
└── API
    ├── Endpoint (1:many)
    │   ├── Description
    │   ├── Parameters
    │   ├── Examples
    │   └── Errors
    └── SDK Guide (1:many)

## Content Planning Process

### Trigger Events
- New feature development
- User feedback
- Support ticket trends
- Product changes
- Competitive gaps

### Planning Activities
1. Identify content need
2. Define scope and type
3. Assign owner
4. Set timeline
5. Identify dependencies

## Content Creation Workflow

1. Research
   - Gather requirements
   - Interview SMEs
   - Review existing content

2. Outline
   - Structure content
   - Identify examples needed
   - Note screenshots/diagrams

3. Draft
   - Write initial content
   - Create visuals
   - Add code samples

4. Review
   - Technical accuracy review
   - Editorial review
   - Accessibility check

5. Publish
   - Final formatting
   - Metadata addition
   - Publication

## Content Maintenance Schedule

### Continuous
- Fix reported errors
- Update for product changes
- Address feedback

### Quarterly
- Review analytics
- Update screenshots
- Check links
- Refresh examples

### Annual
- Comprehensive accuracy review
- Reorganization assessment
- Retirement evaluation
- Major updates

## Content Retirement Process

### When to Retire
- Feature deprecated
- Content outdated
- Low traffic, low value
- Better content exists

### Retirement Steps
1. Identify candidate for retirement
2. Assess traffic and dependencies
3. Create redirect plan
4. Notify stakeholders
5. Archive content
6. Implement redirects
7. Monitor for issues

## Content Ownership

### Documentation Team
- Content strategy
- Style and standards
- Platform and tools
- Cross-product content

### Product Teams
- Feature documentation
- API documentation
- Release notes
- Technical accuracy

### Support Team
- Troubleshooting content
- FAQ updates
- User feedback

## Documentation Standards

### Style Guide
- Voice and tone
- Terminology
- Formatting conventions
- [Link to style guide]

### Templates
- Tutorial template
- Reference template
- Troubleshooting template
- [Link to templates]

### Review Checklist
- Technical accuracy
- Style compliance
- Accessibility
- SEO optimization

### Quality Criteria
- Accurate
- Complete
- Clear
- Current
- Findable

## Publishing Process

### Approval Requirements

| Content Type | Approvals Required |
|--------------|-------------------|
| New features | PM + Engineering + Editorial |
| Updates | Engineering + Editorial |
| Corrections | Editorial |
| Style changes | Style owner |

### Publication Checklist
- [ ] Required reviews complete
- [ ] Metadata accurate
- [ ] Links verified
- [ ] Images optimized
- [ ] SEO elements present
- [ ] Accessibility verified

## Documentation Team Models

### Centralized
- Single documentation team
- Serves all products
- Consistent standards
- Pros: Consistency, efficiency
- Cons: Bottleneck, product distance

### Embedded
- Writers on product teams
- Deep product knowledge
- Direct collaboration
- Pros: Speed, context
- Cons: Inconsistency, isolation

### Hybrid
- Central team + embedded writers
- Central: Strategy, standards, platform
- Embedded: Product documentation
- Pros: Balance of both
- Cons: Coordination overhead

## Content Operations Tools

### Authoring
- Documentation platform
- Version control
- Collaborative editing

### Review
- Review workflow tools
- Comment/feedback systems
- Approval tracking

### Publishing
- Static site generator
- CI/CD pipeline
- CDN delivery

### Analytics
- Usage tracking
- Search analytics
- Feedback collection

### Maintenance
- Link checking
- Content auditing
- Freshness monitoring

## Content Strategy Scorecard

### Reach
- Unique visitors: [Target]
- Page views: [Target]
- Search visibility: [Target]

### Engagement
- Time on page: [Target]
- Pages per session: [Target]
- Return visitors: [Target]

### Quality
- User feedback score: [Target]
- Accuracy rate: [Target]
- Freshness rate: [Target]

### Business Impact
- Support deflection: [Target]
- Feature adoption: [Target]
- Time to value: [Target]