Building and supporting your content strategy team - Confab 2018

What makes a content strategy practice successful—not just at the individual level, but at the team level? If you are working as a manager or a project lead, how can you empower content strategists to do their best work?

Learn how to advocate for a thorough, quality-minded approach to your team's work. Understand how to help your team feel confident and supported, so they can share their expertise and extend their influence throughout an organization.

Transcript

1. Building and supporting your
   content strategy team
   MARISSA PHILLIPS / MAY 2018 / CONFAB
   

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4. Empower your team
   

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5. Set the foundation: Your team
   needs a mission, values, and a
   strong voice.
   

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6. Set the foundation: Your team
   needs a mission, values, and a
   strong voice.
   Create frameworks: Clarify roles,
   build out your style guide, and
   share best practices.
   

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7. Set the foundation: Your team
   needs a mission, values, and a
   strong voice.
   Create frameworks: Clarify roles,
   build out your style guide, and
   share best practices.
   Tell your story: Educate partners,
   stay top of mind, and create
   community.
   

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8. Set the foundation
   

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9. Set the foundation
   Articulate your mission
   Decide what your values are
   Define your voice
   

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10. Describe us in
    three words
    What’s our
    mission and
    what do we
    stand for?
    

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11. Describe us in
    three words
    What’s going
    well?
    What’s our
    mission and
    what do we
    stand for?
    

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12. Describe us in
    three words
    What’s going
    well?
    What’s not
    working?
    What’s our
    mission and
    what do we
    stand for?
    

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13. What’s going
    well?
    What’s not
    working?
    What makes
    us stand out?
    Describe us in
    three words
    What’s our
    mission and
    what do we
    stand for?
    

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14. What’s going
    well?
    What’s not
    working?
    What makes
    us stand out?
    Describe us in
    three words
    What’s our
    biggest
    opportunity?
    What’s our
    mission and
    what do we
    stand for?
    

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15. What’s going
    well?
    What’s not
    working?
    What makes
    us stand out?
    Describe us in
    three words
    What’s our
    biggest
    opportunity?
    What’s our
    mission and
    what do we
    stand for?
    What will we
    accomplish
    next year?
    

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18. Be a guide
    Use a consistent voice to guide
    and support people through
    their experiences.
    Be real
    Honest, open, and genuine
    language strengthens
    relationships and sets the tone
    for real-world interactions.
    Be inclusive
    The words we use account for
    diversity in people’s situations,
    languages, and abilities.
    Team values
    

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20. Voice
    

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21. Heartfelt
    Curious
    Inspiring
    

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25. Straightforward Inclusive
    Thoughtful Spirited
    

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26. Straightforward Inclusive
    Thoughtful Spirited
    

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27. Empowering Inclusive
    Thoughtful Spirited
    

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28. Let’s get you ready to host. Show off your
    space
    You got this!
    Empowering
    

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29. …you can still browse the site …you can
    always sign up again
    Leave the door open for everyone
    Inclusive
    

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30. …we have some ideas for your trip to
    London
    Provide relevant info when people can
    actually use it
    Thoughtful
    

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31. Treat your taste buds…
    Be lighthearted, expressive, and fun
    Spirited
    

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32. Create frameworks
    

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33. Create frameworks
    Clarify your role
    Build out your style guide
    Share best practices
    

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34. What do people
    expect from
    me?
    How am I
    measured?
    What should I
    focus on?
    Where do I go
    from here?
    What does it mean
    to be a leader on
    this team?
    

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35. Skills
    UI Writing Leadership
    Content Strategy Communication
    Design & UX Collaboration
    Product Influence Growth Mindset
    

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36. Growth
    Senior
    Mid Career
    Developing
    Early Career
    Narrow scope
    May need
    editing
    Developing
    design intuition
    

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37. Growth
    Senior
    Mid Career
    Developing
    Early Career
    Independence,
    larger projects
    More content
    strategy
    Solid
    partnerships
    

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38. Growth
    Senior
    Mid Career
    Developing
    Early Career
    Defining content
    strategy needs
    and deliverables
    Mentoring
    Becoming a
    leader
    

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39. Growth
    Senior
    Mid Career
    Developing
    Early Career
    Leading projects
    and team
    initiatives
    Sought out for
    design and
    product thinking
    

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40. Actively participating
    Contributing to team resources
    Mentoring and supporting
    Sharing templates and knowledge
    Leadership
    Leading trainings and planning events
    Building our practice and maintaining our culture
    

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41. How are you contributing to the
    practice of content strategy at this
    company?
    

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42. 1. Content Strategy
    2. Design Organization
    3. Products/Projects
    4. Company
    Teams
    

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43. Team priorities
    Localization Culture
    Training
    Recruiting
    Standards Craft
    

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44. Our Team in 2018
    Build a brand
    Be the experts on content
    Focus on strategy
    

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45. How we want to be seen
    Inclusive
    Bold
    Shape the conversation
    Care about quality
    Holistic
    Empathetic
    Problem-solvers
    Business impact
    Build the brand: crafting an elevator pitch
    

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46. What they said
    “Focus on what’s different…”
    “Sell yourselves more.”
    “It doesn’t say much. It’s what
    you’d write on any generic
    resume.”
    “What surprises me most is
    they all feel a little like
    marketing speak. How would
    you describe this to a friend or a
    parent?”
    Build the brand: crafting an elevator pitch
    

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47. We’re experts on what to say
    and when to say it.
    We develop a point of view by
    understanding the needs of
    Airbnb and the people who
    use it. Then we shape product
    experiences with content –
    from style guidelines to button
    text – that’s consistent,
    inclusive, and impactful.
    Build the brand: crafting an elevator pitch
    

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48. Be the experts on content: publishing our content standards
    

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50. Be the experts on content: publishing our content standards
    

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51. Focus on strategy: our first content strategy sprint
    Start with content
    

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52. Focus on strategy: our first content strategy sprint
    What’s Airbnb?
    We have homes
    and experiences
    over the world!
    OK…but is it
    safe?
    

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53. Focus on strategy: our first content strategy sprint
    Guest Messaging Framework
    Value propositions
    Answers to fundamental questions
    like, What’s Airbnb and is it safe?
    Key messages and terms
    

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54. To really focus on strategy, we needed to
    equip our managers.
    

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55. Our approach
    Growing and scaling our team
    Strong managing team
    You should get a consistent experience
    from every manager on the team.
    Focus on fewer things
    Instead of straddling teams, lets align
    with our cross-functional peers and go
    deep in one product area.
    Shared context
    Your manager should be close to your
    work and your product team.
    Proactive communication with
    partners
    Make sure people know who their CS
    POCs are.
    Clear growth paths
    Individual contributors have a path
    besides managing - they can become
    leads. Managers have a clear path, too.
    More stability
    Stay with your team long enough to
    develop expertise in your area.
    Managing Philosophy & Structure
    

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56. • Process
    • Prioritization
    • Time management
    • Saying no
    • Building strong partnerships
    • Creating templates
    Best practices
    

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57. Process
    Prioritization
    Time management
    Saying no
    Partnerships
    Templates
    

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58. Process
    Prioritization
    Time management
    Saying no
    Partnerships
    Templates
    Content strategy critique
    

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60. Process
    Prioritization
    Time management
    Saying no
    Partnerships
    Templates
    

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61. Process
    Prioritization
    Time management
    Saying no
    Partnerships
    Templates
    Control your calendar
    Give yourself uninterrupted blocks of time. Take time
    on Mondays to adjust priorities for the week.
    

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62. Process
    Prioritization
    Time management
    Saying no
    Partnerships
    Templates
    Avoid meeting overload
    Ask yourself if you really need to be there. If you’re
    working during a meeting, it’s not a good use of time.
    

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63. Process
    Prioritization
    Time management
    Saying no
    Partnerships
    Templates
    Block out your days
    Try to have all your meetings for a given project on
    the same day - that way you avoid context switching.
    

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64. Process
    Prioritization
    Time management
    Saying no
    Partnerships
    Templates
    Take breaks
    Go outside and take a walk, catch up with someone
    over coffee, or find other ways to recharge.
    

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65. Process
    Prioritization
    Time management
    Saying no
    Partnerships
    Templates
    No, but…
    I can get it to you at a later date
    I have a template you can use
    I can ask our support content strategist
    I can provide guidelines and edit
    I can consult for an hour
    I’ll check with our central content team
    

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66. Process
    Prioritization
    Time management
    Saying no
    Partnerships
    Templates
    The Central Content Support Team
    Who we are
    We’re a small group of content strategists dedicated to helping
    our embedded team members do their best strategic thinking by
    taking on work they can’t cover and stepping in to service
    unsupported product teams with all their content needs.
    What we can help with
    - UX content
    - Email
    - Editorial
    - Brand and copywriting
    - and more!
    

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67. Process
    Prioritization
    Time management
    Saying no
    Partnerships
    Templates
    

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68. Process
    Prioritization
    Time management
    Saying no
    Partnerships
    Templates
    Know your
    POC
    Figure out how
    each of you likes
    to work.
    Involve us
    early
    We can be more
    strategic if we’re
    there for the
    kick-off.
    Give us time to
    explore
    Sometimes we
    need to go off
    our own to
    write.
    Share concrete
    feedback
    Start with the
    problem or
    issue, and offer
    specific
    suggestions.
    Build trust
    Rely on us as
    core members
    of your team,
    and recognize
    contributions.
    Collaborating with content strategists
    

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69. Process
    Prioritization
    Time management
    Saying no
    Partnerships
    Templates
    

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70. Tell your story
    

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71. Tell your story
    Educate partners
    Stay top of mind
    Create community
    

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72. Creating a Language
    of Belonging
    

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86. Set the foundation: Your team
    needs a mission, values, and a
    strong voice.
    Create frameworks: Clarify roles,
    build out your style guide, and
    share best practices.
    Tell your story: Educate partners,
    stay top of mind, and create
    community.
    

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88. Thank you!
    marissa.phillips@airbnb.com
    

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