On Becoming a Content Strategist
The Path To Self-Realization
The conversations were sometimes awkward, often frustrating and always an interesting exercise. There, sitting across from friends, interviewers, colleagues, or acquaintances, I would attempt to wind my way through the components of my hybridized resume. I would begin with my love of writing and words, show the arts magazine I had launched, throw in a master’s degree in communications, discuss editorial strategy in the digital realm, and close with my accruing experience in information architecture. The result of these loquacious exchanges often left the object of my explanation looking rather exhausted but not any closer to understanding my area of expertise. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. I knew what I did, I had a grasp on my talents, and dang it all if I wasn’t a good communicator! Well, then, what was so hard about explaining it? The problem seemed to be that although I had acquired skills in several different communications disciplines, what I considered my greatest ability wasn’t one of these skills taken individually, but rather, the ability to apply them in the context of a larger, holistic approach to creating meaningful user experience. This just wasn’t an easy thing to tie up into a neat little package. Certainly, my explanations weren’t living up to the marketing maxim of selling your product in a sentence or less, even if the product, in this case, was me. I needed a way to put it together in a manageable form; a title that fit me…but was there such a title out there? Well, just as I was about to abandon my clearly useless subconscious and consciously ask myself that question…
… it happened. Or I should say, they happened. Two simple words that provided the clarity I had been seeking and awakened me to a moment of great self-discovery.
Here’s how it transpired: I recently moved back to Austin and eager to get networking, I was introduced by a friend to a young woman who works at a rather innovative advertising agency here in the downtown area. We agreed to meet for coffee and entered into what I thought was a wonderful conversation discussing my background, skills and yes, ideas on an appropriate title to wrap it all together. She listened intently, asked engaging questions, and though I may have been on one of my circuitous spiels, by the end of our conversation she seemed to have an excellent grasp of my skills and experience. Later that day, she was kind enough to email me and say she had discussed our conversation with some of her colleagues and from what they had cumulatively gathered, the title that best seemed to fit me was that of a Content Strategist. Whoa…wait a minute, what was this? Content Strategist?! I had never heard the title before but as soon as I read those two words, it just felt right. I began diving in to the literature and the more I read the more excited I became because it WAS right! Throw in a eureka, a light bulb, or any other epiphanic cliche. I had found it. All of a sudden things made sense, as if an old friend had entered my life for the first time, and the path to my future had been opened before me, set into glorious motion.
Sweet, Sweet Double-Irony
I don’t think I risk too much by suggesting that no one claiming the title of content strategist started out life as a content strategist. It’s a journey of self-discovery: “Oh, so that’s what I do!” – R. Stephen Gracey, Content Strategy is an Act of Love
Let me say this: Although, I understand it is a rather helpful component of modern life, I am not a big fan of labeling myself. I always do so with a bit of trepidation. I certainly won’t go around calling myself something I am not. The irony then that it was a title (a little taxonomy) that provided this revelation. Therein lies the beauty. I feel completely comfortable with the title of Content Strategist because it’s more than accurate. It was amazing to read Rachel Lovinger’s What Makes a Content Strategist? and be able to check off each one of the listed attributes as if it had been written about me. After reading Mr. Gracey’s quote above, I quickly realized that everything I had done in the field of communications, for better or for worse, had led me to this moment. Indeed, although I have only been using the title of Content Strategist for a few weeks now, it has been a lifetime in the making. I also imagine that there are many stories like mine happening around the world. I immediately felt a sense of kinship realizing that there was a burgeoning community of Content Strategists already out there and many more to be discovered. Is it an evolution? A revolution? Perhaps, in the future we will be locked in conversations where we ask the questions: Do you remember where you were when you had your first kiss? Found out there was no Tooth Fairy? Discovered you were a Content Strategist? What a relief then to finally be able to verbalize it in just two little words. Brilliant. Of course, here is where the irony really begins because it’s out of the frying pan into the pot. Now, when I tell people I am a Content Strategist will they know what I mean? Whew, here we go again…but this is the fun part because well, that’s what this site is all about…
Here for a Reason
Mr. Gracey says in his same article that “the path to becoming a content strategist begins with love—the love of content.” I think he is correct in his implication, for no matter what discipline you consider the starting point on your path to Content Strategy this “love” is the tie that binds us. This an exciting time. An important time. Content is meaning and and it defines how we make sense of the world. For the Content Strategist, whether hopeful, budding or seasoned, we are all given the great opportunity to help define and shape a field that has implications far beyond the moment. Right now, we are speaking about content in the digital realm but in what future vessel might content be held? To be certain, no matter what shape the urn may take, the Content Strategist will be instrumental in determining how we experience this content. If steered correctly and efficiently then, the implications for content are boundless. With this in mind, I leave a personal definition:
Johnston’s Definition of Content Strategy: Content Strategy is the planning, implementation and execution of content (or data) within a specific interactive context using a holistic approach applied to a series of disparate communicative disciplines at whatever percentage is necessary to fully maximize the efficiency and usability of the content within that context.
On that note, I do not purport to be an authority in the field of Content Strategy but rather, a person very hungry to shape the discipline. For me personally, definitions will not be enough. It goes without saying, that I humbly stand on the shoulders of the Content Strategists who have been and are currently paving the way forward in the discipline, for without them, I would clearly not be writing here. Having said that, I don’t want to go about these notes with a reticence that could undermine the possibility for beneficial dialogue. I will do my very best to impart my thoughts with honesty, grace and deference but at times I will most certainly be wrong or change my mind a time or ten. This, alas, is part of the journey, but I will always do so with respect and good humor. To that point, any conjectures made herein are my thoughts and my thoughts alone.
How is Content Strategy relevant? What is its place in our world? How will it be shaped in the future? How can we as Content Strategists elicit our value? These are all questions I hope we can answer through examination of the social, theoretical, philosophical, and practical implications of creating useful interactive experiences in the digital world or any context that may materialize in our future. Thus, it is my sincerest of hopes to provide a forum of symbiotic discussion that will help promote the growth and understanding of Content Strategy (and related disciplines), and that through this process we may all learn a bit more about ourselves and shape of things to come. I look forward to it.
All the best,
Johnston
P.S. Stay tuned for the coming series, The Holistic Specialist, featuring appearances by Spiderman, Leonardo Da Vinci and Bruce Lee!
