Publishers are in the fortunate position to be able to communicate at a number of different levels through various channels, but what should be crystal clear is that all of them require different types of content.
This was brought home to me recently when I studied the information put out from a major public-facing organisation. Their website was very worthy with valuable, in-depth content, but all of it was difficult to find. Users were complaining of it being too 'corporate'. By contrast, their Tweets did not carry enough value, i.e. clear facts or useful links. Both platforms were important contact points with their audience, but neither was being used in quite the right way.
These challenges are easily overcome when the publisher introduces new ways of producing content. Changing a website from corporate to friendly can be started through simple changes to copy tone, choice of images, and the way in which readers can interact through comments.
Likewise, Tweets can be improved through use of a basic checklist:
Is the Tweet informative?
Is it of genuine interest to followers?
What information can a follower take away or RT?
More importantly however, the publisher needs to ensure that all concerned understand why the content needs to be treated differently. And this is where segmentation comes in.
By happy coincidence I attended a fantastic presentation on this by Gina Banns of Oxford Strategic Marketing, at Civil Service Live. I had always thought of segmentation as a scientific process that was useful in selling a product or service to a customer, by justifying a communications tool.
This back-to-basics presentation showed me that it is also a great way to help your colleagues understand their audience.
I will be putting this into practice shortly and will keep you posted on the results...
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