Adventures in Content Strategy
"Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing." Benjamin Franklin
Microcopy, as defined by Nick Babich of UX Planet, “is the term for the small bits of copy on a apps’s interface that help users do ‘stuff’.” Microcopy is the same as copy. However, it is differentiated from long-form because too often it is overlooked. What not many people recognize is that microcopy does more…
Sara Zailskas Walsh recently made a solid case for content testing. Here’s a blurb from her Medium article that summarizes the benefits: “How Does Content Testing Help Design? Here are three big benefits: It helps designers establish the framework for our conversations with customers. It helps designers understand the words we need to use so customers understand…
“Triggered” might just be the word of the year. It’s showing up in political discussions, on college campuses, in relation to gender equality, rape culture, military history, suicidal fears, domestic abuse, racial slurs, sexual abuse, and the list goes on. But triggers have another meaning in healthcare, and it’s relevant for those working in patient…
“There exists a new upper class that’s completely disconnected from the average white American and American culture at large, argues Charles Murray, a libertarian political scientist and author.” –Do You Live in a Bubble? (PBS) I live in a bubble. I have a career I chose and love. My friends are informed and enjoy political…
Last year, the team at GatherContent gave a wonderful holiday present to the content strategy community: a GatherContent Advent Calendar. The calendar offered a new, 5 minute video each day from a content strategist offering advice. This year they’ve continued the GatherContent Advent Calendar. And I’m excited to share my contribution to the tradition. My GatherContent…
I recently received an email from a company advertising their product. It was addressed “Dear Goddess.” When we look at examples of emails, site copy, and other content, this is the type of microcopy that makes us smile. We think “that’s so daring!” and “Fantastic that they know their audience so well.” Guess what my reaction…
I can’t recommend Contagious, by Jonah Berger, enough. Very few books get a 5 star rating from me. 5 stars, to me, means this book was so fantastic that I want to own it, so that I can reread it again and again. The few books that do get this rating tend to be classics…
