Content Cornerstones

'Content is King" is an undeniable truth of any Intranet. It has to be the content that the audience is looking for. If it doesn't meet a Reader’s needs or expectations then their trust may be lost and their future use of the Intranet in jeopardy.

The four Cornerstones of Content are that it must be;

Up-to-date
Correct
Relevant
Timely

You can create good foundations for these cornerstones through the initial training and on-going guidance of those responsible for delivering the content; the Content Editors.

Content Editors should be familiar with the basics of writing for web publication before they are let loose. It is just as important that they understand the expectations and responsibilities of their role. As they start out it would be a good idea to introduce them to the 4 cornerstones and to then encourage them to have these in mind when adding content.

Further encouragement to respect the cornerstones would be provided if there was the means to show who was responsible for the reliability and accuracy of content. An author should have no fear of having their name linked to content. They should take pride in what they have contributed. Authors would be assisted if there was a way of easily controlling publication dates and for automatically flagging up review dates. This would have the benefit of reducing out-of-date content, as well as ensuring that long-lived content is subject to regular reviews. A reader might like to know how popular a document is - are they reading a popular document with lots of hits, or have they blown the dust off a long forgotten document?

The accuracy of content could be assured if there was the ability for readers to comment on content, as well as the ability to easily report possible inaccuracies or errors in it. Such interaction and direct communication between author and reader will benefit both parties and drive collaboration. If a reader reports out-of-date content and then sees their action having a positive outcome it is likely to tie them in to the intranet, rather than have them spinning away hailing the perceived inadequacies of the intranet.

Content should always be written with the users in mind. A reader’s interest and the understanding they reach can be achieved through consistency and simplicity. Long words and rambling statements do not make for good content. The vocabulary and terms used in content should reflect those used by the readers. An attractive feature for a reader would be the ability for them to ‘score’ a document based on its relevance and interest. This could also inspire friendly competition amongst Content Editors to see who can achieve the highest ratings.

Information also needs to be presented on time, in fact, frequently, before time. i.e. Content that is being presented to support a product launch, or policy change should be ready to go for when the launch or change is announced. It should be there at the forefront rather than following on hours, or even days behind. Content also needs to be titled and tagged so that it easy to find, with the minimum of fuss or user-effort. Efficiencies can be gained through finding information quickly. Research from the IDC found that 40% of employees report that they cannot find the information they need to do their job.

So, Content is King, and it has 4 cornerstones, can you be sure those who add content to your intranet are ensuring that they are delivering information that is; Up-to-date, Correct, Timely and Relevant?