Recently, I was invited to speak at a conference for business journal publishers faced with a challenge all too familiar for print publications: How do we adapt and stay relevant in an ever-increasing digital world?
As part of the presentation, I laid out a framework to help shape publishers’ digital content strategy in a multi-screen world. I will go through the framework (Content TEPP) further down in this post.
Check out my full presentation here:
The digital revolution is inevitable. There is no turning back. The rise of smartphones, tablets, connected devices and the pervasiveness of social media means print will continue to decline. That doesn’t mean print will die (in fact, print is somewhat experiencing a come-back), but its importance and purpose will certainly change. Print will not be the end-all but one of many “screens.”
Depending on whom you address the digital revolution is either already here, or it’s fast approaching. And that’s the main challenge; we have two audiences to serve:
- The Digital Immigrants: The current audience of baby boomers currently enjoying a printed product but slowly getting used to the digital world
- The Digital Natives. (Hopefully) the future audience of young Gen X and Millenials who have never picked up a newspaper and instead grew up connected to the world via the Internet.
These two audiences consume media differently and they have different motivations and interests. Porting over your print content and “experience” to digital might work as an interim “migration strategy”, but it won’t cut it as a long term strategy attracting a new audience.
(For more details on this topic, check out Earl Wilkinson’s blog, where he, based on my presentation, muses over the differences between Natives and Immigrants)
Content TEPP: A digital content framework for a multi-screen world
With the Natives and Immigrants in mind and the realization that media consumption behaviors have changed, here’s a digital content framework for a multi-screen world:
Type
Deciding on what type of content to produce is the most important part of your strategy. Of course. Forget mobile, forget digital and print. Your job is to deliver valuable content to your target audience, regardless of channel. Are the interests of Digital Immigrants and Digital Natives the same? Can your current content attract a new audience with vastly different interests? And how do you attract a new audience with new content without alienating your current audience?
Environment
Considering all the different screens, we need to understand the situation and context of our users. Then deliver and optimize content accordingly. It’s very different to sit down with a printed product and leaning back with a cup of coffee in the morning as compared to sitting on a bus with your smartphone and five minutes to spare.
Pace
Digital Natives want the right content at the right time. At their pace and on their schedule. Think about how many times you check your digital devices every day. Digital metabolism is much higher than print. The expectation is you’ll be updated, informed and entertained every time, whether you have five minutes or an hour to spare.
Packaging
Considering the Type, Enviroment and Pace, how do we package it all up for different screens while taking advantage of new digital tools not available in the analog world? Does the way we deliver content live up to the very high expectations of Digital Natives?
For a deeper dive, check out the case studies on Forbes, Yahoo News Digest and more in my presentation and learn how the Content TEPP framework applies in real-life.
