Melvin Dewey invented the Dewey Decimal system in 1873 to classify and organize library books. It enabled library goers to easily find whatever book they desired by leafing through index cards in a small filing cabinet. Unfortunately, content marketing doesn’t come with a pre-existing content marketing taxonomy like the Dewey Decimal system. Too many times content marketers get asked by another employee if they have some random type of content on some random topic. What Is a Content Marketing Taxonomy?The Oxford English Dictionary defines taxonomy as “a scheme of classification.” In content marketing, that means: Content marketing taxonomy is a scheme of classification made up of titling, folder organizing, tagging, and any other way of organizing content that aides in your content marketing’s findability, content marketing strategy, and content marketing distribution. Why Is a Content Marketing Taxonomy Important?
Having an effective content marketing taxonomy isn’t just about the ‘findability’ of your content. It helps put your content strategy and goals into perspective, allowing you to ascertain content priorities based on what’s in an item’s name. It also simplifies content audits—which should be performed at least once a year. Of B2C and B2B marketers, 56 percent and 64 percent respectively admit they don’t have a documented content marketing strategy. A content marketing taxonomy aids content strategizing by organizing content in an easy-to-understand way for marketers to analyze data and gaps. A clear and concise content marketing taxonomy improves the readability of your editorial calendar. It allows all parties to know what kind of content you’re creating at a glance. Natalya Minkovsky, editor for the Content Marketing Institute’s Chief Content Officer magazine, says that:
Future Proof and Organize Your ContentA well constructed content marketing taxonomy also helps future content strategy execution. It simplifies new audience-facing strategies by allowing you to slice and dice data in multiple ways. If you already tag content based on personas and want to personalize your audience experience, a content taxonomy helps determine which content to serve to whom. A content marketing taxonomy helps determine how your website content should be organized. For example, with a well-organized taxonomy you can see which content types have the best bounce rates, click-through-rates, or time on page metrics. These insights help determine the order and flow of content on your website. Content Marketing Taxonomy Planning (With Template)When planning a content marketing taxonomy, first consider the constraints of your content marketing platform and other software for housing or planning content. Some software has preset fields to fill in for each piece of content, so missing tags have to be included in the name. Other software allows custom fields, so most tagging can happen separately, providing more opportunities for slicing data by multiple fields at once. This is what content tagging looks like for a piece of content in Curata’s content marketing platform (CMP): [SE]_ContentMarketingPlatformAnalytics_OneSheet Fields (in CMP): Consider including the following elements in a content marketing taxonomy. For Written Content
When separating by “content type” or “distribution method,” define what these mean. This way everyone dealing with the new taxonomy understands what each section means. It also ensures there aren’t duplicate fields. For instance, if someone posts all sales enablement content under [SE] but others call it sales enablement, you won’t be able to consistently find the content you’re looking for. Tracking and analytics based on this distribution method will also be incomplete or inaccurate. For Images
Tags, Categories, or TitlesOnce you’ve determined which information needs to be included in your content marketing taxonomy, decide which information should be part of the title (and where). Include what should be included as a tag, what should be included as category, and whether or not any of this information should be externally visible to help your audience find the content they need. Here’s how we determined which piece of information fits where, and why:
Externally Visible Tags and CategoriesIf your CMP forces content tags or categories to be externally visible, things can get tricky. You probably don’t want your audience to see your “BOFU” or “Content Marketing Carey” tag. At Curata we keep content in both locations to fit the individual preferences of various departments. The spreadsheet below in our Google drive is also used to find content. The taxonomy is the same, but the organization is slightly different. This allows our sales team to find our content without sorting through pieces they don’t need or learning a new taxonomy. We ultimately decided to retain this inherited format to keep things simple for sales. It also allows for easy sorting based on content type, and includes a link to the content (with tracking parameters). Having an external tagging and categorizing system as well as an internal taxonomy enriches your website’s metadata and boosts your SEO. ImplementationImplementing a new content marketing taxonomy requires change management. There are several ways to go about this—here’s what we recommend. Prior to developing a content taxonomy, assemble as diverse a team as possible to collect opinions and feedback. Content taxonomy can impact everyone from marketers to designers to engineers and salespeople. Getting their buy-in and feedback beforehand can save future headaches. Once you determine an official taxonomy, here are some simple steps to roll the program out company-wide.
A content marketing taxonomy assists with content organization, findability, content strategy, and consumption. And it sets you up for more successful content marketing plans in the future. As James Goldman of CMSwire says:
For more information on creating a content marketing strategy that works, check out Curata’s eBook on creating a content marketing strategy below. The post How to Build Your Own Content Marketing Taxonomy appeared first on Curata Blog. via Blogger How to Build Your Own Content Marketing Taxonomy
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