Boring content? It doesn’t have to go down like that

mlns='> Learn to love content construction [View Message in Browser]( / [Add Us to Safe Sender List]( Weekly News 11.18.22 Connect With CMI You won’t see this email in your inbox next week as the CMI team celebrates the Thanksgiving holiday. We’ll return with new stories and more from Robert Rose on December 2.  [The New Chief Content Officer: Why the Job Description Must Change]( Content leadership today covers more than marketing. The chief content officer (regardless of the actual title) guides the content that makes up every experience a customer, audience member, or prospect has with your brand. Use this updated job description to find the right leader – or as a guide to becoming one. [Read more]( By Robert Rose More of the week's best stuff: - [CMI News: Everyone’s Loudly Quitting Twitter – But Who’s Leaving?]( By Robert Rose - [3 Top Content Marketing Challenges in Manufacturing [New Research]]( Lisa Murton Beets - [How To Build an Audience by Giving Back – the #BossTalks Story]( Ann Gynn - [How To Make Thought Leadership Content Thoughtful and Leading]( Greg Levinsky - [How a Spoonful of Story Helps Even ‘Boring’ Content Go Down [Rose-Colored Glasses]]( by Robert Rose  Boring content? It doesn’t have to go down like that Content practitioners create a spectrum of creative content. Some – like thought leadership e-books, entertaining videos, or customer stories – are seemingly filled with storytelling opportunities. Then, there are the more process-oriented pieces – standards, guidelines, how-to instructions, and other initiatives that relay valuable information. Though necessary, these “constructed” pieces are rarely considered a place to stretch the creative legs. I’ve discussed [the differences between these content sets before]( using my favorite quote from G.K. Chesterton’s critique of Charles Dickens’s novel, The Pickwick Papers: “The whole difference between construction and creation is exactly this: that a thing constructed can only be loved after it is constructed; but a thing created is loved before it exists.” That distinction speaks directly to the excitement of creating interesting pieces vs. the satisfaction that comes after constructing something that turns out to be useful. Most content creators prefer creating the former. I suggested in that original post that leaders make sure talented creators get the chance to do both: “All writers write. But not all writing is writing. I’ve never met any content creator happy with constructing content as their sole activity.” But I missed the opportunity to highlight an additional nuance: that it is possible to approach construction projects with the love you feel during creation. I should have concluded the article this way: “All writers write – and not all writing is writing. But it can be.” I recently worked with a professional services firm to improve the storytelling structure of their digital content. Teams from different disciplines participated, and we went through various content formats, including social posts, white papers, press releases, web pages, and even recruitment campaigns. Our goal: Look at the story structure in each piece and see how we might change it. One of the content practitioners submitted a draft of a process guide explaining the policies of how, when, and which content gets deleted from the company’s intranet. It turned out to be my favorite asset to work on. As you might expect, the initial draft was pretty dry. It opened with a guide to the contents. Then, in a logical outline, it explained the rules for automatic content sunsetting and how the content owner could avoid automatic deletion (i.e., by editing the content before the expiration date or indicating it shouldn’t be deleted). Exciting stuff. No, really. As we discussed the piece, we all realized the meaningful reason behind the guide’s creation: Outdated content makes the intranet less valuable. We started talking about injecting emotion and a point of view into the piece. In other words, we could sell this process and the right way of managing content on the intranet. We discussed including “ingredients” that would make more people care about reading this document. We could raise the stakes, establish tension, and make an adventure out of keeping the intranet valuable for the organization. We used the [story package framework]( which separates the elements of the story structure by layers according to the overall objective. In [Rose-Colored Glasses]( this week, I explain the four objective categories of this framework and the ingredients that go into each one. I also share how to use it to craft constructed content that doesn’t just serve as an educational tool for your audience – it becomes a creative endeavor that energizes and excites your creative team, too. I’m eager to hear what you think of the framework and whether it helps make constructing content feel more like creating content. Send me [an email](mailto:cmi_info@informa.com?subject=Rose-Colored%20Glasses) or leave a comment on [the article page](. Not every piece of business content is worth this much effort. But I’d argue more are worthy than we usually allow. Whether you’re creating it or just constructing it, remember: It’s your story. Tell it well. Robert Rose Chief Strategy Advisor Content Marketing Institute Do you have colleagues or friends who would benefit from Robert's weekly updates? If so, please invite them to [subscribe]( here.   Sponsored Content Did You Know It Takes Less Than 15 Minutes To Build an Online Store? In 15 minutes or less, Jason Falls (entrepreneur, podcaster, influencer, and digital marketing expert) can walk you through every step of setting up your online business website on Squarespace/Wix. Watch the easiest site-building tutorial on YouTube. [Go to video]( [»](   The Art of Reusing Content The world’s most engaging brands have mastered the art of content reuse. See how their creative teams are reusing content to create impactful and creative marketing campaigns. [Get inspired »](  15 Metrics for Content Success You Can’t Ignore In this information-packed discussion, Brian Kavanaugh shares the 15 metrics he recommends you track as part of the content creation lifecycle. Listen in as he shares the data points you should measure to track success during the three stages - creation, management, and distribution. [Watch now »](   More from CMI Gift Yourself a Year of Learning As the year comes to a close, arm yourself with new learnings, fresh perspectives, and a framework to set your 2023 on the right course to advance your practice of content marketing. Enroll now for Content Marketing University and you’ll receive 12-month on-demand access to an extensive curriculum designed to take your strategy to the next level in the new year. [Explore the curriculum >>](   Watch Now: How Gen Z Uses TikTok to “Google” TikTok is the fastest-growing social media site ever. What does that mean for content marketers? In this week’s edition of our Ask the #CMWorld Community livestream, Amanda sat down with Adrienne Sheares, owner of ViviMae Labs, to chat about the new search trends involving TikTok and what content marketers need to consider if they want to get in on the action. If you missed the live interview, catch up now. [Watch video >>](  [VIDEO & VISUAL CONTENT RESOURCES](  Events [Content Marketing World]( [ContentTECH Summit]( [Content Marketing Awards]( Resources [Research]( [White Paper/eBook Library]( [Content VIPs]( [CMI Business Directory]( Education [Content Marketing University]( [Chief Content Officer]( [Webinars]( [Job Listings]( Interested in advertising with CMI? [Learn more.]( To stop receiving future Content Marketing Institute update emails, please respond [here](. Copyright © 2022 Informa Connect, All rights reserved Content Marketing Institute, an Informa Connect brand 605 3rd Ave | New York | NY 10158 [Terms of Service]( | [Privacy Statement]( [informa tech]