A content-first approach is relevant to both UX and social strategy

Bas Evers talked about the importance of a content-first approach to customer experience (CX) and user experience (UX) design process  at The Web and Beyond 2012 conference held on Sept. 26, 2012 in Amsterdam. Despite the central role content plays in the touchpoint design process, it is easily overlooked and often becomes incidental rather than intentional to design and business.  One of the references he used in his presentation is from Scott Abel’s post: ” I’d Like a Little Relevant Content With My Responsive Design, Please”.

Scott Abel:
“”It is acceptable to assess your organization’s content requirements and embark on a strategy of producing indifferent content cheaply,” O’Keefe writes. “However, you should do so only after actually analyzing your content requirements. The vast majority of organizations have not thought through the implications of their laissez-faire attitude.””

“Jumping on the responsive web design bandwagon before developing a formal, repeatable content strategy, and ensuring it is connected to your content delivery mechanisms means you have not thought through the process”

I agree with this. Analysing content requirements is essential not only for issues in design strategy and device accessibility, but also for crafting social engagement strategy. Content is your currency for engagement. You shape conversations on your different social networks based on the content you and others create. These conversations impact, in turn, the quality and depth of engagement with your social networks.

Before attempting to address design and device issues with responsive web design, you must first have a content AND engagement strategy. This provides the right framework for creating responsive web design. Simply put, this assures you that scaling your content to fit different devices will not result in a decreased quality of user experience and engagement. What’s the point of making content more accessible to more devices and users (in short, spending on it) if it has lost its usefulness and relevance?