Term of the Week: Content Analysis

Why does a content strategist need to know this?

A successful content strategy requires exemplary content. Use the content analysis as an opportunity to identify and prepare content that audiences will use and trust to meet the defined business requirements.

A content analysis is a tactical, qualitative editorial activity that supports the content strategy with essential information about the content in use. Starting with the content inventory and content audit, content analysis examines high-value assets in an inventory to determine if they meet content standards for audience, reading level, voice, tense, diction, punctuation, spelling, style, and consistent terminology.

Content analysis aims to identify where content is used and reused, what publication types exist, whether the content is accurate, whether the content is essential or may be eliminated, and whether the content needs to be rewritten, assigned content attributes and attribute values, or given metadata for search. Analysis will help you classify the content type and determine if your content is structured appropriately.

If translation is in scope, content analysis can help you determine if an asset has been translated. All changes to content in one language must be carried though to translations. The content analysis, along with the revised content, provides translators with clear content requirements.

After satisfying all the action items identified in the analysis, content is registered in the content matrix for full implementation. This essential activity helps standardize content, deliver content that will enhance the user experience, provide content quality management measurements, help meet business goals, reduce overall implementation costs, and provide a full spectrum of content quality examples.