For the Content Hungry: The Eat Media Blog

I missed my second SVA Dot.Dot.Dot lecture in a row—shame on me. In this latest lecture the glorious ID, Jason Santa Maria goes over the logistics of print and web and the discusses the relationships between the two.

—Ian

Top 10 Things We Love About Our New Office

1)  An easy 20 min drive to Union Square or a 30 min express train to Grand Central Station.

2)  In person collaborations with our outrageously talented network of freelancers are more frequent.

3)  The orange couch fits, barely.

4) From our window, we can see the Hudson River/Palisades, the NYC skyline and the remarkably kind Parking Control Officers.

5)  The Hastings-on-Hudson train station sells superb coffee and pastries from Balthazar.

6)  Seth Godin is our (supposed) neighbor. (We have begun The SethCount to document sightings. Current count = 2.)

7)  There are no chain or fast food restaurants in the entire village of Hastings-on-Hudson.

8)  Commuter watching/Not commuting.

9) Our office used to be the extended dining room for Buffet de la Gare — the top rated French restaurant in Westchester County.

10) It’s New York not Florida.

*Bonus 11) The volunteer Fire Alarm siren always adds a little auditory pizzazz to conference calls.

—Ian

Web people just loooove Zappos.com.

I’m an avid online shopper and a lover of all things shoes, yet I’ve never bought in to the Zappos hype. Why? Here’s why.

Most popular women’s sandals on Zappos.com:

As a new mother of two, I’m one bad click away from Keens, Danskos and “FitFlops.” I don’t need any encouragement.

Meanwhile, over at Piperlime, the trusty “comfy and cute” search option offers me this:

Which means Piperlime wants to make sure I don’t show up on the next episode of What Not to Wear.

And I appreciate that.

When it comes to fashion, I don’t want to wade through all the Teva look-alikes to find the good stuff. Because truthfully, I don’t trust myself to make good decisions. I need somebody to present some carefully edited items and say, “Here. These are your options.”

Because if you spend too much time looking at Keens, Danskos and “FitFlops,” you start to think, “Well these ones aren’t so bad…”

—Britta

A few weeks ago, we sent a survey out to top digital agencies and design firms—companies we consider to be smart thinkers, trailblazers or just plain awesome. Results are in, and we wanted to share them with you. Shout out to all who responded.

Current Content Needs

• 82% selected content strategy as a current need, followed by ongoing content development at 65% and social media measurement/strategy a close third at 61%.

Staff or Vendors

• 29% have content strategists/content developers on staff. 35% use a mix of freelance/contract and in-house talent. 31% use a third-party vendor or contract strategists.

Content Schmategist

• For those not using content strategists, 42% thought writers could/should handle this function. 29% were concerned about finding a content strategist with relevant domain experience. And 15% weren’t sure how content strategy would improve their work.

Agency Report Card

• Overall, 41% thought there was room for improvement regarding content strategy in their organization. 35% found they were able to meet client requests. 12% admitted they were behind the 8-ball.

Where CSs Need to Improve

• 59% wished content strategists had a better understanding of business. 35% felt content strategists should have a better handle on UX.

What a Little CS Will Get You

• A comprehensive content strategy plan was selected by 71% as a content strategist’s primary deliverable. 29% weren’t sure what a comprehensive content strategy looked like. 53% selected a CMS assessment as a content strategist’s responsibility.

To Whom it May Concern

• Of the companies we surveyed, hiring content strategists is primarily handled by Creative, with Project Management a close second.

Other Content Needs

• 86% selected ongoing content (audio, video, editorial) as an upcoming need. 58% needed content for large websites. 71% have eNewsletter content needs around the corner.

Interesting to Note

• SEO was only mentioned twice in the (*=other) category.
• Mobile content was only mentioned once.
• The iPad was not mentioned at all.

This survey reinforces our thinking that content strategy and content development should be always be linked. Additionally content strategy as a practice is not just about copy writing but encompasses a much broader skill-set. Questions about this survey, or other industry trends you like us to hunt down? — trends@eatmedia.net

—Ian

I’m a continuing education junkie. Ever since college, I’ve had a goal of taking at least one class each “semester.”

That worked out especially well when I was fresh out of school and working in advertising in NY. The options were endless, and my company footed most of the bill. I took portfolio-building classes at School of Visual Arts, teaching English as a second language at New School for Social Research, fiction classes through Gotham Writer’s Workshops, summer writing sessions at Sarah Lawrence. I took Susan Shapiro’s legendary “How to Write for New York City magazines and Newspapers” at the New School (she started the class by handing out a three inch thick stack of articles her former students had published as a direct result of taking her class. Talk about a selling point). Then I tried online courses—creative nonfiction through Naropa Institute, travel writing and a bunch of others through MediaBistro.

When the market tanked and I got laid off, I did what any reasonable person would do—I let the government lend me money while I got a Master of Fine Arts in Fiction. (And surprisingly, I use the skills I gained from that degree every single day.)

In the past five years, I’ve been too busy rebuilding a 1920’s cottage, growing a business and having babies to take classes. These life ventures have commanded all my research hours. But I’m happy to say I’m back on track, and this time I’m taking something I’ve never done before.

Tennis.

I am a complete tennis novice. The first day of class, I felt like a ridiculous tennis bunny imposter walking out of my house in my little getup and the racquet I dug out of the basement slung over my shoulder.

I’m such a novice that one of my hour-long lessons consisted solely of my instructor trying to show me how to throw a ball straight up for a serve. “Put the ball in your fingers like this…” My excuse for this pathetic lack of ball manipulation skills is that I was never allowed to do sports or dance or art in school because I was so busy kicking ass on the violin. But anyway.

In today’s lesson, after the miserable faux pas of whacking the ball into the players’ court next to mine—FIVE TIMES, and getting run ragged by a set of forehand topspin/backhand drills, the instructor left me with a little gem.

“It’s never about your opponent,” he said. “It’s only about the ball. Once that ball crosses over to your side of the net, it’s about what the ball is going to do, and nothing else. All you have to worry about is getting that ball back over the net.”

As I drove back to my desk all revved up and flush-faced, thinking about the challenges I needed to solve before picking up the little ones from school, that line really sat with me.

It’s never about the opponent. It’s only about the ball. It’s about getting that ball back over the net with the best form possible—no matter what condition it was in when it landed in your court.

—Britta