 My name is Farid Haravath and I've been a writer, okay, writer, only a writer and I'm taking a topic of content strategy, but I've been a writer for around seven and a half years, six and a half or seven and a half years, but I've been working for ten years in the corporate world and I've been writer as long as I can remember, but as the industry progressed, we had to adapt and we had to take this word content really seriously. So every presentation not supposed to start with anything negative but I am going to do that because I'm a rebel. I do not like the word content and I will tell you why. So yeah, I'll just give a bit of brief of why I do not like content. I've been working as a content writer for a long time and then later I worked as a content strategist, okay, literally I had that designation and I still find it so confusing and as I said I'm a writer, my role as a strategist at that time was writing, but right now in 2019 you're not just supposed to be a writer, you have to be really an ideating person. So that is difficult. So me when I think of myself as someone who is in the industry finds it so confusing, how can aspiring content people really make it? So I will tell you exactly why it is confusing. So before that I want this to be really interactive because or else I'll be keep on talking and you will just sleep and I don't want that and you know why I say that you're gonna sleep because I've slept. So yes, I would love to if even if I'm talking and if you have a question just raise your hand and I will stop and I'll take your question, right? Because I do realize questions come when someone says and if the question comes right away it's more fresh and it's more to the point. So yes, why basics? Why basics? I really feel very strongly for basics because when a basics is sorted you are sorted. When I get confused which I do a lot because it's writing I keep on reading a lot I keep getting distracted I keep zoning out which I assume some of you are doing that right now. So basics are very important because they can rescue you. As I said when I was a writer or when I was a content strategist all I was doing was writing and into that specific to be more specific I was a blog writer. Is there any blog writer right now? Can you please please raise your hands? Okay aspiring bloggers. Yes aspiring bloggers. Okay awesome very few. Okay for you you guys have to write. Writing is very important and I am saying as someone who gets bread and butter, writer I want competition. I want everyone to be a writer because it's so important and that's a totally different topic. Let me not go there. But yeah content strategy is so huge and all I was doing was only blog writing and because if I do not update myself I won't get a job. That is why basics is so important. What is content? Can anyone just try play around and say what is content? Please. Yes what is content? Mr. Ajit Botra. You know what? I do realize that and it's funny because I did incorporate that you as a content. But still let's play around. What is content? Yes specific topic. Okay you basically like like basically like when I write a content for my any niche blog. So I obviously I write with both purpose like for the viewer as well as for the bot. Fantastic. For the Google bot. But I would humbly like to interrupt you because that's it as I said I started I started by saying I'm a writer. Okay and I started saying that I'm a blog writer but content is not just writing and that's what we tend to make big mistake about. We are visual creatures. Yes sir. So are you come again? Material you're looking for. So it's one part of it. It's definitely one part of it and to be more precise it's for SEO. Like if I'm trying to find something I should get it on first page. That is still part of content start content and yes you had a question. So for me in general content means the experience because that's give you a lot of material like if I'm talking about writing a blog post or you know writing poetry or anything for me it's experience like from morning to evening what I'm doing interacting with people communication is content everything around that you do is content. True absolutely I really agree with you but when it comes to brands and capitalism we need to get money out of it. So I'm gonna talk more about how to really use SEO and those things to get the result what you want because when you're working as a content strategist in a corporate world that is not enough. Trust me because I love writing poetry I love to write fiction but do I get that clicks do I get that leverage key okay fairy as a brand has really gone ahead okay she writes poetry are people gonna really invite or no I have to see to it it's SEO friendly but then SEO is what SEO is social media oh oh dear social media and content is any is there any connection yes there is. So yeah I'll go back again why basics I'm gonna really focus on it because even right now I've been writing for ten solid yours I've been writing it I got stuck I started getting paid after seven years and I still go to basics because I forget because it's so huge what is content we just figured as he said everything is content content is confusing because it's everything that is vague if I have to go really precise in what is content which is not into the physically like me and you as a content not the tangible thing if you go really online one online version what is content it's what you read on a blog it's the ad that you look into the blog that you're reading it's it's that game that you're playing it's that photo that you're looking at it's the tags that you use for that photo that you're using at it's the title that you write for a blog it's that short five minute video that you're looking it's that stand-up comedy that you're looking it's that web series that recently got you know a lot of backing by Netflix Netflix is content Amazon is content every streaming thing I have ever seen is content images did I cover everything yeah chips are content I mean everything is content and do you realize how difficult that makes for a simple writer to really keep up I want I need to keep my job alive how am I supposed to like update myself all the time but that is content everything is content right so if someone tells me what is a folio or a profile of a content strategist they really need to understand social media they really need to understand what goes into the web world world of web everything that you see online but you know what as we go as we evolve even what you're looking at traditional is content the newspaper that they are still readers newspaper is also content because when it comes to advertising your job is to leverage traditional and modern mediums to make sales because let's face it brand awareness and everything is okay awesome but it's sales that we want we want money live in a capitalistic world yes we do and we want to convert everything that gets clicks and all ultimate thing is to get money or if it is not money if it is not ROI is return on investment it's social capital do you know what social capital is yes okay yes it's part of it it's part of it so you can say it's a strength of influencer like if I say something and you guys do it that means I have that much social capital so you can simplify it by saying being an influencer so content is everything so doesn't that make content strategy a little difficult I can't hear you it's it's stunningly different and difficult because as I'm saying around two years back as a content strategist all I was doing was just writing and right now I have to really make my portfolio grow so now it's e-commerce e-commerce like huge and if I'm writing blog about hey this is amazing tiles and you should buy it now I need to change that entire tonality for Amazon or Flipkart to make it more catchy and action-oriented so people actually spend money and buy and for that I need to have good knowledge of SEO and to have good knowledge on what really works I need to know the psychology of the consumer or people so it is confusing and that is the reason you should go again to basics so I really wrote this entire PPT which I suggest you do take it because it's just what I'm saying is gonna go a little here and there this is more specific so it's basically what I just said you can take this once the session is done and yeah so you don't want clicked photo yeah that's what I said what is strategy yes what is strategy does anyone play chess have played chess once okay so it's oh you have nice yeah so you know about strategy right you think about your each move right okay so if this is pawn a small pawn it can only walk one step how do I use this one point to its maximum benefit it's so bloody specific I'm sorry I'm using it it's so specific I mean yeah I use a word astonishingly I don't use this often it's so specific you should know it's so goal-oriented you need to know exactly what you're doing and while you're doing polls can become difficult when you know that the content part of it so huge so you can see it's the opposite it's this is so vast content is so vast and now you're talking about strategy which is so specific now how to use this for your brand what is your brand okay give me a suggestion for a brand coke so coke interesting fact do you know coke and Pepsi has the base same custom a customer base and how they are actually using their strategies if you really go down to basics are the same and they share the same customer base and the only way they are differentiating themselves is Coca Cola is happiness and Pepsi is swag so Pepsi is more gearing towards college going kids and this is happiness which is like huge we want everything but still even after all these things that customer base remains the same and the only ad campaign that works is like bombarding us with ads because they got money they got huge piles of money and they can do that we as a small brand can we do that we as a small brand can we be like Pepsi or a cola or Pepsi or anything can we be like that can we burn money like that no and that is why content strategy becomes even more important because you have to be very specific on what you want and you need to know how you're gonna get it how you're gonna achieve that goal so yes content strategy school oriented long term and short term so the best what coke and Pepsi does is long term they're gonna like just bombard you with stuff and it's they're gonna bombard you so bad that you just gonna go to a shop keeper or a mall and just look at it and just grab it that's brand recall value you just take it brand communication with CTA means if I am having an event if my company is having an event it doesn't make sense that I just do it in a small way like maybe if I'm using X amount to promote it I shouldn't do that same for the short term brand communication with CTA is called to action I want the users or the audience to do something which is more action oriented so your content strategy is gonna be different so much and again this is basics this is very basic and if you really have to know how to create your basic content strategy you have to divide it between this and and when you say what is long term time and what is short term time you need to understand coke and Pepsi they have been here since a longest time and what they did was mostly brand awareness and brand communication with CTA they used to go back and forth they played a long game we don't know if we are starting out if we can afford to play a long game so maybe you can have a short term plan with long term effects and vice versa and that is the reason you really need to have product knowledge and again what is your goal you need to understand that you have to introspect so did I confuse you enough awesome because I was confused and I worked as a strategist so yeah I'm doing a bad job what works videos tend to work a lot Netflix and Amazon and all these people have really changed the game now Disney Plus is coming that is also content there are so many new people who want to have their own series they write books do comics they're changing the game but videos is a safe bet Facebook thought that it's going to be so popular that it actually elevated the numbers okay the elevate they lied to people and use our platform use videos to compete with Google YouTube compete with YouTube what they did in the process they destroyed journalism when I say destroyed so many blotek journalists lost their job so yes videos work I mean if you just go and go go on Google and type best way to attract consumer or the audience videos will come first it's interactive it's fun it's visual it's colorful vibrant why not but you can't really believe these platforms to give you best organic reach is not real so so what to do but before before doing that please do this Facebook videos destroyed journalism it's interesting it's good for your knowledge yeah so honestly even I don't know it's it's trial and error yeah it's not a very bright picture right but making mistakes really helps you never know what's gonna work what's not gonna work content strategy is so goal-oriented that it doesn't have destination for us when you say content marketing marketing is like it's a place you give your best that's it content strategy is a process and that process cannot be even a process if you're not making mistakes and because content strategy is so huge it it has everything and ideally you should have a small you should do a bit of everything that is memes or jiff or videos and blogs guest blogging website content you should do a bit of everything social media everything you are gonna make mistakes your job as successful I will I will personally say successful content strategist is to bounce back from making mistakes because honestly you cannot learn without making mistakes it's just that you have to be so strong you have to you have to have this appetite for knowledge for reading that you can bounce back from making mistakes so if I have to give my personal anecdote on an experience social media is like really twisted you don't get likes and shares or whatever social capital as I said when you wanted but on Twitter which is the most difficult platform to get leverage or you know get more people to notice you I did one post and I didn't do anything I just described the image and I got more than thousand likes on Twitter I honestly don't know why I why I got that I just described the image that's it it was a retweet and I'll share it you can ask me it's it's an okay image that I can show it off it's from an alien movie but it works for me as a social capital I get more Twitter followers I can write more I can get more opportunities and all that jazz so it's trial and error I tried something again like that it didn't work then I realized the only reason it worked was because the author of that tweet liked it so now I know that I have to do something that that account again likes me which didn't happen so that's it it's trial and error and as I said it's a process and in the process you will make mistakes and your job is to see to it that you are okay with making that mistakes and you bounce back and you learn that is the only way and basics go back to basics yeah so for the simplifying things what if you are a product so okay let's create a content strategy for you like mr. Ajit Botra just said content is everything content is me and that is so true and if you had to create a content strategy for you how you're gonna go about it does anyone actually want to volunteer or should I just talk about myself are you sleeping enough I can pause I learned how to be paused so that I won't feel uncomfortable you guys are gonna feel uncomfortable I'm gonna stop talking now and someone has to volunteer as in yourself me if I have to create a content study for myself I guess I created a strategy a while back and it seemed to work for me yes great so not many folks remember might be people remember that I use this hashtag called Baklal Boraji yes I technically branded myself as Baklal someone who talk and less who talks senseless because you know life is too serious and I don't want to be that so I use I created the strategy around where I you know I talk about things in a humorous way where people were able to connect with it where which they don't say in public but yeah I was like my boy go and when I went to different vertical people were easily able to recognize me and they were like okay our Baklal Boraji so that kind of worked for me because humor is the element that I want to attach to myself I want to be that guy you know who is not serious who speak his heart out So that strategy worked for me I kind of created a brand of myself around it awesome can we just have a round of applause please and that's exactly what I'm trying to say strategy is so personalized it worked for him and it did I know I remember it has that like hashtags supposed to be very not readable but it you can remember it right away and that works it has rhyme it has be its alliteration alliteration tends to really help you remember things that's why your poems school poems were so rhyming because they they have validation and they have that inherent rhythm in it so yeah I mean to really go back to basics what do you what if you have to do a content strategy for you so as he said everything is content and I just focused more on the on how confusing it is so we are again going to go simplify it what if you have to create a content strategy for you so let me try doing that if I have to create it for me then I am the product like if I am a product what does this product is it's me in my tangible physical form that's my hair eyes everything this is me as a product brand strategy and content strategy again comes really close to close side by side and it's confusing but brand so once your product is done you go to brand so brand strategy is different it's how to get more people to look at your brand but how to create a brand from the product so if I'm the product my brand is going to be my attitude and my personality so my attitude would be how do I respond to situations around me or react personality would be what kind of emotions or vibe I elicit like from people like you what do you think of me that would be brand it brand is mostly attitude and personality so brand they keep saying that brands that going entirely personalized Google brand personalization you'll get it and that's why this example I'm pretty proud of it so if I'm a if I want to create a content strategy for me I am the content that means I'm the product my personality and attitude is my brand and what do I want to do because it's a strategy thing it's the journey what is my goal now here you can do anything and everything do I want more social capital I want more influence I want to be more fit I want to be successful I I fix one goal and try working on that let's say I want to be the source of knowledge okay that is my goal so what would be my strategy to get that goal somebody needs to help me with that you're all sleeping it's not you're awake no so okay I'll repeat my question if my goal is to be the source of knowledge what will be my content strategy I can stop talking you know I can just stand there that's fine someone please volunteer not you someone else yes okay yeah yes yes okay so if hello yes if my strategy was to my strategy would be to create knowledge and share knowledge so write tutorials and some blog posts about knowledge itself no that's that's not that's me like when we talk about strategy it has to be goldenated yes but it has to be very specific I use what astonishingly so I know I just did this no no this is right in a way but I really want to focus how specific it is you said that blog tutorials great that's nice then you say some blog post so no it's not like that you need to have proper subject or title in place and that is why to make a content strategy work for you you have to be insanely specific it's only then you'll get returns but thank you thank you for saying yes you had some way yeah hi my name is Surya Khan and that's what I was about to tell you you have to create specific content which you want to master that you want to be resourceful that's that's what that's that's good yeah thank you thank you if I have to say that I'm gonna say you said knowledge but when I say specific knowledge Kasi Milika yes that's what I was going for reading is so specific when I say about specific I want to be the source of knowledge how can I get that I'll be doing by reading talking to intelligent people trying to put myself there where there are more intelligent people or subject matter experts that level of specific specificity do you get what do you get where I'm going at it has to be like very sharp you really need to know to get returns and that's why because content is so wide and strategy is so specific with what exactly you want is why most people really fumble and it is a fumbling exercise and that's why you're gonna make mistakes which is absolutely okay it's a trial and error thing and you know though ironic part once you think that you've done it the industry is so dynamic it's gonna bring something else on your face so it's reading is the best way to be you know be there at the industries that are people in the industry really look up to you not even look up to you're there you're pure with them so yeah that was one if I want to be a source of information I want people to like respect me and all the reading will be if I want to be source of influence I'll be I'll put myself more into places like these where I get to talk about stuff that I know bit and have more people interact so this level of specificity is very important and if you don't really want to know what exactly is content strategy a B and C a is a product B is how you're gonna make sure that you reach C that's it one thing I want you after this session is have more questions I mean if I'll consider this session to be a success if you have more questions because content strategy is huge and specific all at the same time it makes you a bit confusing so yeah offline is also content by the way yeah everything is content and yes if I haven't confused you enough and if you want to go learn about who's doing the best nika is one of the brands who was done really good and they actually got they made a lot of money with e-commerce using content strategy when it comes to video suggested people can easily change the numbers old spice new ads old spice videos have done really well and have sport article on how to develop content strategy is something you can go back to it's truly in-depth there is a lot of things that can help you it also tells you how to do videos and come up with titles for blog post and yeah that's it any questions yes hi I had query you so being a content strategist how do you keep personalization of user in mind when you form content strategy for your blog or content so how it will be useful for actual readers and so I have another question for you is it for is it for personal or is it for brand any so I'm just considering blog right now so that can be informative log that can be personal blog or that can be so sorry to again ask you another question it's very important that when you think about strategy who you're writing for and as you said the question the answer is in the question itself how do you think about writer writer's demographic basically right how to connect with them using the age age and the level of thinking in everything right yes yes so you really need to read you really need to read and connect them on social media because I think social media is the best way to interact with them and when you have conversations with them I think that works best so I use Twitter a lot I try to connect with people who show interest in what I write so if you're thinking that you're going to change your writing for them it might not work you need to write with what you're good at so maybe it's 16 year olds I'm writing for okay let's let's change the article I'm a 30 year old if I'm writing for 30 year olds I wouldn't be writing on technology even though gaming is really huge right now I know people in 30 age group gaming is huge and it's gonna blow out of proportion in few years I know but that's not my strength I know there are a lot of 30 year olds who are also interested in reading drawing art so I'll focus on that bit and then I'll go to social media I'll can I'll go to all those groups and then I'll try to have a conversation I'll try to be a moderator of a community so that way I'll have a lot of more people around lot more fodder for ideation ask them what works what they're looking for and trust me you'll be like you'll have so many ideas you will you can't keep you can't keep up with those ideas yeah any more questions okay if you're shy I'm just sitting right there and after session you can ask me a question so thank you