What is Content Strategy in UX?

How content strategy fits into the broader field of user experience, and what a content strategist does on a UX project.

The phrase “content strategy” is most often and easily associated with marketing. But what about content strategy in user experience (UX)? How does it fit in to the world of UX job titles, and what do content people in UX do all day? In this article, I’ll demystify content strategy as part of the broader user experience discipline and answer your biggest questions about this type of work.

P.S. If you need it, here’s a great definition of UX from the Nielsen Norman Group.

Content is everywhere

Before we define content strategy in UX, let’s define what we mean by “content.” What is content anyways?

Simply put, content = information.

Anytime information is created and delivered to people, in any form, it’s content. Long text, short text, single words of text, audio, video, infographics, etc. Even the alt-text that makes images accessible is content.

With this broader definition of content, it becomes easier to realize that content is everywhere. It drives our experience of websites and apps; it’s the weird responses we get from Siri on our iPhones; it’s on the touchscreen kiosks we use to check-in at the airport; content is central to every user experience.

In fact, without content, our user experiences would be meaningless and useless artifacts. Imagine your favorite app without any content. Would you still use it? Would it even be possible? Probably not.

Given how important content is to the user experience, hopefully it already feels intuitive why content strategy and writing are part of the UX field.

Defining content strategy in UX

Content strategy in UX is the creation and governance of useful, usable, accessible, content for user experiences.

Content strategy in UX ensures that all content within a user experience is delivered to the user in the right time, place, and format; works seamlessly with the visual design, brand strategy, and functionality; is usable and accessible; and supports business goals.

The above definitions are my own take on a few other, much more widely used definitions of content strategy pioneers who came long before me. Namely, the definition by Kristina Halvorson in her seminal 2008 article, The Discipline of Content Strategy published in A List Apart. There, she defined content strategy as, “Content strategy plans for the creation, publication, and governance of useful, usable content.”

To be clear, I still think Halvorson’s is the best definition. I’ve only tweaked it a bit to more UX specific for instances like this article, in which folks want to know how content strategy fits into UX. 😊 I also included the word accessible to call attention to the fact that inaccessible content isn’t usable, and therefore it must also be accessible, too.

We can think of and talk about content strategy in UX in a few different ways.

As a job title. In the field right now, you’ll see a variety of job titles including UX Content Strategist, Content Strategist, Web Content Strategist, and Product Content Strategist.
As a phase in the UX design process. For example, after research and discovery, you might do a content strategy & information architecture phase of your website project.
As a specialization (i.e., UX designer who specializes in content strategy).
As a discipline or community of practice, i.e. talking about “the content strategy community” or “content strategy practitioners.”

All that said, many people are still left with the question: is content strategy the same as UX? If not, how is it different?

The short answer is no, content strategy is not the same as UX in my personal opinion. I think of UX as the broader discipline category, and things like content strategy fit within or overlap into it.

However, content strategy work is user-centered, and content strategy is an essential part of UX work. Without a strategy for your interface content, your user experience will be pretty bad. 🤷‍♀️ But content strategists also have other skills and pull from other disciplines outside of UX to do their job.

What UX content strategists do

Content strategists are super smart. We are no-so-mythical creatures which are part designer, part editorial experts, and part systems-thinkers. Our job is to figure out what information the user needs, where/when in the user journey it should be delivered to them, and what format and style the information should be in — all while balancing business goals. We also care about how that content is managed, maintained, and updated over time (governance). This includes all of the systems, people, and processes that will be required to for seamless content governance. Let’s break some of that down.

Understanding user needs, goals, etc.

In order to make content user-centered, content strategists must understand who the content is for and what those people want and need.

Things that content strategists do to understand users:

User interviews, user surveys, and other user research methods
User personas or persona spectrums
User journey maps or user stories

Business needs, goals, and managing stakeholders

Content strategists are often the person on a UX team who work closest with internal stakeholders (all the people in an organization who care about and will inform the outcome of the website, app, etc).

Content strategists on UX projects might do things like:

Define and prioritize business goals and KPIs for a website or digital product
Run stakeholder interviews to understand the different needs, goals, and requirements of different internal groups/teams
Manage the content revision process, liaising between stakeholders and writers

Incidentally, I’ve heard content strategist Meghan Casey describe this skillset as “stakeholder whispering.” It’s a great term.

Technical requirements and constraints

Technical requirements and constraints can impact everything on a UX project — including content strategy. For example, content strategists need to know things like:

What CMS will be used? How might that impact the end experience?
For a product, are these feature ideas feasible in our given timeline?

Messaging strategy, brand voice, and editorial style

Content strategists define what key messages will be a focus throughout the user or brand experience, plus how and when those messages will be used. They’ll usually also define how a brand’s voice will sound, and what editorial standards the content should follow.

Documenting these things might take the shape of a more comprehensive content style guide, or some artifacts like a messaging hierarchy could be incorporated into a design system.

Information architecture

A user-centered content strategist might also own information architecture within a project. This could include creating a site map, defining the architecture for a mobile app or product, or creating things like content models or taxonomy systems.

Content governance

Content governance sort of sounds like jargon, but just think of “government.” To govern a country, you need different people and departments with specific responsibilities, rules, and processes for everything. Content needs to be governed, too.

Who is going to make your content? Who will review and approve it? How will it get approved? What tools or systems will you use? How will your content be managed and updated over time?

That’s content governance planning.

Soft skills in UX content strategy

Interpersonally, content strategists tend to have high emotional intelligence, excellent communication skills, and genuinely enjoy digging into complex and messy problems. (Or at least, this content strategist does).

What about content design and UX writing? ✍️

Content design and UX writing are related, yet different roles and practices.

Content strategy: the broadest, highest-level of these roles that guides content across the customer/user experience. Blends UX, editorial strategy, and systems design. (See: Brain Traffic’s new content quad).

Content design: the role specializing in figuring out what format the content should be in, based on user needs and business goals. Coined by Sarah Winters, this term has become increasingly popular in the last few years. In fact, ___ and ____ recently switched from using the job title UX Writer to Content Design. I expect more organizations will adopt this title soon, too.

“Content design is using evidence and data to produce content your audience needs, at the time they need it, on a channel they are on and in a way they expect. Content design uses a set of tools and techniques from many different disciplines to create a user-centred, accessible experience.” — Sarah Winters

UX writing: the role specializing in writing, testing, and updating microcopy for interfaces (mobile apps and other digital products).