Erika Heald is the host of the weekly #ContentChat LinkedIn Live video podcast for content marketers, held Mondays at noon Pacific. As a B2B marketing consultant, she helps organizations define and execute content marketing strategies that drive business and professional growth. As a creator, and gluten-free blogger helping people discover gut-friendly farm-to-table food. She frequently speaks at B2B marketing industry events on employee brand advocacy, content strategy, customer experience, AI readiness, and social media topics. You can find her on her blogs erikaheald.com and erikasglutenfreekitchen.com.
CORRECTED The #ContentChat Bulletin: The Content Foundation Most Teams Ignore Until It Breaks
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What do e-book, Ebook, and E-Book all have in common? They're three variations on the name of one content type, and they're wreaking havoc on your taxonomy. I know, I know! Most content teams don't spend much time thinking about taxonomy. We're focused on integrating into marketing campaigns, content creation, distribution, performance, and proving business impact. Taxonomy often feels like something for website managers, CMS administrators, or information architects to worry about. Until something breaks. Maybe your team can't find the case study they know exists. Maybe your Google Analytics reporting is "missing" a piece of cornerstone content that you are *certain* has been performing. Maybe every content audit turns into a scavenger hunt. If this sounds like your day-to-day, the bad news is it's not just affecting your team. It's likely that across your organization, multiple teams describe the same topic and content channels differently, making integrated reporting nearly impossible. And it's even more likely that your customers struggle to find the information they need because your content organization reflects your internal structure rather than their needs. These aren't content creation problems. They're content structure problems. Personas + Taxonomy =The Content Foundation Power CoupleA solid taxonomy doesn't just help content teams stay organized. It quietly powers content discovery, personalization, and customer experiences behind the scenes. That means before you can organize content effectively, you need to understand who you're organizing it for. That's where personas come in. Strong personas help you understand what different audience segments are trying to accomplish, what questions they need answered, and how they naturally think about and describe your products, services, and industry. Those insights should shape everything from your content strategy to the words you use in your taxonomy. Strong personas help you understand what different audience segments are trying to accomplish, what questions they need answered, and how they naturally think about and describe your products, services, and industry. When personas and taxonomy work together, your content is organized around audience needs rather than internal silos, making it possible to connect people with the most relevant information at the moment they need it. When they don't, even the most comprehensive content library can feel like a maze. That's why these two content foundations are so closely connected. Personas help you understand your audience. Taxonomy helps you organize your content around their needs. Why Taxonomy MattersTaxonomy is the system that helps people find, understand, connect, and manage content at scale. While it's rarely the most visible part of a content strategy, it often determines whether your content remains useful long after it's published. The larger your content library grows, the more important taxonomy becomes. It influences search, navigation, content reuse, reporting, governance, personalization, and customer experience. When you thoughtfully design your taxonomy, most people never notice it. But when it's missing or inconsistent, everyone feels the impact. That's why taxonomy is one of the most important content foundations. But before you can build a taxonomy that works, you need to understand the people your content intends to serve. We'll be exploring this audience-first approach across both our personas and taxonomy conversation as we continue our Content Foundations book series with today's #ContentChat livestream. Coming Up on #ContentChatContent Chat is my weekly LinkedIn Live video chat focused on sharing expertise and ideas amongst the content marketing community. Join the conversation on Mondays at noon Pacific / 3 p.m. Eastern. RSVP for our upcoming conversations by clicking the chat date below to get a reminder and to access the chat.
Until next time, stay safe and be well! Cheers, Erika |
The #ContentChat Bulletin
Erika Heald is the host of the weekly #ContentChat LinkedIn Live video podcast for content marketers, held Mondays at noon Pacific. As a B2B marketing consultant, she helps organizations define and execute content marketing strategies that drive business and professional growth. As a creator, and gluten-free blogger helping people discover gut-friendly farm-to-table food. She frequently speaks at B2B marketing industry events on employee brand advocacy, content strategy, customer experience, AI readiness, and social media topics. You can find her on her blogs erikaheald.com and erikasglutenfreekitchen.com.
Summer is meant to include BBQ, leisurely strolls, and making a dent in the to-read pile stacked on my desk. Instead, I've spent the past two weeks battling some sort of viral ick—but at least I've gotten to do some reading! This year, however, Summer is ALSO something else really special to me. It's the 10-year anniversary of my taking on hosting #ContentChat and going out on my own as a full-time content strategy consultant and fractional content leader! For those who weren't around here 10...
Most organizations already have a style guide—it just isn’t documented. Instead, it lives: in Slack messages inside tracked changes buried in old slide decks scattered across Google Docs comments and in the heads of the person everyone depends on to “make it sound right” And while those tiny decisions may not feel strategic in the moment, they add up fast. Every: “Would we say it this way?” Every: “Do we capitalize this?” Every: “Can you make this sound more on-brand?” …creates friction. And...
When I worked in-house as a content marketing leader, I never had enough time to deliver everything to the quality I strived to deliver. Whether it was last-minute requests or late content drafts from contributors, it often felt like the best I could hope for was to just get through the day. When that's your daily reality, it can feel like a luxury to take the time to document your content strategy—let alone the processes and tools needed to bring it to life. But here's the thing—until you do...