CIC Rotterdam - Content strategy

As part of the International Bachelor of Communication and Media Honours Programme in Erasmus University, the group of 18 students was divided in sub-groups and participated in a project with CIC Rotterdam, Cambridge Innovation Center's first international location.

Myself with a group of other four students, we were given the task of creating a strategy that would help convey the feeling of community within CIC Rotterdam location and all the companies that already cohabit in the space.

CIC - STORYTELLING CHALLENGE

CIC mission: convey the feeling of community of CIC to the outside world and how beneficial it may be to potential/future start-ups.

Target audience: After interviewing some of the people working in CIC and doing desk research, we determined our target audience to be post-startup owners, founders and CEOs, both female or male between the ages of 26 - 45. Their goals are represented as running successfully their company and making a profit while focusing on innovation and making the world better. We addressed their pains as loneliness, uncertainty over the course of their companies and lack of network. Finally, we established that CIC could offer them not only the physical space to work, but also the sense of security and the opportunity of networking with other businesses in the same or similar stages.

CONTENT STRATEGY

Logistics: The strategy will last for one quarter, measured in the way most startups measure their periods and strategies. We planned it like this not only because it is already what is common but because if CIC approves of it, the strategy could be repeated with new content each quarter. The content will have to be adjusted to what is relevant for each quarter. Furthermore, the use of quarters allows us to measure the efficiency of the strategy in an easier and faster way and changes can be made quicker if needed.

EDITORIAL FORMULA

Content

• Podcasts: Podcasts will be recorded every two weeks and will last between 15 and 20 minutes. Listeners can tune in during the commute, which would also exemplify the fact that CIC is close to public transport, provide the incentive to use it, and promote sustainability. Examples of content include leadership and management skills, economic, human resources and other types of knowledge that can help start-ups and post-start-ups to keep building their capabilities and expanding their businesses. They will mainly be targeted towards those who run start-ups, either CEOs or upper management, as they are more likely to consider bigger business decisions, such as shifting to a new office space. Each podcast will showcase different capabilities of experts within the CIC community and will be featured as a “tease” for outsiders to learn about the different companies that operate in CIC. Furthermore, the podcasts will not be constructed around CIC promotion, but the company will be mentioned throughout as an enabler of the networks and community feeling that each member shows. As for the technicalities around the construction of the podcast, the services of a freelance audio/sound technician and the content would be produced by the different companies hosted in CIC. As the contracts in CIC are month-long, it is expected to have multiple capabilities to showcase in the podcasts. Moreover, a comprehensive brief would be given to the companies to include certain aspects that highlight the community of CIC. The companies would not be remunerated, since the content would serve them as marketing for their own capabilities and help them foster authority and organic leads. Content for the podcasts would include valuable advice that start-ups and post start-ups can use to maintain and build on their existing business model, for example, how to use thought leadership to enhance a team’s productivity or how to find investors to finance a project. Content can also feature case studies from within CIC that illustrate successful stories of companies and what other companies can take out from CIC. Such content is more easily accessible for the target audience, as they can listen to the podcast during commutes and doing other tasks, rather than focusing more energy into reading articles, for example. CTA: The call to action for the podcasts, as part of the touch section in the funnel, is to follow CIC social media and subscribe to the newsletter to keep receiving the podcast notifications with content that is useful for them. KPI: With the final goal of showcasing the capabilities of the companies hosted in CIC, the KPI signalled for podcasts measured in the amount of listeners. The information will be collected monthly and assessments over the amount of listeners will be done to understand the audience and provide content they are responding better.
  

• Taking on social media: Apart from promoting content that is published on CIC’s website and podcasts, we can post portraits of CIC employees to share stories about their experiences working in the office, if they have advice, and how they came into contact with the CIC. This will enhance the connection between post-start-ups that are considering settling with CIC and their potential future colleagues and may be achieved through the platforms where the target audience is most active regarding their professional networks (source: our fieldwork), which are LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Another option with CIC employees is to host a takeover, where employees can showcase ‘a day in the life’ at CIC and show the available facilities. This could be implemented through live-videos on all above mentioned social media platforms, the stories-function on Instagram and Facebook, and/or specifically on Instagram’s IGTVs. We believe Instagram is the most effective platform to extend the marketing plan of CIC because the target audience are more likely to be present on Instagram, as they are part of a younger demographic. Furthermore, Instagram facilitates a balance for creativity and professionally, compared to Facebook or Twitter, for example. We can showcase career-related content such as projects and teams of CIC, while also allowing for more personal engagement with CIC, including the portraits and takeovers done by CIC clients. Instagram can also be used to target other people working in a particular business, covering all levels of employees. While CEOs and managers may make the final decision, our content strategy can enable other employees to take an interest in CIC and be more likely to agree to such change. CTA: The users will be encouraged to follow not only CIC for more posts but also the companies, to build the sense of online community as well as CIC promoting others and lifting the companies that work inside their venues up. KPI: As it is commonly done, we will measure traffic in social media. The markers we will look at is at the amount of viewers (Reach), and the engagement of the users (Likes, follows, comments) with the aim of improving the engagement to what is currently happening on CIC social media.
  

• Website: As the main and central platform of CIC, the website will showcase weekly new content. It will be alternating articles, the podcast links and short description, and the “A beautiful day in the neighbourhood” blog by the different companies in CIC. Underneath each entry and page, a call-to-action will lead the possible clients to subscribe to a bi-weekly newsletter that will communicate them about the podcasts and the different articles posted.
  

  • Articles: Mainly oriented towards evergreen content, the articles will revolve around the issues of crafting and leading a strong team, morale, building or improving on already-existing networks and other issues relevant to the sentiment of the community that companies aim to have. We placed articles under the touch phase to create awareness about CIC’s capabilities and their expertise. CIC will be shown as a referent in this field by enabling the community that they are and due to the networking opportunities created for its clients. Because CIC hosts companies in a variety of fields, we believe evergreen articles would be the most fitting type of content because it can be applicable to companies in CIC’s target group. Furthermore, evergreen articles will remain relevant to companies despite evolving business models and strategies. CTA: Call to action of the articles is to subscribe to a newsletter to receive both articles and podcast announcements each week. Furthermore, depending on the capabilities showcased on the articles, a possible call to action would be get in contact with the expert on the issue (Part of CIC community), to see how the community could help them.
    

  • Podcast: Each podcast will be included in an entry or page of CIC website, including a short description about which topic the podcast will be giving advice about and/or the company that will be featured and their link to CIC, such as mentioning in which neighbourhood they “live”.
    

  • A beautiful day in the neighbourhood blog posts: “A Beautiful Day In the Neighbourhood” will be a series of case studies and stories about CIC’s neighbourhoods Alpha, Beta, Gamma etc. to convey the sense of community within each neighbourhood and CIC as a whole. These case studies will offer insight into the cultures within each neighbourhood and how they are shaped by the companies who are part of the neighbourhood. While interviewing CIC clients, we can ask them questions such as how they discovered CIC, how the company came to the decision to work at CIC, the process of renting an office space, and of course, their experiences working in CIC, considering networking opportunities, available facilities, and how CIC benefits them in as a company that operates in a particular field (whether that is sustainability, tech, etc.). CTA: The call to action of the blog posts would be signing up for the event to actually visit the neighbourhoods, and/or to contact CIC to be part of these neighbourhoods or obtain a visit/work-for-a-day. KPI: Depending on the specific call to action of the website content, we will measure traffic and possibly the amount of new subscribers to the newsletter.

• Open day: Currently, CIC’s strategy seems to be oriented towards explaining their facilities rather than offering the chance for them to experience the atmosphere for themselves and decide whether it fits their work culture. The outcomes of the interviews from our fieldwork suggest that literally allowing the target audience to visit the site itself will provide them with the most effective and comprehensive overview of what CIC Rotterdam has to offer. Therefore, organising an open day would be the ultimate experience for post-startup owners that are navigating their options of where to locate their business. The CIC Open Day will be implemented to show potential CIC clients the available facilities, atmosphere and networking opportunities they can have access to if they choose to rent a space at CIC. All established businesses would participate, for instance by giving talks/presentations, providing tours through “the neighbourhoods”, or perhaps by standing on some kind of market fair with their own stand in order to tell stories about their “CIC Experience”. In this way, the event would be beneficial for both parties: The established business would gain recognition and extension of their networks, and the impressions of CIC of potential future community members will be further enhanced. In the weeks leading up to the Open Day event, some website and Instagram content could include sneak peeks of the preparation; important people in organising the open day, what kind of activities will happen on the day of, etc. We can incorporate after-video footage to make a cyclic promotion towards the next event. These ideas have been implemented in the content calendar accordingly. We do acknowledge that if such an event were to be organised, additional content strategies would need to be implemented in order to realise it in its best form. This is out of the scope of our current project, however, CIC is more than welcome to call us if they’d be interested. CTA: Get people to register to be part of the CIC spaces.

DIGITAL ECOSYSTEM

• Content hub: website

• Social-media (Facebook & Instagram)

• Newsletter (through email)