Technical writing has been my bread and butter for the last 5 years. Working for the tech team of a large energy company, my day to day consists of urgent communication requests about complicated subjects, to be delivered to a broad audience with different levels of technical knowledge. To deliver a piece of work with an often tight turnaround time, I follow a 4 step process:
Prior to putting pen to paper, I ask a series of questions to better understand the goal of the communication, and the impact on the audience. I then conduct further research of my own, making sure I have a solid understanding of the subject.
Considering the contents goal, I can then determine the best platforms to use to disseminate this information. I’ll take this time to break down jargon, ensuring the content will be clear and understandable to the target audience.
When writing a technical communication, the 3 most important things are - tone of voice, audience level of knowledge, focus. This ensures my content is simple and easy to read, and remains consistent with company branding.
I have experience delivering content across numerous platforms, and where possible, using analytics features to monitor the response to determine if any follow up action is required.
Writing is my hobby, as well as my job. I have written blog entries both professionally and recreationally. Whilst the process is similar to my technical writing steps, it can deviate from project to project.
To highlight this, here’s the process used when working on a forum project.
As part of my role in the social media team, I was tasked with creating content that will increase engagement for a section of our customer base. The platform was an underutilised forum, with a fairly high user count, but with minimal engagement.
I looked through the existing topics and threads, and noticed a casual, light hearted tone of voice that seemed prevalent across the forum. I identified the main concerns and discussions these customers had, which was around the amount they are spending on energy, and their concerns for the colder months ahead.
Using the information gained, I formed a plan - a series of blog posts based on easy, cheap energy saving tips, to prepare them for the winter. These posts would need to be short and sweet, as the audience seemed to respond to more concise content. I found 10 energy saving methods, spread over 10 articles, delivered over 10 weeks.
I created a structure that would repeat throughout the campaign to give familiarity to the reader:
Humour was something the forum seemed to respond to, so I would find a ridiculous item of equivalent value.
Once I had drafted all 10 tips, I imported them into the forum as read-only, and once I had personally reviewed the work, I sent it to my team leader for review and feedback. We realised that the opening paragraph could include any relevant information or updates for the week, and therefore the articles became a newsletter for the forum.
The articles were published each week, adding any relevant weekly updates required. The engagement began to creep up in the initial weeks, and once the audience was familiar with the content, they would start to comment, adding their own tips, evolving the format into collaborative content.
I have created several ‘tech hubs’ for various projects, ranging from training material, to ever-updating information centres.
Firstly, I will explore the aim of the site, which will help inform the structure. I then conduct further research of my own, making sure I have a solid understanding of the subject matter, and the knowledge level of the target audience.
Next I’ll create a sitemap, making sure the structure supports the aims of the site, and has a flow to keep users engaged.
I’ll create the site, drafting out the content to make sure it hits the brief, and applying it to a layout that is easy to navigate.
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