WeLiveSecurity

The challenge

Transform an underperforming blog into a content powerhouse

When it came to producing and publishing content, ESET had primarily relied on its blog. The problem with this was that there was little or no strategy behind what it produced, when it was published and how it was presented. In short, there was no editorial direction. It was an underperforming asset.

Soon enough, the information security brand recognised that if the blog – or more the insight, analysis and information its staff was producing – was going to be of genuine value to the company and its audiences, it needed to be better done. And they were right. As it was to discover, content, when done extremely well, would establish it as one of the authoritative voices in information security.

We were asked to put together and execute content strategy to transform the blog into a much more compelling, content-rich platform, and, in turn, develop ESET’s profile in key territories.

We were also tasked with overhauling ESET’s approach to content production, ensuring that what would become WeLiveSecurity would operate more as an online editorial publication, and less as a corporate company blog.

The approach

Changing the culture: a platform for all at ESET

The blog suffered from a lack of purpose, oversight and direction. It had no managing editor, no publishing process and no real understanding of how to produce and present content.

Further, internal stakeholders, in particular the PR and research teams, were often operating independent of one another. Meaning, when it came to producing content and comms, neither was necessarily aware of what the other doing and why. This resulted in a fragmented operational model and an approach that was far from consistent.

Our strategy would change all of this. It was clear that a new platform, independent of the main website – and which possessed its own identity and remit – would solve many of the problems that had held ESET back as a content provider. All content needed to be centralised, too, managed by an editorial team that liaised directly with, for example, researchers and PR. There would be no more silos.

This approach was key to ensuring that WeLiveSecurity would become a platform that worked for all internal stakeholders and deliver on its objective to be the definitive voice in information security.

The audience

Growing an expert audience and reaching new consumers

The ESET blog was a largely niche offering that was primarily aimed at security professionals, which included fellow researchers and IT managers. Consumers, increasingly interested in being more digitally resilient – and affected more and more by cybercrime – didn’t really factor.

ESET was, to its detriment, missing out on the opportunities that came with connecting with consumers in less commercial way – focusing exclusively on just security professionals was too narrow in scope. There was, we discovered, a market for a website that delivered content to both audiences.

WeLiveSecurity was designed with this in mind, whereby complex white papers and accompanying blogs could be planned, created and published alongside news stories, features and security guides aimed principally at consumers (but relevant to anyone with a passing interest in or query about cybersecurity).

The platform

Designing a destination that brings content to life

The original ESET blog was extremely dated, with no thought given to design and user experience. And the logic to publishing content could be summed up as: “I’ve had an idea for an article/report, it’s been signed off, I’ve written it up, added it to the CMS and then push it live.”

Consequently, with no editorial input, articles were often published on an ad hoc basis – and they were usually unedited, text-heavy with no minimal visuals and more technical than they needed to be. SEO wasn’t that much of a consideration and there was no thought given to what type of content best suited the information that was being published. No-one asked, for example, whether Content X should be a long-form feature, Content Y a Q&A-style piece and Content Z a how-to guide?. It looked anachronistic and, to some extent, hastily produced.

If WeLiveSecurity was going to succeed as a content provider, it needed to have all the characteristics of a trusted online publication, the kind of vibe that suggested it understood editorial best practice as much as information security. That would be instrumental in it becoming a vibrant daily destination for security-related news and insight.

Accordingly, we went for a design that reflected the look and feel of seasoned, industry-specific content producer. We wanted to be able to show both the latest content being produced, as well as more curated content that that we wanted to draw attention to (such as latest research papers and topical features).

This included setting up a carousel for big and prominent pieces of content, a sidebar for features, a chronological list showing the latest content to be published (chronological order) and a ‘hot topic’ functionality to group together topical stories. Behind the scenes, we utilised best practice SEO to ensure that everything published was optimised for search.

The content

Telling stories in different ways, with different formats

While original research and insight has always been an fundamental part of ESET's content offering – demonstrating its thought leadership and research credentials –  there needed to be a bigger spectrum of content to fulfil the new editorial obligations our strategy had determined was necessary for it to be successful.

We devised a realistic level of output that would underscore the platform’s intent to be an informed, on the pulse and agenda-setting publication that reported and commented on everything to do with information security on a daily basis.

This would include news on the latest happenings, features taking a more detailed and educational approach, and articles that supported PR activities, such as product launches, without being advertorials or at al sales-orientated (thereby maintaining editorial integrity).

In addition to text-based pieces of content, we also ramped up the visual output, adding infographics, videos and animations to the mix. Sometimes they were pieces of content in their own right, and sometimes they were designed to support other pieces of content, i.e. tell the same story in a different, more accessible way. We also produced a printed magazine to distribute to visitors at industry events, which was well received.

Finally, as part of our strategy to grow the brand internationally, we created German, Spanish and Portuguese versions of the website, setting up bureaus in each of the countries and expanding the network of contributors beyond the UK and US.

The results

A tightly run website that excels in editorial excellence

WeLiveSecurity today is a far cry from its former life as a blog. It’s now a hugely successful, editorially-driven online publication that is managed by an editor who oversees the regular production of multilingual content across the globe.

Changing the way ESET approaches content has been at the heart of this. Working in close collaboration with multiple internal departments in different parts of the world, I have helped refine and improve the range of content delivered, streamlined workflows and set up editorial processes that have allowed the platform to not only thrive, but set it up for the long-term.

We Live Security has become the cornerstone of our PR strategy – organic traffic has outgrown any of our expectations and in just 6 months ESET’s share of voice increased by 49% in the UK and 22% in Germany.

Eddie Johnson, Global Marcom Director at ESET

The work I’ve done on WeLiveSecurity was recognised in 2016 – the website picked up a Content Marketing Award in the ‘best specialist’ category.

Key stats

• 45% year-on-year increase in traffic from organic search

• 29% year-on-year increase in unique visits

• 87% year-on-year decrease in promotional spend

Assets belong to WeLiveSecurity and Mediablaze respectively.