devrel-content-strategy

name	devrel-content-strategy
description	Choose content formats and a calendar for an activation goal — format follows the goal (getting-started for first success, sample app for the value path, guide for a concept, talk for reach), not the trendy channel. Use when planning DevRel content tied to the activation funnel.

Skill: DevRel content strategy

Plan content that moves the activation funnel, not vanity reach. The format follows the activation goal, and the goal is always somewhere on signup → first call → first app → retained.

When to use

• You're planning a quarter of DevRel content and need it tied to outcomes.
• Someone wants to "make a video" or "write a blog" with no activation goal behind it.
• Reach is up but activation is flat — content is missing the funnel.

Procedure

1. Name the activation goal first. Which funnel step does this content move — first success, the value path, retention? No goal → no content.
2. Pick the format from the goal (tree 3 in ../../knowledge/devrel-engagement-decision-trees.md): getting-started/quickstart for first success; sample app for the value path; conceptual guide for a pattern; talk/post/video for reach.
3. Optimize getting-started before reach. Reach that lands a developer on a broken first-run wastes the reach. Fix the path, then amplify it.
4. Write engineer-to-engineer. A developer audience smells marketing speak and loses trust permanently. No superlatives, no fluff — show the code.
5. Build the calendar with each item's activation goal and the metric it should move, in the devrel-content-calendar template.
6. Route demand-gen asks out. If the real goal is leads/brand, that's marketing-operations, not DevRel.

Output

A content calendar where every item names its activation goal and target metric — not a list of topics.

Anti-patterns

• Content with no activation goal ("we should blog more").
• Marketing-speak aimed at a developer audience.
• Amplifying reach on top of a broken getting-started path.