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`](../../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`](../../templates/devrel-content-calendar.md) 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.