Breaking News: Content Is (Still) King
Author Name: Jennifer Meredith | Creative Director
If I had a dollar for every time I heard that “content is king,” I could pack up my iPad and my pugs and retire to a tropical island where a private chef would feed me cronuts all day long. But few brands really understand what that means, or how it applies to their content strategy.
At SXSW, it was clear that attention can’t be paid to quality OR quantity of content, but both.
First, quality: Brands that create content that serves only their needs will discover that it doesn’t resonate with consumers and jump to the conclusion that original content “doesn’t work.” Content has to be interesting to the reader (or viewer), or it might as well not be published. What do your consumers find interesting? There are lots of ways to determine this—research, metrics, keyword mapping and social listening to name a few (all of the above is even better). With the technology at our fingertips today, there’s really no excuse for not knowing what content your consumers might engage with.
On quantity: A link farm of articles does not a content strategy make. There should not only be enough content for a consumer to explore, but a variety of types of content. Hundreds of text-heavy whitepapers will not likely perform as well as a mix of articles, videos, infographics and user-generated content. People gravitate to different types of content. I’m a visual learner, and I am far more apt to read a map than a list of right and left turns. But many of my coworkers prefer the word lists. Consumers are the same; providing different types of content ensures that everyone will find something that resonates.
In the age of hyper-connectivity, creating content that people want to spend time with is the key to engagement. What are you creating to get and keep your consumers’ attention?
I have far too many notes from my SXSW experience to fit into one blog post, but I’ll leave you with my Top 5 quotes from the weekend. Hopefully these nuggets will inspire you to take another look at your content strategy, or if you don’t have one, put it at the top of your brand’s to-do list.
“Let people talk. When you listen, people will tell you things. To be a good speaker, you have to first be a good audience member.”
Austin Kleon
Artist, Bestselling Author
Show Your Work
“It’s harder to transmit an idea because the Internet is flooded with content.”
Felicia Day
Actress, Web Content Creator
Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon: A Social Phenomenon Turns 20
“The second you start being boring, people will disengage.”
Jason Zada
Director, Award-Winning Storyteller
The Secret Sauce of Real-Time Storytelling
“One bad tweet doesn’t break a brand. BP Oil spilled all of the oil in the world into the Gulf of Mexico and we still fill up our cars there. Intent trumps all. Saying you’re sorry when no one does these days makes a difference.”
Gary Vaynerchuck
Entrepreneur, Storyteller
Gary Vaynerchuck Tells You How To Rock SXSW
“With Netflix and Hulu having original programming, the demand for that content is only going to get bigger. Television is moving closer and closer to Internet content.”
Megan Amram
Writer
How Twitter Humorists Landed Real World Gigs
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