30 January, 2015

How content marketing ruined content marketing (And what you can do to fix it…)Rob Hurst

Or at least content marketing as we know it.

Worn out. Used up. Over.

Don’t blame the audience for this, blame

yourself; blame marketers. Blame marketing.

We did this to ourselves when we learned

about content marketing – like a favourite old

toy, a trusty pair of shoes; we latched on, we

overdid it and this is why we can’t have nice

things.

Content marketing is over.

So what went wrong?

I think we’ve all been guilty of this one at some stage in the

past few years – most of us will have sent something to join

the ever growing content landfill in the sky, and it’s now

overflowing.

We’re all so used to seeing superfluous ‘content’ that could

just as easily be copy on a website that we’ve started to

ignore it.

We assume it’s going to be crap unless it comes with a

recommendation from someone whose opinion we value; a

friend, Stephen Fry, some distant local radio station’s meme-

laden Facebook page…

Our ‘marketing filters’ are set back to maximum and, by

default, we’re going to miss out on some of the good stuff in

our quest to ignore the bad.

Too much crap content

For years we’ve been told that we should try to

maximise the reach and usage of our content. To

squeeze every last penny out of the investment,

without an afterthought for the resulting dilution of the

message to the end audience.

Reaching the widest possible audience frequently

means targeting the lowest common denominator and

your brand has a clearly defined target audience, right?

So why the sudden need for those 10 million YouTube

views?

One size never really fits all

But more than anything

else, it’s hard to keep

up…

“Content fatigue”(When exponentially increasing volumes of

marketing content intersect our limited human capacity – and desire - to consume it).

Check out this advert from 2009.

That’s right, 2009.

Before we had “Content Fatigue”

there was, well, content fatigue. It’s

just that most of us didn’t have it

yet.

But the clever people at Harper’s

saw what was to come. And in

2015, content fatigue is going to go

viral.

Enough is enough

We may have started it, but it was the social networks that

dealt the final blow for what we currently know as content

marketing. And you can’t blame them.

The more content we produced, the more content that users

were faced with, the more crap that ended up on the online

content landfill, the more it needed organising.

This led to algorithms, algorithms to help users digest the

never ending stream of things they agreed to receive when

they ‘liked’ or ‘followed’ a brand online.

But it’s not entirely our fault…

Eventually it also led to paid content.

But what is paid content? And is it a bad thing?

But it’s not entirely our fault…

Shut up and take my money!

Paid content is fundamentally two things…

A ‘workaround’

Those algorithms I just mentioned, the ones that sorted content for

the end user? They meant that some content got left out. So when

Facebook and LinkedIn presented the opportunity to get posts and

content back in front of their users for a few dollars – many were so

relieved that they did. Likewise, as people followed more and more

Twitter accounts, more and more was missed. Twitter’s response

was to launch promoted and ‘pinned’ tweets for paid accounts,

allowing key content to stick out.

‘Monetisation’

Remember a few years ago when everybody questioned how the

businesses behind the social behemoths were ever going to make

money for their shareholders from a free-to-access platform? This

is how.

Why pay for something that’s free?

There is plenty of evidence supporting the benefits of

paid content, particularly when used to build campaign

reach, but also to improve targeting and audience

growth, providing the extra attention for high quality,

but only marginally successful campaigns to snowball.

After all, no matter how good, or how sharable your

content, if not enough people are seeing it to start with,

how successful can you really expect it to be?

Whilst Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and the others are free

to use, to make the most of any other platform with the kind

of potential reach and impact you would expect to pay for

the privilege. So what’s different here? As social media and

other earned channels evolve, so too will the ways we use

them.

It’s all coming to a head in 2015

Back in November Facebook warned us that they were going to

make a big change to the way that users’ News Feed displayed

content in the new year. These changes, in many ways, level

the playing field for brands – it’s not about the star-power, or

number of fans, but the quality and targeting of content.

Facebook’s research showed that users react negatively to

(lazy) promotional content – contests with no context, posts

driving users straight to download an app or make a purchase,

etc. The solution, won’t just punish bad content marketers, it’ll

affect us all. And what about LinkedIn? Since we all now have

the ability to publish blog posts, how long until we can spend a

couple of bucks to increase their reach amongst our

connections?

As it seems to always happen, some lazy marketers turned

social media into a push channel and so began its decline.

Let’s summarise…

Crap overloadToo much crap content has led audiences to engage their marketing defence defence systems once more.

Content overloadToo much content full stop. There are only so many hours in the day, no matter how engaging something might be, you need time to consume it.

Content fatigueNot only do we not have the time to consume everything, our patience is wearing thin.

Pay to playChannels are moving to favour paid over organic content.

The list goes on. It’s a tough

world for a content

marketer.

So what can you do to

yours is the content that

through the noise and

your target audience?

#1. Know your s**t. And stick to it.(Write a good content strategy – and use it)

Before you can create good content, you need

a good content strategy. A *really* good

content strategy doesn’t need to be

complicated either – why not take the elevator

pitch approach and write your strategy on a

single slide and ask yourself if you’re following

it before you create every piece of content.

One slide per target audience would also work

– just remember to KISS (Keep It Simple,

Stupid!).

Perhaps consider a checklist approach, as

shown on the right with GE’s brand strategy

checklist – if you can tick two or more

points off the list for a piece of content, if

not, back to the drawing board!

Write a content strategy, before you write any content

Does the content represent one of GE’s brand

guidelines? Select at least 2 that apply:

Shares a fascinating but little known fact.

Celebrates science/engineering ingenuity.

Insider engineering humour.

Explains societal impact of GE

products/R&D.

Encouragement to keep innovating.

Beauty of engineering design.

#2. Understand your target audience(And target them relentlessly)

There’s no sense in spending money on content creation without giving a

thought to those that you hope will engage with it. Think hard about your

target audiences and what they need from you in order to be able to better

do their job – think about the assets you can produce in order to facilitate

this and close that gap.

Study both your analytics and try asking them the kinds of content they

want to see and the channels they want to use – customer surveys are a

great way to do this and feed this into your planning. Free tools like

Buzzsumo are another great way to find opportunities to engage your

audience, look at the top content for your key words and messages, the

type of content and why it’s succeeding and follow the top sharers to see

what else you can learn.

Digital, more than ever, presents the perfect opportunity to reach and

engage niche target audiences, so make sure you know who you’re

talking to, and where they hang out. Great creative means nothing if it

doesn’t speak to your target audience.

You can’t plan what to say if you don’t know who you’re

talking to.

#3. It’s all about what you say. Not how you say it.(Yes, that old chestnut…)

Yes, it is obvious. It’s also the single most important thing a content

marketer should recognise – the format/wrapper/whatever you

want to call your finished ‘asset’ is not the most important part of

your campaign. It’s the message that matters – if the messaging is

good, and it appeals to the right target audience then getting it in

front of them is certainly very important, yes. However, putting the

wrong message in front of the wrong audience, but with a slick

video is often-times what we end up doing. You might as well seal

your polished video in a bottle and throw it out to sea – it’ll probably

be about as effective.

To produce your single slide content strategy (see point #1.)

you need a clear, concise message, that speaks to your target

audience(s) before you produce a single piece of content.

Spend time researching your audience, speak to them, study

the analytics and look at what’s worked before, don’t just

create a video about your new big thing, think about the video

people want to see.

Messaging is king, not content.

#4. Invest in your content.(It’s supposed to be important, right?)

The less effective your content gets, the more you feel you have to make to

try and break through, but it’s unlikely that your budgets are going up if your

content is not performing. So the cost to produce these assets has to come

down.

But that in itself causes further problems as the quality is likely to suffer too.

It’s a vicious cycle.

While the web offers your brand an opportunity to reach an audience far

larger than mainstream TV, much of the best content out there is still being

made for TV and used online as something of an afterthought.

We’re not saying you should take a Superbowl spot next year, if you want to

compete, but the most exciting content marketing brands are starting to

spend online, where the impact can be so much higher.

Unless you can afford the price of entry for TV marketing, why not think

of YouTube as your opportunity to play with the big boys…

The best things in life aren’t free

#5. Invest in the visibility of your content.(If you’re investing in the asset, best make sure it’s seen, eh?)

Organic and paid are converging, each

becoming more dependent upon the other in

the on-going struggle to be noticed. Naturally

you still need great organic content, otherwise

your audience are never going to care and the

end result will be more of the same. So while

we’re not suggesting you throw money at

everything, dedicate a portion of your budget to

paid content, spend wisely and learn from your

experiences.

Aim high and let paid tip you over the edge

– pick the assets that are performing best

and spend reactively to give them a boost

and you could find views, shares and likes

snowballing.

If the shoe fits, buy it.

#6. Get your user journeys in order. Before you start.(Just in case you end up with some successful content on your hands)

If you’re lucky, (and perhaps if you follow some of these tips

you will be) your content might lead to your target audience

engaging with your brand online, which is the goal in all of

this, right?

So why, then, is the user experience so often ignored as part

of the campaign planning process? If we get it right and

create an influx of visitors to our website, would those visitors

be expecting too much in their desire to receive a considered

and consistent experience? Perhaps even one that leads on

from the content they’ve just encountered?

Getting the user journey right is as important as getting

the message and content right – why let yourself fall at

the last hurdle – consider the campaign entry points to

your website, how people will find them and what you

want them to do on the site, and make damn sure the site

helps make it happen.

User experience is not just for designers.

#7. Understand the channels you’re using.(And recognise the ones you shouldn’t be!)

How do you know it’s right if you don’t know what it is?

It’s all too easy to read about a Snapchat and/or any number

of other ‘niche’ platforms, and panic – ‘Why aren’t we on

“Image/ non-traditional video sharing platform of the

month”?!’.

If you’ve ever seen how a teenager actually uses Snapchat,

for example, you’ll realise that you probably not only don’t

want your brand to engage so intensively, but also that you’d

be hard-pushed to sustain and resource such activity unless

it was really paying off. And with a reported $750K/day price

tag to advertise, paying is clearly not the answer in this

instance…

However, the brands that *can* use Snapchat (and do so in

a way that their audience can relate to) are reaping the

benefits.

We’re not saying you need to be on Snapchat, instead

to make sure you really understand a platform and not

just why, but also how to use it before you

#8. Measure the right things.(100 > 100,000 – when they’re the right 100)

Some 70% of B2B marketers claim their team has a gap in

the digital skills they need, with almost half saying that gap is

in analytics and reporting. This is not really a surprise as the

most valuable things to measure have always been the

hardest (or most expensive) to get right.

But that shouldn’t be an excuse to not measure – nor should it

be an excuse to just follow the simple metrics. Think about

what you need to know, what will truly indicate your content is

cutting through and delivering on your business goals.

Think about what combination of simple metrics will help

you understand what you need to know, or what the

missing link is in finding out and work to understand that,

not just how many clicks you get on your emails and

tweets.

Think what you need to know, not what can you easily find

out.

#9. Make great content.(Because crap content got us into this mess)

Easier said than done, I suppose, but instead of

plucking creative out of thin air, think about what

you’ve learned from every campaign you’ve ever

run. Think about your target audiences and the

messaging and content you know works to reach

them. Hell, hire an agency *ahem* but, whatever

you do, don’t launch into content creation without

putting the foundations in place to succeed.

Consider the three pillars for great content

and try to tick off at least two with every asset

you produce and make sure all three are

covered as part of each campaign.

If you know the audience, channel and message, you’re nearly

there.

Emotional gratification

Identity

Information

“This speaks to me”I *get* it…

“I feel something” Happy/sad/amused…

“I learned something” Good/scary/useful…

And there you have it…

Still losing the battle for attention?If you’re struggling to cut through the noise, don’t

make another asset until you’ve spoken to Omobono.

info@omobono.com

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