My friend Gini Dietrich (who we featured in our latest\u00a0digital marketing blogs\u00a0list)\u00a0recently published a post sharing\u00a010 content ideas. \u00a0But that\u2019s not actually what I want to talk about today.<\/p>\n
I caught this post via her Tweet on the subject, in which she\u00a0said\u00a0the post was \u201cfor all of you who write content.\u201d<\/p>\n
To which I\u00a0responded:\u00a0so, everyone then. Gini replied and\u00a0noted\u00a0that there are lots of people reading that run businesses, are in real estate, or other industries that \u201caren\u2019t content related.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maybe it doesn\u2019t appear that these people or companies are content related at face value. But in a world where\u00a0every company is a media company,\u00a0every<\/em>\u00a0business is content related. And that makes every\u00a0passionate\u00a0professional, marketer or otherwise, a content creator.<\/p>\n A lot of people pushed back on this concept which we touched on in a\u00a0previous post titled:\u00a0if your team hates blogging, you need a new team. Like it or not, that\u2019s the world we live in. Besides, how can anyone\u00a0hate<\/em>\u00a0to create content in a category they are involved in and have commitment to?<\/p>\n Adopting\u00a0the publisher mindset\u00a0provides a distinct advantage in the form of content, a currency that builds inbound traffic, helps establish\u00a0authority, influence and trust\u00a0as well as positions your company as a premium brand. Not to mention attracting talent, PR value, social shares, alleviating customer service requests, nurturing qualified leads, etc. The list goes on.<\/p>\n Of course, you don\u2019t\u00a0have<\/em>\u00a0to embrace a content-centric approach to the world. But others are going to: whether by known competitors or those you didn\u2019t even consider competition seeking to dominate a category on the web.<\/p>\n Some additional thoughts about being content-centric from my own experiences getting brands to embrace this approach:<\/p>\n Your subject matter experts can speak from an insider perspective<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019ve not only helped countless brands create digital strategies over the years, I\u2019ve worked hands-on with team members (including those outside the marketing areas of an organization) on developing a voice and creating content as part of their jobs. And time and time again, we see subject matter experts providing the highest quality ideas that organically resonate with insiders. Your marketing team members certainly can make this content web-friendlier, but don\u2019t ignore the power of insiders to create content (and, ideally making content a part of their daily process). The right subject matter expert can be\u00a0as valuable as an entire PR firm.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t\u00a0just<\/em>\u00a0think in terms of blog posts: content could be video, forum discussions, you name it \u2013 create, then optimize \/\u00a0<\/strong>re-purpose<\/strong><\/p>\n Match the appropriate medium to the individual. For example, I previously worked with a CMO who we were never able to get to write a single word of a blog post. We tried video which he was equally reticent against creating with frequency. Then we tried podcasting, which he\u00a0loved.<\/em>\u00a0We couldn\u2019t get him to stop. But we didn\u2019t stop there, we had the audio transcribed, optimized, paired with an image and turned into blog posts. This also accomplished our text-based goals for thought leadership. Get creative with this and extend the life \/ reach across platforms with what you do get created.<\/p>\n Those with the most passion for what they do participate in industry discussions<\/strong><\/p>\n Many of my peers (digital natives) who grew up to be business leaders live at the top of \u00a0Jacob\u00a0Nielsen\u2019s\u00a0participation inequality\u00a0pyramid. The ones who\u00a0really\u00a0<\/em>cared about what they\u2019re doing were meta-cognitive about their category and created content surrounding it. It was just a natural extension of our lives, so it wasn\u2019t something we thought we \u201chad to do,\u201d we simply did it. It was a joy, not a chore. Find and tap those with passion and content starts to be seen as something they \u201cget to do\u201d vs. \u201chave to do.\u201d<\/p>\n If you\u2019re embracing the notion that every company is a media company, all your team members are media producers (aka content creators)<\/strong><\/p>\n Limiting content creation to marketing or PR is shortsighted. Sure, one department can own it, but it should also be shared throughout the organization. There is a huge competitive advantage for everyone from customer service, to engineering departments, to the leadership teams creating content. Brands who socialize content creation internally and make it a part of\u00a0everyone\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0job description, whether that job traditionally involved creating content or not, are far better positioned to win their niche.<\/p>\n Educate your clients \/ company: the captive audience is dead, in a fragmented media world quality content isn\u2019t a \u201cnice to have\u201d \u2026it\u2019s a requirement<\/strong><\/p>\n No one has a monopoly on attention anymore. And in a world where the captive audience is dead, content is advertising (and advertising is content) as Mike Masnick\u00a0likes to say. Embrace this notion and flip your communications so quality, valuable content is\u00a0produced consistently\u00a0(by marketing and beyond) and you\u2019ll be far better positioned to build an opt-in audience who\u00a0wants<\/em>\u00a0to hear your messages.<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t think you can become content-centric, you\u2019re probably right. You have to\u00a0want<\/em>\u00a0to. But for those who want to it\u2019s entirely possible. Here are\u00a0some ideas\u00a0if you think you\u2019re too busy (you\u2019re likely not, you only think it).<\/p>\n I actually think Gini and I are on the same page about this stuff, but I get it, priorities, priorities \u2013 perhaps content isn\u2019t at the top of your list. With that said, my personal opinion is this stuff isn\u2019t optional: this is the new world we live in and it\u2019s (past)\u00a0time to adapt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My friend Gini Dietrich (who we featured in our latest\u00a0digital marketing blogs\u00a0list)\u00a0recently published a post sharing\u00a010 content ideas. \u00a0But that\u2019s … <\/p>\n