All to say: Today, we start with digital marketing and how content is king; as in, content has been king, content is king, and content will continue to be king. The biggest hurdle to keeping up with this next evolution of marketing is this: focusing on channels vs. strategies. So, without further ado, here are…!
5 Reasons Content Is DOMINATING Digital Marketing
1. Search & Social Are Getting Smarter.
If you haven’t heard, you’re gonna hear plenty: Facebook, amongst other platforms, is doing their best to campaign against click bait and bring it to extinction. What used to work in mass sharing, mass attraction, and creating click magnets… just isn’t working so well these days. Many forms of social and search mediums are upgrading personalized algorithms to the next level. Not only that; but, they are making it much harder, much more expensive, and much less rewarding for companies to merely re-hash, re-shuffle, and re-share. As always, as people get smarter, technology gets smarter, too. And, it only makes sense as in this age of information with so very much noise, it is the curation of information that is truly valuable. At least, so says NYT Best Seller, Daniel Pink.
2. People Are Getting Fed Up.
People get it. And, people are getting fed up. No one wants to see those promoted posts anymore. WHY? Because, it brings no value to their time browsing on their phones. Besides…
In all seriousness, content that isn’t not relevant is NOT valuable. Playing in tandem of the fact that social and search engines are getting a heck of a lot smarter — people simply don’t want to have their new feeds flooded with a bunch of ads that have nothing to do with them. More and more, users are modifying their usage styles to favor minimalistic advertising modes. Why? THEY WANT CONTENT! People want content that is relevant, valuable, entertaining, actionable, and ultimately, worth their time so they don’t have massive regret after clicking on something.
3. Good Content Is Inherently Organic.
Good content is inherently organic. It can’t be spun or spammed; templates eventually become see through, with little substance as copies are written, re-written, and over-written… time and time again. The thing about good content is this: it live on forever. Good content is timeless. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve referred back to amazing blog posts, podcasts, videos, etc. as references to and/for myself or for others. Some of my “classic” content from the old days still gets a LOT of traction. There are constantly new likes and new follows on channels I have long since abandoned. Why? Content.
4. Synergistic Behavior Amongst Channels.
What’s more important? Paid or organic traffic? Or, how about this: What’s more important? Inbound or outbound marketing? The answer: THEY ALL MATTER! Once again, it all comes down to content. When you have a strong foundational content base, traffic organically will surround your digital footprint. When you precisely target with paid content, user behaviors will re-centralize from paid to organic content, closing the loop and creating a positive feedback loop. The same goes for inbound vs outbound tactics. No matter what, if what your selling has no substance, people won’t buy. Period. However, if your content is good; people will always cluster around to take a look. We see this in the most aggressive of markets: Trade Shows. Booths with good content will always have a crowd. Booths with less than relevant stuff… you just feel bad for.
5. Social Proof.
Social proof has been and will always be a thing. Everyone does it. We all ask for recommendations when we’re shopping around. Whether that is in person, over the phone, or most likely, via online reviews; proofing a brand has everything to do with the content a company puts out, AND, the engagement they inspire. If it’s all crickets… NO GOOD! However, if conversation is consistent — and — consistency IS key! What you will find is that across all social (and, even search) platforms, companies with a strong depth chart of social proof tend to not only have the loyal support of the public… whenever such a company comes out with new content, the general market response is seemingly this:
Some Closing Thoughts
Isn’t all this biased? Well… sure it is! It’s about as biased in favor of “Content is King” as much as I’m biased in favor of Physical Therapy as healthcare’s secret weapon, yet to be used. Biased? Sure. Evidence based? DEFINITELY. Across all industries, we are learning that no matter their marketing strategy, if their content is good… their outcomes are good. If their content is bad… well, they won’t be around for much longer.
Content is dominating digital marketing simply because there has never been a more technologically streamlined time in human history where good content is rewarded through user behaviors and bad content is condemned in the same vein.
Again… “digital” marketing will be a strange archaic redundancy in years to come. If you wish to stay at the cutting edge of marketing practice: PRODUCE GOOD CONTENT.
PS. Don’t miss out on Gene & myself, speaking at Ascend Event. Also, if you’re interested in getting a stronger foundation on how Content Marketing needs to be leveraged as more than just a marketing channel, check out UpDoc Media’s Crash Course In Content Marketing!
PPS. I’m excited that this is the 1st of multiple blogposts which will cover business, marketing, and some important life lessons. Stay tuned leading up to #AscendEvent for perspectives you’ll ONLY get here at UpDoc Media, “The Content You NEED To Know, Delivered With Clinical Precision.”
