Content is king? Maybe, but there are too many kingdoms

Over the past few years, “content marketing” has become a hot trend in the marketing communications business. We have started to become accustomed to seeing websites, Twitter feeds, Facebook posts, corporate blogs and so on that don’t necessarily try to sell us a product in particular, but bring us in and allow us to engage with their brand for a moment (Moz, 2016). A guide published by Internet marketing firm Moz cites Portent CEO Ian Lurie as describing content as “anything that communicates a message to an audience. Anything.” (Moz, 2016). And content marketing is using any kind of content to influence and change customer behavior (Content Marketing Institute, 2016).

Content marketing approaches on the web involve such interactions as video storytelling , interactive slide shows  and memories of a brand’s most famous spokesman.

There’s plenty of advice out there telling companies to get in the content-marketing game – there even was a post on this very blog.

But how effective can content marketing be if there’s so much of it that people don’t have time to find it?

Kara Burney of the company Trackmaven reports (2016) that in 2015, the amount of marketing content made by more than 22,000 brands grew by some 35 percent, the amount of interaction people had with that content actually decreased 17 percent. Marketing consultant Mark Schaefer (2016a) cites statistics from Trackmaven and others that show that much brand content is simply ineffective, noting for example that half of “professionally marketed blog posts receive fewer than eight social shares.” It’s a condition he describes as “content shock.” (Schaefer, 2016b)

The reason is clear, Schaefer says (2016b) – the amount of content available is growing at a rate far greater than our ability to consume it. Content on the web should grow by 500 percent over the next five years, but we human beings have much less capacity for growth – we consume 11 hours a day of content already, Schaefer notes. And if the average American sleeps just under 7 hours per day (Jones, 2013), then we only have capacity to grow our content consumption by 54% — assuming we do nothing with our time other than consume content and sleep.

Schaefer believes (2016b) that only by creating stronger and stronger content can a company stave off content shock – it will benefit consumers, he says, as they will have more choice and variety to choose from. It is the same idea as that which happened with television – there are several times more channels and shows to choose from today than there were a few decades ago, but the amount of TV people watch hasn’t increased (Burney, 2016).

Clearly it’s not enough anymore to create a website, flash out a couple tweets and call your digital strategy good!

References

Burney, K. (2016). Introducing the Content Marketing Paradox Revisited. Trackmaven. Retrieved from: http://trackmaven.com/blog/2016/02/content-marketing-strategy-report/

Jones, J. (2013). In U.S., 40% get less than recommended amount of sleep. Gallup. Retrieved from: http://www.gallup.com/poll/166553/less-recommended-amount-sleep.aspx

Moz (2016). Is content marketing right for my business? Retrieved from https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-content-marketing/is-content-right-for-my-business

Schaefer, M. (2016a). Break the mold: Why content marketing needs to be like a chalupa. Grow. Retrieved from: http://www.businessesgrow.com/2016/02/22/content-marketing-needs-to-be-like-a-chalupa/

Schaefer, M. (2016b). Content shock. Grow. Retrieved from: http://www.businessesgrow.com/2014/01/06/content-shock/