According to Mark Schaefer, author of The Content Code, producing amazing content is just the starting place for content marketing. He contends that the most important question is... is it working?
Mark uses the term content shock to describe the ramification of exponential increases in content at a time when our capacity to consume content is already close to being maxed out. As anecdotal evidence of this, a Google search of the term "content marketing" returns 384 MILLION listings, 64.5 million in the last week, and 2.74 million in just the last 24 hours. I don't know about you, but as interested in the topic as I am, I haven't exactly made a dent in todays reading material (but then again, it's early in the day).
So with the shear, rapidly-increasing volume of content, how in the world do you bring attention to YOUR content? I mean, let's face it, if nobody reads your content, it isn't really working, is it?
Like most folks that are advocates of content marketing, I believe that producing amazing content it critical. To the degree that we are able to produce that for ourselves (at 30dps) and our clients, we sometimes delude ourselves into thinking that we've accomplished something important. But the truth is, if your content niche is saturated (i.e. a search results in more than a million pages), if you haven't ensured that the content you're producing is connecting, engaging, and moving through the network via social sharing, you are essentially talking to yourself. Given that the vast majority of consumers (70%) are more likely to make a purchase based off of their friends' social media updates, if you're not amplifying your messages by taking full advantage of social sharing, your content isn't working.
In The Content Code, Mark Schaefer suggests the following three tactics to use in an over-saturated content niche:
- Focus on sub-categories.
- Explore different types of content.
- Focus more on exposure than production.
Content shock can be a bit frightening, and the challenge of these three tactics can also be daunting. If you'd like help making sure that you not only are producing amazing content, but are also connecting and engaging your audience, please don't hesitate to reach out to us.
