Marketing is Like a Soma Cube
Content Marketing is Like a Puzzle. Start With the Easiest Challenge.
I Like Content Like I Like Puzzles
Content creators and strategists must constantly keep their minds sharp. Social media marketing, or any type of marketing for that matter is a challenge.It requires focus, logical thinking and creativity. Dare I say that it requires the kind of brain power that’s needed to solve a puzzle?
If you’re lucky, you’ll find a hint or two along the way, but hints only provide one aspect to the solution. Marketing content, like most puzzles can employ different paths to the solution. It’s never easy.
The other night I was fiddling with a Soma Cube. Invented by Piet Hein in 1903, it consists of seven pieces, that when assembled correctly, result in a cube or any other number of three-dimensional structures.The particular one I own comes with sixty challenge cards. The challenges range from animals like snakes and scorpions, to variations on pyramids and multi-level structures.
I’m slowly working my way through the deck. Each challenge is more difficult than the next, each solution a bit more complex. This complexity sometimes frustrates me and I often need to break away from it for fear of losing my mind. I wish I could say the same thing when it comes to creating content. In the real world, if a client expects something, you must deliver. You’re a paid puzzle-solver!
It got me thinking.
The Challenge of Finding a Solution
The process of curating and creating content leaves you with pieces much that like those of a Soma Cube. Each one is different, but every one is integral to completing the puzzle. It’s just a matter of assembling those pieces (content) into the required structure (context) that fits with your marketing goal. Keep in mind that something like an overarching goal is very broad. You can’t solve the entire deck at one time. Instead, you solve individual challenges as you go.
The more content you curate and create, the more you will realize that it’s all the same. I have read hundreds of articles on social media marketing, and when I stand back and take a look at the massive amount of information I have digested, the more I realize that it’s all the same. Like the Soma Cube, the pieces remain the same, but the way they’re assembled is what differentiates one story from another.
Puzzle Pieces = Content (Curated and Created by you). A product of our research, insights, and our own shared personal views.
Puzzle Structure = Context (Social media posts, or any other content). How we assemble the the different snippets of content to form uniquely relatable stories.
The content marketing game is like a puzzle challenge. It can’t be solved overnight. Even Erno Rubik, the inventor of the Rubik’s Cube took a month or more to figure out the algorithms to solve his own invention.
Once you have collected the pieces through your research and your own input, then you can begin to piece them together. Start with an easy challenge, it can be something as simple as writing a 140-character tweet. Then you can move up to a longer-form Facebook post and then eventually a short blog. Soon you’ll have enough puzzle pieces and solution experience to solve more difficult puzzles like white papers or perhaps even a book. Start small and work your way up.
I’m always trying to solve one puzzle or another. They’re fun (some of the time), but more importantly, they provide a workout for my mind.
The compulsion to solve puzzles translates well to content. It’s difficult at first, but with time it becomes habit-forming. Make it a habit and you’ll become a content generating machine.
Soma Cubes can be purchased online from a number of sources. The one I have is made by ThinkFun, and marketed as Block By Block. Give it a try. What shapes will you construct with your own puzzle pieces?
