A Better Class of Cook in the Content Kitchen
Why content quality is more important than ever
Last week, I wrote about our digital diets, how we should pay attention to the information we take in and how it effects our intellectual fitness.
In an article Tuesday, I hinted at the responsibility we have as content marketers to provide high value options for our prospects to include in those digital diets. I wanted to expand that idea a little bit here.
The End of the Fast Food (Pageview) Era
Let me frame the scene:
As we start to hear the death rattle of pageviews as the go-to content marketing metric, content marketers have a tremendous amount of freedom to try new content that doesn’t necessarily have to drive clicks and visits. However, this opportunity requires us to break some of the bad habits we’ve acquired from years focused only on obtaining clicks.
For many content marketers, basing a strategy on clickbait, snappy headlines and easily consumed listicles, made a lot of sense. You needed something that was easy to consume and even easier to produce. You needed content that appealed to your audiences desire to click and you were not held to metrics like engagement, attention, or quality. You took the fast food, i.e. McDonalds, approach and it was the smart one to take when your only requirement is getting people through the door.
The Era of the Master Chef
However, as our understanding of the value of content evolves, the quality of your content marketing becomes much more of a factor. Clickbait, or low value content with a snappy headline is no longer the right tool for the job. Instead of the McDonald’s model, you now have the ability to become a man revered in my old hometown of Atlanta, Linton Hopkins.
Chef Linton Hopkins serves 24 handcrafted, locally sourced burgers each night at his pub Holeman & Finch in Atlanta. Just 24, each night. They are perfectly crafted with exceptional care and something worthy of reverence. And it goes without saying that they blow a McDonalds burger out of the water. This type of craftsman ship and care is what it takes to build a loyal following and generate customers. It has worked for Hopkins’ pub and it can work for your content.
It’s time to take stock of your content and examine your goals and motivations. Are you creating content designed to optimize click-throughs, or are you delivering content that is so great and so well crafted that your audience couldn’t get it anywhere else?
What do you think about the role of quality and metrics in content? Let me know in the comments below.
Matt Wesson is the content marketing manager at Salesforce. Follow him on Twitter or see more articles on his LinkedIn page.
