Taking a Hard Look at Content Marketing in a “Post-Truth” Era

I’ve resolutely stayed away from political references in my writing ever since the election started to get really crazy for one simple reason:

I have no desire to throw myself into the pool of pirañas that is social media, where one politically leaning comment equates to the drop of blood that sets off the “fuck you!” feeding frenzy from those leaning the opposite way.

But theres something that’s been bothering me to the point that I’ll risk the social media attacks. Over the last few weeks I’ve had a question gnawing away at me that I need to address: “What happens to content marketing in our current ‘post-truth’ era?”

Content Marketers are at Fault. Big Time.

Wikipedia defines post-truth politics as:

“A political culture in which debate is framed largely by appeals to emotion disconnected from the details of policy, and by the repeated assertion of talking points to which factual rebuttals are ignored”

In short, it’s the dumbing down of arguments, the removal of substance, and the building of intellectual walls. Pretty awful right?

Most people conceptually understand why this is a problem, but they feel too divorced from the information sources to do something about it. It’s much easier to sleep at night when you can tell yourself that you’re the victim, not part of the problem. But in truth, you’re not as divorced from the problem as you think. The way you speak to others, the way you write, and yes, especially the way you produce your content marketing can all fall under the post-truth model.

It’s not just a news problem, it’s a communication problem.

This might be the first time I say this and I’m not proud of it, but in respect to this harmful communication style, content marketers were ahead of the curve. For years I’ve seen content marketing moving in the wrong direction. Content is no longer focused on educating and providing value. It’s focused on catchy titles and higher conversion rates. We’ve honed in on the tactics that get us the results and completely forgotten what our goal was. It’s like a parent feeding their child junk food because they forgot the goal was to get them to eat healthy, not eat the most.

In both cases, it’s harmful to our relationships. Those kids will resent their parent when they’re overweight and diabetic, and your audience with resent you when they realize you’ve taught them nothing. Most content is not helping customers. It’s designed to appeal to emotions and shortened attention spans with no regard for the value it provides to the reader. As long as they click on it, it’s done it’s job.

But it hasn’t. Not in my eyes. And I hope not in the eyes of the other content marketers that still remember what content was supposed to be. We need to hold ourselves to a higher standard.

Respect the Craft and Yourself

I was dumbfounded when the president-elect flatly refused to take a question from CNN report Jim Acosta during his first press conference last week. He instead chose to admonish CNN as “fake news,” and “terrible.”

While there are many troubling facets of this interaction, the one that stuck with many journalists is that calling CNN “fake news,” simply isn’t true. Does the network have a left-leaning spin most of the time? Sure. But CNN and journalists everywhere hold themselves to the highest standards of integrity and truth. They wouldn’t be legitimate news organizations if they didn’t. Calling CNN fake news discredits this rigorous professional ethos for all journalists.

That’s probably why Fox news anchor Shepard Smith defended his rival network, saying “Though we at Fox News cannot confirm CNN’s report, it is our observation that its correspondents followed journalist standards, and that neither they nor any other journalist should be subjected to belittling and delegitimizing by the president-elect of the United States.”

Good for you Shep! You can view the short clip here.

However, the part of this that saddens me the most, is that if those same attacks were leveled at a content marketer, virtually any content marketer, they’d probably be true.

The part of this that saddens me the most, is that if those same attacks were leveled at a content marketer, virtually any content marketer, they’d probably be true.

I see so much content published every day that fits perfectly with many of the accusations leveled at the press these last few months.

“Useless”: What Taylor Swift and Apps Can Teach Us About Sales and Marketing Alignment.

“Terrible”: 12 Things I Learned About Marketing From Donald Trump

“Fake News”: Cold Calling Is Dead, Thanks To LinkedIn

It’s deeply frustrating to be part of a profession where we’re all judged by the posts above. It would be like lumping in segments from the Today show with the real reporting happening elsewhere at NBC.

The dichotomy between click-bait and real content is huge, but we’re all getting judged as a profession together.

We Need More Content Integrity

If you’ve written a post that falls into the categories above, don’t worry, you’re not alone. We’ve all done it. But you need to take a hard look at yourself as a professional moving forward and decide if this is what you want content marketing to become. Do you want to be part of the slippery slope that ends in you posting kitten gifs and marketing your product like an infomercial? Or do you want to add some accountability and integrity back into this profession?

Our job as content marketers is very simple. We communicate valuable information to our target audience through enjoyable content experiences. Our weapon of choice is words, and those words carry with them responsibility that can’t be ignored. The way we use those words matters.

• We can educate or mislead
• We can help or harm
• We can waste time or provide value
• We can write another fucking list post or we can be original.

I don’t expect you to choose the moral high ground every time. But even considering the impact your words have and where they land on the spectrums above is a step in the right direction toward. It’s a step towards greater integrity, more respect for ourselves and our audience, and a profession we can be proud of.

About the author: Matt Wesson is the Director of Content & Creative at SalesLoft. Follow him on Twitter or see more articles on his LinkedIn page.