Humans are king. Content is not.
Yesterday I read Nathan’s piece Is “content marketing” dead? (and you should read it too). I think he gave some really good points on content marketing for companies.
Content marketing is (definitely) not dead. However, it is getting a lot harder to do it right.
Over the last few years, I’ve seen companies experimenting with what the majority calls “content marketing”. So, why is it so hard to do content marketing nowadays?
- Chances are high that there’s already someone in your industry doing content marketing. You must be better than everybody else.
- Content marketing is a triathlon. Not a marathon.
- Humans are king, content is not.
Let’s zoom in for a second.
Be better.
As Nathan mentioned in his article, you need to get better. Yes. Read his advice and follow it. You simply must be better than your competition when doing content marketing.
If you spent 10 hours on creating a new blog post in the past, spend 20 hours now. As most companies have limited resources for creating content this is probably the biggest challenge people face.
It’s getting even worse, as content marketing is not a short run. Better be prepared for that.
Content marketing is a triathlon.
If this has been already true a couple of years ago, you might find yourself in a triathlon today. Being great in one discipline (writing) is not enough any longer. Become an expert at multiple areas, such as writing, podcasting, or creating videos.
One channel at a time. More time, more channels.
When talking with fellow marketers, I try to emphazise the importance of focus. When starting out with content marketing I recommend to completely focus on one channel, one content format for the time being.
As a beginner with zero audience you can’t compete on various levels. However, you can become the expert in one particular area for one particular topic.
However, you should not stop there. Nathan mentioned in his article that Buffer lost nearly half of their social referral traffic. What he didn’t mention is that Buffer is now experimenting with a lot of other channels and formats (such as snapchatting, podcasting, and live streaming).
So, better prepare yourself to become the content triathlete.
Humans are king. Content is not.
You know what they say? Content is king.
I’m not sure if this still holds true in todays marketing world. Content, especially the most valuable one, is still super important for your business, but I would neglect calling it king.
Humans are king.
In today’s marketing world we talk a lot about “users” and how those users perceive our content. What we actually mean is “humans”.
I wrote about users and humans earlier. To sum it up, the term ‘user’ implicitly assumes a high level of immersion from users. And we forget that the attention of humans (on a website for example) is heavily influenced by the mental state of humans.
As content marketers our responsibility is not creating great content, it’s building relationships with humans.
About me:
By day I’m head of marketing at usersnap. In my free time I speak, write, and teach about marketing. I’m also totally into football (we don’t like calling it ‘soccer’ here in Europe) and traveling.
PS: If you’re in Austria and want to chat about marketing or anything else with me, send me a tweet, a Facebook message, or email at hello(at)thomas-peham(dot)com.
PPS: My next travel stops are Bangkok, Helsinki, and Berlin. Drop me a note if you want to chat about content marketing or simply have a cup of ☕️.
