Driving awareness, providing entertainment and generating profit
Content: It’s what we consume — sometimes intentionally, other times
subliminally. But we are inundated with it every minute in today’s information
economy.
But what is “content”? On today’s fast-paced Web, content arrives in
many forms and through many channels — audio, video, research papers,
images, product descriptions and consumer reviews — it’s all content. And,
it’s increasingly taking center stage. Google formally rolled out its new Caffeine
index in early June, 2009, and the search engine is now
showing 50-percent fresher results from its largest collection of information
ever assembled. At the Caffeine launch, Google stated that, “... every
second, Caffeine processes hundreds of thousands of pages in parallel. If
this were a pile of paper it would grow three miles taller every second.”
In other words, there is more content available on
the Web than ever before, and it’s being delivered
to consumers at blinding speeds. To make your
content stand out in a saturated market (and ensure
that it ultimately influences sales and conversions),
you will need to rethink content as an
asset — then retool for the new content experience.
Of course, this might require reconfiguring
some aspects of your business and marketing
plans but you will find that content is the best
means to accomplish any number of critical tasks,
from sales to support.
You will quickly discover that meaningful results
come not from simply pumping out an endless
stream of content but by producing content
that entertains or educates (or both at the same
time). In today’s fast-paced, big-profit world,
consumers want opinions, analysis and techniques.
They want insights and answers, and
they will look to you or your competitors for that
information.
Consumers increasingly want to feel connected.
And the single best way to accomplish that is to
create not just content but content that offers a
complete and immersive experience. If, like me,
you groan at every mention of “produce quality
content”, you will want to keep reading. What follows
are practical, actionable ways to create content
that engages, entertains and educates, and
brings consumer awareness to your business and
its brand for the purpose of profiting.
Infographics for Entertainment
and Education
Several years ago when search engines feverishly
began indexing images and displaying them on
search results, a new category of “universal” search
engine optimization (SEO) emerged. In many respects
it was a precursor to the real-time index so
closely examined today. The possibilities were endless
for Web professionals interested in grabbing
additional reach on search engine results pages
(SERPs), and consumers were intrigued by the
more engaging, immersive experience that resulted.
The same holds true today.
What many quickly discovered, however, was
that the value to the bottom line brought by the use
of images (one medium in the new age of universal,
user-generated content) was minimal; unless it
connected users to a deeper brand experience.
Enter infographics — visual representations of information,
data or knowledge.
Information, particularly in the knowledge
economy, is complicated to express quickly or
clearly as concepts can often be unwieldy, at best,
and outright messy and confusing at their worst.
No more.
Making an infographic such an inviting item of
content are its various forms, including charts, diagrams,
tables, maps and lists; and the fact that it is
ideal for summarizing reams of statistical information
in an appealing and easy-to-digest way. Infographics
can be diagrams to show how a system
works, illustrated graphics to show relationships
between sets of data, or even something as simple
as a flowchart to signify progress. When used properly,
infographics can provide a new way for users
to process information that you want to convey in
a convincing manner — that connecting with your
brand is the right thing to do.
Instead of turning over stacks of raw data to
your designer and asking them to work their magic,
know there are a few tools available that make creating
your own infographics a fast, if not fun undertaking
for content developers.
One of the best is Tableau Public (tableausoftware.
com), a free software that can be downloaded
to create some amazingly intense visualizations
of data. A gallery is available on the site and it
accurately demonstrates the variety of infographics that can be created. For example, Stephen McDaniel
of Freakalytics used the software to display complex
relationships between multiple metrics looking at
stock market patterns relative to economic conditions
from 1901-2008 (bit.ly/bMbA0M). But data
isn’t just for geeks. CBS Sports used Tableau to create
an infographic to help fantasy football enthusiasts
select the best running back for the 2009 season
(bit.ly/a553V9), and it was interactive, to boot.
Infographics, for the most part, have gained
mainstream adoption. It may be time to add the
medium to your content strategy when you see the
likes of The New York Times Visualization Lab (a
Web-based tool that uses Many Eyes technology
from IBM Research — bit.ly/bHli8S) enabling its
users to create their own visualizations using data
from multiple news sources.
Remember that images, illustrations and infographics
are but a few powerful opportunities available
to help develop a more immersive content
experience. There are many others. (Review the sidebar to this section on creating compelling, useful infographics which appeared in the August 2010 issue of Website Magazine)
White Papers
and Thought Leadership
Those seeking information on solutions, trends
and technologies are the ideal audience for a content
marketing strategy. Our question throughout
is not just what kind of content to create but what
format will resonate best. The answer, particularly
for those in business-to-business industries, is
white papers.
Think of white papers as nothing more than
a highly strategic means to persuade a consumer
to make a purchase (albeit subtly), or a straightforward
manner to propose a solution to a
problem. This is, however, where most content
publishers get stuck. Writers and content development
teams must tailor content to a specific
audience; addressing their concerns and satisfying
their interests if greater brand engagement
and helping that prospect move down the sales
funnel is the aim — which, in marketing, should
always be the end game.
White papers, when all is said and done, are no
more complicated to create and distribute than
any other medium. But subtlety is of paramount
importance. Content developers must be able to demonstrate their knowledge and emphasize the
uniqueness and advantages of one solution over another
in a gentle yet convincing manner — the
reader must receive an education first and be convinced
of the right solution underneath.
To do this effectively, much like other content
development processes, you need to understand
the target audience and consider the time and
method of reading such papers. More often than
not, white papers tend to be overly exhaustive reviews
of some trend or another that can be more
confusing than useful. The way to counteract this
malignant practice is to provide engaging, succinct
overviews.
Summaries and abstracts work well and can
be used in a variety of other content marketing
campaigns. More importantly, however, they provide
material that gives that busy executive a reason
to jump to the end paragraphs and
conclusion where you are able to describe how
your product resolves the problem at hand —
ideally with empirical evidence, case studies or
expert testimonials.
Thanks to white papers’ ease of dissemination
it is optimal to keep the complexity to a minimum.
Industry jargon and strange acronyms
alienate prospects and can inflict long-term
damage to a brand. However, providing succinct
and useful information and solutions can provide
a tremendous lift and secure long-term
brand equity and provide lifetime value to
consumers. But where should white papers be
distributed and what should you expect from
their consumption?
White papers are powerful tools to build your
brand and express knowledge and expertise but
don’t expect them to be a source of high-quality
leads — at least at the outset of their distribution.
Often, consumers of white papers simply look for
explanations and perhaps even ideas. Only when
the time is right will all that sophisticated, subliminal
branding come into play. The goal should be that
when consumers think of a product or a solution
they will recall your white paper and turn to you for
more answers to their problems. Sales cycles can be
exceedingly long in some cases, particularly for
those selling higher-priced items. So, tempering
your expectations and planning marketing campaigns
accordingly is the best course of action.
White papers can and should be distributed
anywhere your audience is visiting. That’s easier
said than done, however. Perhaps the optimal location
is on your own website, often done through
media and press centers. Doing so lets you control
what information is collected and easily gauge buying
intent versus browsing behavior.
There are also a variety of Web destinations
where your content can be freely shared.
Communities such as Scribd.com, Docstoc.com
and SlideShare.com are some of the most popular
resources. Each of these services enables you
to upload your documents and embed them on
your own site. Because the documents are actually
hosted by their sites, bandwidth consumption
is reduced and you get a leg up when
building your website’s online media center.
For some, turning to topically focused Web destinations
with established audiences is perhaps the
most viable opportunity to distribute content.
Should your content be news-worthy or data-driven,
then making an approach for editorial coverage
from a news or media portal is optimal. Find websites
where executives and decision-makers gather
for your industry and offer your expertise directly.
Rethinking Video
as an Immersive Experience
Consumers’ affinity for content outside of articles,
text product reviews, white papers and even entertaining
images is growing, as can be seen in the
continued use of audio and video.
Comscore’s April 2010 video metrics revealed
that, while the number of video viewers slipped
slightly month-over-month (perhaps due to the
start of summer), 178 million U.S. Internet users
watched online video during the month. Over 30
billion videos were watched in April and Google
Sites represented 43.2 percent of all videos viewed
online. Google sites such as YouTube will give you
the best opportunity for exposure but there are
many others in a variety of categories.
Community-driven food portal iFood.tv is a
perfect example of a niche video portal with a
loyal and engaged audience. The user-generated
content (UGC) site is growing quickly as a
destination (increasing visits and unique visitors
by 50 percent in April 2010, according to
Compete.com), making it an ideal target for
home, health and hospitality vendors to access
their primary audience. There are many other
destinations that follow the same UGC model as
iFood.tv. Look around and you might be surprised
at the number available.
The distribution of audio and video need not
be restricted to those destinations you do not control,
however. Deploying a media center on your
website to provide additional details, showcase testimonials
or provide how-to guides are underutilized but available opportunities for creating a
richer level of user engagement. Keep in mind that
the end goal for our businesses is to drive users
back to our websites — where we control the message
and, ideally, the user’s conversion path. So, you
might consider providing YouTube with short,
teaser segments and then direct users to your website
for the conclusion of a video series for deeper
brand engagement.
Another option to consider is using video in
mobile applications. Consumers, above all else,
want to be entertained. They want an experience
not found anywhere else and you want to hold their
attention. The way to achieve that in today’s hypercompetitive
mobile landscape is to add another dimension
to mobile applications. Whether that
comes in the form of offering both free and paid applications
(the higher-level providing additional
features) or simply adding video or audio into your
applications, it can do a world of wonder for the
popularity and usage of the applications you build
for your business.
Instructional content provider HowCast merges
these two worlds near perfectly. The portal’s iPhone
application has been downloaded over one million
times and its new application for the Android
promises even greater exposure.
Automated iPhone application platforms are
well aware that more content (and multi-media
content) not only aids in the acceptance of your
app by Apple, but can also increase the depth of a
user’s interaction with that application and, ultimately,
your brand. AppMakr makes it easy to integrate
audio and video feeds into the applications
that users of their system create and upload to
iTunes. More content, particularly content that increases
the amount of usage, improves the likelihood
that you can even charge a premium for
content, prompting users to spend more time with
the application.
Dominate Daily
The challenges are many for content developers.
While content remains king, today the king has
many faces. No longer are you as a Web marketer
or Internet professional forced to create content in
one way, attracting one type of audience in the
process, at one point in time in the users’ buying
cycle. Today, ideas can be expressed in unique, innovative
and immersive ways; brands can be built
through entertaining or educating an audience; and
products can be sold — because the vendor has
taken time to consider the audience’s preferred
method of content consumption.
Additional content sidebars from THE NEW CONTENT EXPERIENCE (August 2010)
Review the digital edition of the August 2010 issue for full content.
- Soliciting Social Comments
- Mobile Content Usage