What are you most excited about in the digital and content marketing space at the moment?
Content is undeniably multimedia, but the written word seems to be making a comeback despite talk of its demise. As a former journalist, this development hopefully portends more robust full-form content ahead. Brands are producing digital reads of top media calibre, such as GE Reports and Cisco’s The Network newsroom. Visual assets are central to content engagement, but the recent wealth of e-magazines, newsletters and deeper-dive brand stories are not killing the Fourth Estate; instead they seem to be helping it find additional purpose.
Looking at publishing and visual asset creation, brands such as Nissan with teams of multimedia journalists are launching content factories, while others such as Amazon are becoming TV studios or buying traditional media. The DIY, or “in-house” approach, appears to be gaining larger traction, rather than being just a niche play, and that may also lead to better narratives and more stimulating content from brands ahead.
What’s your favourite example of innovative digital and content marketing?
BuzzFeed has shaken up traditional media and content marketing, and also invested to become a global news voice. Being both a content marketing business and trusted media source is a challenging combination – certainly for established players – and now BuzzFeed also is walking the line between audience and advertisers. Moreover though it’s been a fresh and funny media voice, has global scale, and while not a “Cat News” subscriber, I thought the Dear Kitten partnered creative was indeed that – very creative. News used to cross the grey border between entertainment and infotainment, but BuzzFeed is taking its content and voice to new places in an innovative manner – and in a number of ways.
Where do you go for great content?
Traditional media – often on internet radio – and curated Flipboard picks are my first stops for news, but LinkedIn, Twitter and assorted digest emails flag other more specialized content areas, particularly related to autos or marketing. A number of car industry media and online blogs, such as Top Gear, are innovative in their own storytelling voices, or in just riffing on brand content embeds on their platforms. That’s important for our multimedia footprint, as both a direct indicator of our content’s utility and how brands can drive a conversation with the right earned or paid-for media. Apparently, 300 hours of content are uploaded on YouTube every minute, so “great” as a creator doesn’t mean much unless you have a content altitude that allows visibility. You either need to create a reputation for high-quality assets or have a platform or partner that showcases them.
What’s next for digital content?
Obviously, the internet and software advances have democratised individual access to content as well as the ability to create, share and curate. However, increasingly the lower cost of entry to produce agency-like edits, stream, or publish higher-end content from anywhere in the world will further realign the business order of who is doing what for whom. As for distribution, I recently heard in a presentation that messaging is the next key content delivery platform – perhaps justifying some of the eye-popping acquisition prices – but it makes sense: messaging’s nearly ubiquitous, it’s used by key demographics who share links readily, and is essentially free. Watch that space – if you aren’t already.
What defines good content?
A story that resonates, pushes buttons of excitement and curiosity, and one that educates subtly. We aim for multimedia storytelling that doesn’t feel like a college lecture or state television – a compelling story or hook that can be watched to duration and shared. We’ve seen strong viewership with an infotainment approach, and reigned in our use of “voice-of-God” news reads – preferring consumers or staff to tell such stories, as well as local languages. Packaging is important too: the worst thing you can put on content is an “interview” slug because even the most interesting folks in the world will often be ignored.
What is the biggest myth about content marketing?
That there is a definitive success formula. Trial and error have defined Media Center’s four years in existence; some “sure wins” have floundered, while on occasion content perceived as less engaging has found a sizeable audience mainly based on good timing and the right embed. We rely on our digital marketing team and agency to help us refine audience data into intelligence to produce content that is relevant and can expand engagement on new platforms or in new iterations. We often say that we built the Media Center aeroplane four years ago while flying, and are now glad to add that our control tower expertise of best practice is in operation.
How are you amplifying and maximising your content?
When we began, we employed a do-it-yourself approach to communications and distribution, and without question that limited our audience and engagement. Thankfully, we became more sophisticated in the platforms we employed, and less unilateral – tapping the experience of our partners. It’s kind of a marketing zen joke – “if good content is published in a crowded forest and no one sees it, does it make a sound?”
Through combined efforts and eyes on the analytics, our brand audience continues to grow, but Media Center aims for further expansion and will consider all intelligence and benchmarking on how to achieve this, making stories that elevate the brand. If that content has potential for greater reach if it is enhanced or targeted, then we will work with our marketing partners to maximise that opportunity.
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