I have fallen in love with her strategy a million times over and over again. Why? The following reasons demonstrate the pull factor.
Content must be visible, that is, the right audience must be able to find it organically via search engines at the right moment and in the right context. The mobile revolution has made this a very important success factor. Discoverability is an imperative especially in the framework of what Google calls Micro Moments.
"Smartphones allow us to act on any impulse at any time. We take immediate action whenever we want to learn, find, do or buy something. When we act on our needs in-the-moment, our expectations are high and our patience is low. This makes the quality, relevance, and usefulness of marketing more important than ever."
Visible and useful content that is discoverable with ease via search engines is of commercial value to a brand as it faciltates transactions within these micro-moments.
On the flip-side, content that is "invisible" is of no use to a brand as it does not reach and connect with the target audience. Thus, no profitable transactions can take place.
Additionally, there is so much clutter online since digital tools have made it easy for practically anyone to upload their content at anytime and from anywhere. Unfortunately, the internet has also become an undertaker that is busy 24/7 burying poor content deep under the ever-growing avalanche of the alphabet!
The infographic below illustrates my point very well:
You snooze you lose! Walala Wasala! Hazvidi hope. So the point is, if you want victories online, you must create search engine friendly content that is based on keywords on which you want to develop a monopoly over. Everyone ought to know the basics of search engine optimisation (SEO) methinks.
Secondly, the content must be sizzling hot like a blockbuster crime thriller featuring the iconic Denzel Washington! (I just felt like saying something about my big screen hero). Denzel is the bomb.com, he sets any movie he stars in alight with his charisma, poise, talent and unique personality. The good news is that these are learnable traits that must characterise any content marketing strategy.
According to Nancy, sizzible content enables a brand to "stand out, get noticed and get more business". Sizzibility creates engagement and the latter is the new currency that drives the digital economy. Most algorithms of social networking sites punish posts with low engagement by limiting the audience that can see them and they reward the engaging content by making it more visible to as many people as possible. For content to be engaging, it must sizzle and have awesome re-share potential. Engagement refers to the way in which people react and interact with the social media posts and this is in the form of likes, shares, retweets, comments, etc.
Lest we forget, virality is a much sought after pot of gold at the end of the content rainbow and fortunately it is an attainable goal. I offer skills training in this regard and I also write blogs and articles for brands.
Content marketing is the only marketing worth speaking of now. However, it must be sizzible if it is to help a business to achieve its goals of lead generation, higher sales and increased market share.
Shabba Ranks opens the song "Fever" (a collaboration with Maxi Priest & Dennis Brown) by saying "even the dead feel it and the blind see it." That's how powerful content must be!
