For some reason there is a lot of confusion about the word Content lately. Back in the late 90s when the internet was just heating up we all heard alot about how “Content is King”. But these days for B2B Marketers I think we need to take it a step further and say that “Content is Media”.
If you have been following my thoughts on the 4 C’s of Marketing – it all starts with content. Building a solid content creation engine is critical to B2B marketers today. Why?
Its the content that gives you the opportunity to have a discussion with the Media, its the content that gives you the opportunity to create conversations socially, its the content that gives you the opportunity to re-engage with leads in your system that you may be nurturing on that sames topic, and its the content that allows your sales team to start a conversation with their accounts about that topic.
If you follow Seth Godin at all you will know that Mass Media in forms that we are used to like Advertising isn’t working for or B2C breatherin. Sure anyone can take out an ad in a major publication but his point is more about the sustained effort over time to create a brand using advertising hasn’t worked for years and is just too expensive and too inefficient to build a brand.
I think B2B marketers really need to think and act more like a media house themselves. What is your publishing calendar? Can you stick to it? Does it relate to the major growth initiatives of your company? Your Content engine should be able to answer all these questions – and when you do then you will be able to use your Content as Media!
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Killer post Dunay.
You are spot on. I’d add, the context of the content is just as important.
Content for contents sake is just not as powerful as content for utilities sake.
EX: Content to teach, content to warn, content to improve, etc. Providing content that can be used is where the power is.
Add context to the content, it makes it more valuable.
Content is media is perfectly said.For more insight on social media marketing you may check out http://www.aceaffiliates.com/affiliate-education/how-to-find-valid-affiliate-programs.html
@Jim – totally agree on adding context to content. I was just brewing up a post on how important context is in the Mobile channel but you are totally right its important in All channels!
@Tim – thanks for the link Tim – will check it out
Paul, thanks for another great post. I recently added Twitter and some news and announcements to my website and have already seen some success! I really believe I can compete with the big guys using these techniques. Thanks!
@Montreaux – great to hear I really think social is a great equalizer for companies of all sizes! Keep up the great work!
[...] In B2B Marketing: Content is Media For some reason there is a lot of confusion about… [...]
Having a publishing calendar is really key, and I think you need to mesh it in somehow with an influencer calendar – events that you’ve taken notice of that will skew your content as and when they arrive, adjusting your content delivery plan.
That’s publishing, but what about the content itself?
There are many factors to be taken into account when writing a post, but one that is oft neglected is the inclusion of an infrastructure of interlinked timeline and anticipation.
If you’re planning an editorial calendar, either make it available globally or at least ensure that you link to the previous/next/index of the calendar series to re-engage readers and keep SEO happy.
@Oli – wow great points – I have just begun to lace critical events into my publishing calendar and gear my content up accordingly! Also the idea of having it SEO friendly is brilliant. The only thing I would add is – have a plan for the unexpected – like the release of the iPad or some other move that causes you / your team to want to write about it.
thanks for the comment!
Very interesting, would like to take another look at this.