Content VS Conversation

The Content vs Conversation debate.

Let’s start this discussion with a quick overview of the baseline arguments by Greenberg and Novak.  

Michael Greenberg, chief marketing officer at Loyalty Lab, argues that content is king when engaging customers with blogs and social media strategy. If a regular stream of content is not provided there is not much to talk about. Greenberg suggests that brands put on the hat of a publisher and try to deliver content on a set schedule which would be their marketing calendar. 

(Greenberg, 2012)

Catherine Novak makes the argument that while content maybe king, content that does not spark a conversation is ineffective. Effective content has energy. It has passion and an agenda to spur a response from the reader. It is the energy behind the message that is important because it will drive consumer engagement and that creates a more personal experience with the reader.

(Novak, 2012)

I agree with both Greenberg and Novak.

Content is definitely king and a clear content development system should be in place to provide the customer with consistency and quality. That content also needs to be engaging. Greenberg says this at the end of his article “…you'll find that when you dig down into what makes social media successful, the themes are consistent. Have something to say. Say it often. Be interesting.” 

(Greenberg, 2012) Be interesting is that connection to Novak’s point of keeping the energy of the content engaging. It sounds simple but keeping the content interesting, making sure it has the kind of energy that would spark a conversation can be a serious challenge. It takes time, resources and talent. The effort to meet this challenge is worth it.

There are two clear outcomes to providing content that sparks a conversation.

1.     The conversations between brand and customer can be repurposed and leveraged across a wide range of social media outlets. They become valuable content in the form of reviews, yelps, check-ins, likes, pins, and endorsements. This high quality content can only come from honest discourse and it provides authenticity and credibility to the brand.

2.     Search engines, specifically Google, has set its algorithm to reward quality content, originality and user experience. (Fielding, 2012) In the past brands could provide garbage content and still sit high in search results. Google’s latest update to their AI has changed the rules and quality content and conversations will play an important role in search engine results.

There are a wide range of tools and tactics that can be leveraged to help create and then distill and curate these important conversations and opinions. Some of the tools being used are:

Ratings and reviews:
Leveraging social media platforms like Facebook websites can pull in comments to share customer experiences and reviews.  Brands are starting to provide snapshot summaries and content histograms to help streamline the review process, which in turn can provide a better experience and confidence in the purchase. (Narayan, 2012)

Geolocal:

Using apps like Foursquare brands can leave tips and incentives for customers to engage with. The recently launched local updates option allows brands to target key users with relevant content and updates. Rob Reed of MomentFeed believes the local updates option was a game changer. “For us, it's going to unlock a lot of the value that customers are taking and attaching to venues; you can take the best and push it out as an update." (Delo, 2012) 

Self-Expression:

Shopping has become a form of self-expression and sites like Pinterest allow brands to engage with customers in a more personal way. Brands can show imagery that reinforce the lifestyle and ambitions of the brand promise. Whole Foods has had great success on the platform. Their approach has been smart and calculated. Michael Bepko, Whole Foods online community manager says that Pinterest is “a fantastic way to build connections with people around shared interests.” (Drell, 2012) Content does not always have to be words, it can be visuals and other forms of rich media. Keeping things interesting is a great way to keep the customers coming back.

Sponsored Posts:

Sometimes the classic tactics work best. Sponsorship and endorsements are alive and well in social media strategy. 1-800-Flowers paid Justin Bieber to tweet about the flowers he bought his mom for mother’s day and they saw a huge spike in sales.

Facebook and twitter make their money off of sponsored posts. The social nature of these platforms require the brands to be creative with there messaging, to share stories and provide valuable content.  (Soderman, 2012)

This is just a short list of the many tools and tactics available to marketers and it reinforces that the process is not impossible. It can be complicated, rigorous, time-consuming, but sharing content that sparks conversation is also a lot of fun and can have a positive impact on the brands image.

The take home point is if brands want an effective social media strategy then they need to provide engaging content that spurs conversation across a range of platforms. In the past brands were focused on optimization. This is still important but the emphasis has shifted to customer engagement. The question “how do I optimize my website to better rank with search engines?" needs to be replaced with, "how can I optimize my brand so that it's a sought-after participant in relevant conversations?" (Fielding, 2012)

Answering that question should be a whole lot of fun!

References:

Delo. Cotton, (July, 2012) Foursquare to let brands talk to users who’ve checked in. Retrieved on November 11^th, 2012 from http://adage.com/article/digital/foursquare-brands-talk-users-ve-checked/236097/

Drell. Lauren, (February, 2012) What marketers can learn from Whole Foods organic approach to Pinterest. Retrieved on November 11^th, 2012 from http://mashable.com/2012/02/23/pinterest-whole-foods/

Fielding, Veronica. (August, 2012) SEO Isn’t what you think. Retrieved on November 11^th, 2012 from http://www.fastcompany.com/3000283/seo-isnt-what-you-think-it

Greenberg, M. (2009, October 20). Content is king of social marketing. MultichannelMerchant.com. Retrieved April 12, 2012 from http://multichannelmerchant.com/social-media/1020-content-social-marketing/

Narayan, Sandhya. (August, 2012) Curation is the new black. Retrieved on November 11^th, 2012 from http://digital.anthemww.com/mobile/curation-is-the-new-black

Novak, C. (2010, July 27). Why conversation, not content, is king. SocialMediaToday.com. Retrieved April 12, 2012 from http://socialmediatoday.com/wordspring/152636/why-conversation-not-content-king

Sonderman. Jeff, (February, 2012) Ads are out, sponsored posts are in for Twitter and Facebook. Retrieved on November 11^th, 2012  http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/media-lab/social-media/164915/ads-are-out-sponsored-posts-are-in-for-twitter-facebook/