Dealing with the sheer volume of content that is published is the key to keeping content marketing effective and relevant.
Brands are all fighting for a limited audience attention capacity and the danger is that unless the content is of sufficient value for the audience, it gets lost. To make matters more challenging, in addition to the wealth of content that is already out there, competing for the attention of your target audience, there is also a plethora of content that offers advice on creating content – ironically adding to the content shock phenomenon. The content shock that we are experiencing has made it more challenging for brands to engage their target audience through content, but turning this on its head might be the answer. We are becoming increasingly productive, with more available time to consume content, so the challenge for marketers is developing a content strategy which exploits the opportunity. We think the opportunity may lie in using content shock as the strategy.
According to a recent study by Activate, people now have a 31-hour, 28- minute day, rather than a 24 hour day, simply due to the fact that they are multi-tasking their media consumption and physical tasks throughout the day. This means that the time available to consume content has increased, which is a positive sign for marketers. The challenge here is creating content that stands out amongst the clutter and grabs the audience’s attention. Some marketing experts would suggest that, to combat the effects of content shock, B2B marketers should create content shock for their competitors; in effect, content shock is the content marketing strategy.
Content supply and demand has been thrown off balance by the sheer volume of content that is available. So, what makes content 'count' now that we are in a state of 'shock'?
Getting your content in front of the right people is only half the battle; content strategy success is only achieved if the content that is consumed is deemed valuable by its readers. So, what makes a piece of content ‘good’? Is there a secret formula determining what works and what doesn’t? Is there such thing as the ‘ideal content’ for a niche audience, and do different audiences prefer different types of content? There are several variables to consider: format, length and level of detail can make or break the success of your content when it is distributed.
These considerations, combined with high content production costs and the content shock landscape mean that it is becoming increasingly important to ensure that the content you produce is as ‘effective’ as it can be. Primary research is an invaluable tool in understanding the content demands of your target audience.