A hot topic of debate in the marketing industry these days is content vs. conversation. Both sides claim their view is the most important. I will briefly discuss each viewpoint before offering my opinion.
Content is king
The content camp believes that generating regular, consistent content is the most important function of a social media marketing strategy. If you do not have content, you do not have anything to talk about. If you do not have regular content that readers can depend on, you will alienate them.
In 1996, Bill Gates predicted “Content is where I expect much of the real money will be made on the Internet… Those who succeed will propel the Internet forward as a marketplace of ideas, experiences, and products—a marketplace of content” (Ladd, 2012). In 2012, content is easily generated by anyone with access to the Internet. Blogs have exploded along with social media – the uploading and sharing of ideas is normal and expected. In June 2012, Twitter reported they generate 400 million tweets per day, and that number is growing (Farber, 2012). Consumers expect brands to compete for their attention by generating relevant, engaging content on a regular basis. Penn (2012) states, “Spreading unique, helpful bits within the industry or with consumers creates brand awareness, new customers and client loyalty.” Her infographic provides some statistics about content marketing that are relevant to this conversation.
Conversation is king
On the other side, those who believe that conversation is king believe that in the social media space, content is just something to talk about, while the conversation that arises is what is important.
When Bill Gates made his prediction in 1996, great content was scarce. Today, with the social media explosion, content is everywhere. In March 2012, we were closing in on 200 million blogs worldwide (Nielsonwire, 2012). The problem is that this content is not always relevant, engaging, or even dependable. As the Scarecrow said in the Wizard of Oz “Some people without brains do an awful lot of talking” (LeRoy & Fleming, 1939). The conversation camp believes that content needs to be engaging to be of value, otherwise it is just advertising (Novak, 2012). By generating content that spurs conversation, a brand can truly begin dialoguing with their customers and take advantage of the most effective type of marketing – word of mouth (McCarthy, 2011).
Context is queen
Just to throw another wrench into the puzzle – a new camp is arising that says that context is queen to the content king. Meaning, companies need to understand where the customer is coming from, how they are getting there, and what they are looking for. Once they have this data, they can provide the customer with the information they are seeking. For example, if a customer walks into a physical shoe store and wants to buy red pumps, she would have little tolerance for a sales person who brought back athletic shoes. The same is true for the web. If the customer Google’s “red pumps” and is provided with generic links that take her to a shoe store landing page filled with kids shoes, athletics shoes, etc. she will be dissatisfied. Understanding consumer preferences, location, behavior and social networks is key to understanding context (Savitz, 2011).
Personally, I feel that content is king, context is queen and conversation is the soul. Content without context or conversation is a lonely king with no kingdom. Conversation is just people talking. You need to provide content to guide those conversations into something meaningful that aligns with business goals. Having all three working together will produce a thriving kingdom.
So, how do you rate content, conversation and context?
References:
Farber, D. (2012, June 6). Twitter hits 400 million tweets per day, mostly mobile. Cnet. Retrieved from http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57448388-93/twitter-hits-400-million-tweets-per-day-mostly-mobile/
Ladd, C. (2012, September 5). Is content king for business marketers? Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/gyro/2012/09/05/is-content-king-for-business-marketers/
LeRoy, M. (Producer) & Fleming, V. (Director). (1939, August 25). The Wizard of Oz [Motion Picture]. United Sates of America: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
McCarthy, P. (2011, October 16). Infographic – The word and the world of customers. The WOMMA World [Blog]. Retrieved from http://womma.org/word/2011/10/16/infographic-the-word-and-the-world-of-customers/
Nielsenwire. (2012, March 8). Buzz in the blogosphere: Millions more bloggers and blog readers [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/buzz-in-the-blogosphere-millions-more-bloggers-and-blog-readers/
Novak, C. (2010, July 27). Why conversation, not content, is king. Social Media Today. Retrieved from http://socialmediatoday.com/wordspring/152636/why-conversation-not-content-king
Pann. J. (2012, February 8). Marketers who share content drive traffic, gain customers [INFOGRAPHIC]. Mashable. Retrieved from http://mashable.com/2012/02/08/new-content-marketing-tactics/
Savitz, E. (2011, August 30). Context will drive the future of web content management. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2011/08/30/context-will-drive-the-future-of-web-content-management/
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