King Content Causes Concern

In my marketing book, It’s The Customer, Stupid!, I wrote a section called “Content Is King,” explaining that in the Internet age your content is critical. It’s important to give customers something fresh to see when they revisit your online presence.

Today, there’s an even greater need for up-to-date online content.  Naturally, websites, blogs and social media sites have to stay fresh, but how do you stay fresh amid the current content clutter?  As my friend Tony Mikes, head of Second Wind, The Agency Network, puts it:  “Marketers are lucky to get five percent of it (their content) to their target audiences.  Then add to that all of the vapid social content that surrounds us.  If content is king, then there are too many kings making too many proclamations… and the subjects are not listening.”

The relative ease of launching websites and blogs has democratized who can be considered a “publisher” of content.  Thus, there are literally millions of entries on the Internet every day.  How can you compete with all that content?  Here are three tips:

1.  Make it Relevant

First, make sure your content targets your customer.  Relevant content will keep them there or get them to return.  New and interesting content will help increase “stickiness,” an actual measure of how long a visitor sticks around and, therefore, a way to judge a site’s effectiveness.  The longer visitors engage, the more chance you have to earn their trust, build brand loyalty, or make a sale.  One helpful tip when targeting your information to the customers’ wants or needs is to offer advice to help them make informed decisions.  The days of using your site for hard-selling advertising or PR fluff are long gone.

2.  Keep it Current

When content is added, you need to ensure all of your audience drivers are in place (free and paid).  For example, when content of consequence is added to a site, direct your target audience there via tweets, emails, Facebook posts, search marketing, etc.

The frequency with which a site is updated is becoming more critical among search engine rankings.  Maintaining a top-tier website takes muscle and those who continue to groom their sites regularly will benefit.  The most successful sites on the Web, e.g., ESPN, WebMD, are largely set apart by the volume of quality content they produce regularly.

3.  Make it Social

The content has to be distinctive and worthwhile – enough to warrant the sharing that content among friends, co-workers and family.  For most websites, this kind of social word-of-mouth is the only sustainable approach to achieving continuous growth in your web audience.  If the content is lukewarm or vanilla, there is no point in the reader passing it along and no growth occurs.  You may even experience customer loss if they feel it was a waste of their time.

Most important, your content must be easy to understand and easy to access.  If not, you have no chance to have a sticky site.  And, if it’s also relevant, current and social, then your content truly will be a king of the Web.

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