Attention-Getting Secrets of the Best Content Marketers (#socialmedia info) “As an Internet user, I am bombarded with content from the web, email and social media,” says Barry Feldman, content marketing consultant with Feldman Creative. “We have media overload, thousands of things to read or hear or watch each day. With with each piece of content we encounter, we have to decide how much time to give it.With so much content available, how do the best content marketers cut through the clutter and get their messages heard and remembered?“A lot of content marketers fail, but let’s say that you succeed and I click – am I going to remember you a few hours from now? Feldman asks. Will you go on my shortlist of people whose content I can’t miss?”Feldman offers three criteria for creating content that will keep customers coming back:Was the content fun?Did it change my way of thinking?Does it have a unique point of view?Was the content fun?If the content is not engaging, audiences wont pay attention.We often forget that the first order of business is to entertain in some way. If it is not immediately engaging, audiences won’t pay attention.That is not to say, however, that simply being fun will get the job done. A cute picture of puppies can be fun and may even generate some “likes” on Facebook, but it doesn’t provide any long-term value for the brand. Content should build a relationship between the brand and the audience. Otherwise, it is what Feldman refers to as “nontent.”“Nontent is what happens when companies are playing the content marketing game so desperately that their content doesn’t really have any relevance,” he says. “The website that almost always comes up is BuzzFeed – the sensational news source where a lot of talented headline writers write irresistible headlines that people click and then read crap that they wish they hadn’t wasted their time reading. I call that nontent - it’s not going to accomplish what I think a marketer wants to accomplish, which is building relationships and giving people a reason to keep coming back. You cross that line when you forget about the relevance.”In addition to relevance, Feldman notes that content should be planned to engage with a purpose; to produce some greater action than a link click or a like.“The lure of success is misunderstood to be merely attention or a click,” he says. “It’s an inevitable mistake for a beginner. We content marketers grind into everyone’s mind that it’s an attention economy, but you’re making a big mistake if you only get someone’s attention once. You’re not looking for web traffic or to get people to your website once. You’re looking for subscribers – people who will come back to your website or talk about you to their friends.”Did It Change My Way of Thinking?Did your content give the audience something to chew on? Something that challenges their views with an in-depth look at a topic? “Did you take me to an educational place that I hadn’t thought of?” Feldman asks. “Did you teach me something I didn’t know or don’t even know I needed to know? I think of those type of bloggers as ones who really dig deep, they have a lot of images and there is a lot of how-to.”Examples include the deep dives sites like the Moz blog and QuickSprout offer on subjects. When your content can serve as a manual that people can continually refer to and share, they tend to stand out.Does It Have a Unique Point of View?Artists like Pink Floyd demonstrate unique approaches you can use that will help you build a brand.The most rare type of content that cuts through the clutter, according to Feldman, is content that has a unique point of view.Feldman asks, “Did you in no uncertain terms tell me what you think – ‘This is wrong, this is right.’ If your stance resonates with me, this will likely get you into my ‘remembered’ file – and that is precious space. That’s less than 1 percent of the bloggers that I read. It’s very easy and likely that you fall into the 99 percent and get forgotten.”Feldman’s “Rock and Roll Content” presentation demonstrates how these ideas go beyond marketing. In practicing what he preaches–being memorable–Feldman first gave this presentation while wearing an Elvis costume.“The message of Rock and Roll Content was this,” Feldman says. “I presented 11 legendary bands or musicians, starting with Elvis and ending with Madonna. It talks about those artists as brands - they have a specific signature. If you examine Pink Floyd, you see that what made them was theater - they pioneered the idea that rock n’ roll could be more than just audio. At the concert, you’d see walls crashing down and lasers and pigs flying. All of these artists are demonstrating there are unique approaches you can use that will help you build a brand. Maybe all you are doing is blogging. How can you make that more effective and be more interesting than you are now?”
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 11:39:27 +0000
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