Last week we posted an article taking aim at the many misrepresentations of online and content marketing. So many analogies have likened online marketing to a monarchy of sorts. We challenged this type of thinking, because this form of marketing has many moving pieces, not just a single “supreme power” and compared it to a handshake. If you need to catch up, you can read Part 1 here.
In this article we will conclude by covering content and conversion, and how they work in tandem with experience and context.
What Exactly is Content?
According to this article from Brandwatch.com, Google processes around 100 billion search queries every month. What are all these people looking for? Content. Whether it’s searching for a new cookie recipe, directions to the post office, or finding out, “who’s that one guy in that one movie… you know, the one with the thing…?”, these searches are crying out for answers, and those answers are provided through content. The same post from Brandwatch states that there are 56 million blog posts published every month on WordPress alone and Facebook users view 8 billion videos EVERY DAY!
What content is continues to evolve and change. 20 years ago, online content was mostly just the written word, but as technology and computing power continues to grow so does our definition of content.
Today, content is the information and communication that informs our lives online.
The Content and Context Handshake
So we understand what content and context are, but how do they work together? Let’s go back to our handshake analogy. We have our information (content) coming together with our setting (context). When one, or both of these things are off, the experience is interrupted and focus is lost. For this reason, the placement of our content is about so much more than just where it is placed.
- Who should be consuming this content? Age, gender, interests, geography, etc.
- At what time is this content best consumed?
- What is the best vehicle for this content to be shared? This includes not only the platform it is shared on but also the type of content.
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All of these things affect the context of our content and in that way help to form the content, just like one hand will conform to another in a handshake.
Conversion: When It Finally Comes Together
Finally, the right context meets the right content, the experience is firing on all cylinders and we get the conversion. I can see some of you with your hands in the air. Go ahead, say it.
“That sounds incredibly difficult and possibly even impossible. What are the chances of that happening?”
Well, you’re parly right. It is difficult, but don’t let that get you down. Conversions happen everyday. A video is watched on Facebook and a link is clicked for the viewer to learn more -BOOM- conversion. Someone gives their email address in exchange for the use of a free online photo editing app -BOOM- conversion. Two hands have come together and there is an exchange of motion, the content marketing handshake.
Remember our simple fill-in-the-blank from Part 1?
“A large part of my target market is on ___________ because they want to _____________.”
It’s all about the end user. When we let the user inform us as to their wants, needs and desires we can work backward by crafting a handshake that will not only lead to a desired outcome (conversion) but will do so by adding value to the user’s experience.