![]() ![]() And everyone who was long enough in the business knew it: a systematic and consistent use of bloody relevant content for customers, prospects, workers, partners and everyone in the business ecosystem, in a digital context starting with decent content on websites so visitors at least didn’t have to waste days to find what they were looking for. Joe also told the story of the term ‘content marketing’ as such and how at the time he was trying it out along with many others to give a name to what was undervalued for so long. It was not the same as it has evolved into what we see happening now. When we first met, after an interview early 2010 and at a round table I organized later that year where it became clear Joe had similar views (and which would result in my helping with the launch of the European version of Chief Content officer magazine), Joe explained how he “saw” content marketing. I know who coined the term ‘content marketing’ however: Joe Pulizzi. I don’t know who ‘coined’ the term social media marketing nor do I care knowing. I guess even umbrellas can mean many things too, imagine umbrella terms.Ĭontent is crucial in marketing and in digital and human interaction in the broadest possible sense. Did we talk about those very small umbrellas we use to make our cocktails look better yet? I hope you understand the little analogy. And, guess what: umbrellas come in all colors and shapes too because everyone has different preferences and tastes. On top of that, some people in some countries carry umbrellas to protect themselves from the sun or just look nice. But at least everyone knows what an umbrella is, which can’t be said about umbrella terms as they are not tangible realities. Protecting from the rain is your business challenge and marketing goal, the people under the umbrellas are you and your customers/workers. Umbrellas are meaningless without the context: rain and the people carrying them to stay dry. And the big debates simply happen because many different people with many different backgrounds, experiences and roles are active in those very broadly defined fields (and now and then because it serves other, hidden, goals). It has a lot to do with the fact that both content marketing and social media marketing (and many other “forms” of marketing and even of business) are umbrella terms that by definition can be used for a broad variety of goals. The whole fight over what exactly is the role of content and social media for marketing and business goals has nothing to do with what you – and your colleagues, customers, connections and networks – can actually achieve with content and social. Why this confusion? Who is right and who is wrong? The easy answer: everyone is right. Did I mention sales enablement yet? Branding? Retention? Yeah, but what about traffic, links and SEO, we need traffic, right? And isn’t social often about traffic too? Well, if it wasn’t, then why would we share all the time? Just because we’re so empathic and caring? I don’t think so. Oh, no, it’s about giving buyers the information they’re looking for. Same thing in content marketing: it’s about storytelling. OK, but what about engagement and conversations? Hey, did anyone look at customer service? Social sharing, inbound traffic, branding, the customer experience,… No, no, it’s about sales and lead generation. It’s about PR, reputation and social capital. ![]() It’s hard to believe there are still so many views on the role of content and social media for marketing and business purposes. The role of content and social media: everyone is right (and no one is) The same phenomenon happened and still happens in social media (marketing) and other domains of marketing and business. Many people still use content marketing without a clear purpose or just for the sake of it, usually influenced by someone who says that without content marketing you’re nothing. Of course, all these opinions and posts haven’t changed the world. I like these attempts to ‘look beyond the obvious’. I was pleasantly surprised to see that many people using content for marketing purposes (as I do) wrote similar posts taking a critical look at the evolutions in content marketing. In 2012 I took it a step further with a blog post on the ‘big content marketing fail’. ![]() How we’re asking the wrong questions.Ī few years ago I wrote a piece on the commoditization of content (marketing) in a social jungle. Content marketing means many things to many people. ![]()
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