Content, content, content. Can it not be more obvious?
If Beyoncé asks me “Who runs the world?”, my answer would definitely be “Content”. Well, maybe when you are trying to sing it, obviously it doesn’t harmonize with the rhythm and melody of the song at all, but in the context of society and digital age of this 2020, it is necessarily truer than ever.
The phrase “Content is king” is becoming so universal nowadays that I don’t remember exactly how many times I’ve heard it, I lost count. But is it actually? Brands are trying their best to come up with content and stories which grab audiences’ attention in order to spread their images and messages in a bigger scale. It’s never been an easy job. Thanks (but no, thanks?) to social media, we are exposed to constant deluge of information every day, from second to second. The way we consume contents is no longer the same as in the past when we read newspaper and chose what we want to read. We are passive. Due to this mass consumption of contents, we are passively dragged into a battlefield where brands and companies are trying to impress us with the contents they have. Facebook users spend on average 1.7 seconds with any given piece of content on mobile, compared to 2.5 seconds on desktop. Feel pressure yet?
Is it all about hacking attention, though? I read an article the other day saying that in the most recent research, it reveals that 80% of consumers want campaigns to be “watchable”, “shareable” and “enjoyable”. It means that quality of the content matters. Attention is obviously one thing, but engaging your customers into the conversation with the brand is a more important and essential thing. With the development of technology, updates in Google search algorithm and cautiousness in customers’ behaviors, brands need to be well aware of the contents which they use for their campaigns. We need key words diversity, good quality of inbound and outgoing links, ranking of domain or creativity. There are many more things we need to learn to bring out the best contents. The importance of qualified contents is heavily addressed more than ever.
Then the question will be: What makes a content stand out from the crowd? My teacher told me that we all have personal filters and things we look out for and respond to. It’s true, isn’t it? We use different Instagram filters for stories, use different color themes for Instagram newsfeed. Oops, same “filters”, wrong chat. Isn’t it hard to find a universal law? How we could make the content “shareable”?
We are living in a world where social media is more dominant than ever and here are two most important things (amongst many others) in my opinion, from time to time of mindful, as well as mindless scrolling newsfeed.
- Be well aware of social listening and pay attention to what’s trending.
It needs to be “content”porary. Use social-first content. From social and for social. Everyone is talking about it. Why don’t we take advantage of that and create a topic that will being discussed by a lot of users? We are talking about ESG, climate change, Corona virus, should we use that? We are talking about Greta Thunberg, feminism, racism and a whole lot more. FYI, we are not talking about “Asian”, “black”, “gay”, “interracial”, “lesbian” and “Muslim” – some words that are higher on most brands’ keyword block list (Vice Media, 2018). Should we use that, too? To be or not to be, that’s a question.
- “Make you feel my love”.
Emotion is the best way. Use the heartstrings. Tell a proper story. A story without emotion is nothing. A story with powerful emotion like anger is sometimes negative. A story filled with laughter, joy, satisfaction, happiness, admiration is likely to be shareable and enjoyable. “Be a Lady They Said”. It gave me goosebumps when I watched it the other day. I am no one to consider myself a feminist, but it’s just emotional. When the world is talking about sexism, discrimination and Harvey Weinstein, it’s positive and touching. The whole community will talk about it, tweet about it, share it and engage with it. It’s trending, but also emotional.We are living in a world where people sometimes don’t want you for your appearance, a pretty face or nice shiny hair (attention). Attention, please! We are living in a world where people value knowledge and what’s inside the brain, value what you can bring to the table (content). You may swipe right for a good picture; however, you will be more intrigued by a person with content, a person that has something to talk to. What I am trying to say is your content matters. It is how you connect to other people with your stories. It is how you use your knowledge to flow the conversation.
On Love Islands, the contestants often say something like “I’m looking for someone with personality”. For me, that personality is content. At least have something of your own.
