Image Credit: Bunchcast
Overflowing Content Disorder, that is. Okay, it’s possible I made that term up, but it may, in fact, be a very real digital syndrome.
Let me give you an example of what I am talking about.
I love sports, good food and home DIY. Therefore, I tend to click on posts in my social feeds or open emails in my inbox related to those topics. If I connect with what I read, I will like, follow or subscribe to a given content source.
But lately, I have noticed a disturbing trend with some of the brands/sites/blogs I follow. They post blurbs or blast out teaser links (or both) almost non-stop throughout the day. It’s too much content. Daily, I am overwhelmed by the 15 blurbs on recipes I can make in less than 30 minutes, the 10 posts on the 10 easiest home DIY must-do-now projects and the seemingly hourly updates on the sport/game/athlete du jour.
So guess what happens? I unlike those pages, unsubscribe from the content source, and rarely–if ever–do I go back.
I simply don’t need or want that much information from one source on a daily basis. I feel like I am drowning in a swirling vortex of words, infographics, sound bites and videos. I want to care, but I can’t. At a certain point all that content becomes diluted, irrelevant, and impossible to keep up with.
Yes, I want content related to the subject I mentioned earlier, but come on, man. Whatever happened to focused and relevant content delivery? I mean, I thought content marketing had evolved past the point of “let’s open the floodgates and see who doesn’t get swept away in the deluge.”
This uncontrolled torrent of content is for amateurs, in my opinion. I certainly do believe content is king, but in the digital marketing realm, no king is an island. For content marketing to be effective–both in the short- and long-term–strategy must come first.
In today’s 24/7 omni-channel world, it is incumbent upon brands to build effective, strategic content marketing plans. From a deep understand of audiences and messaging, to development of audience personas, to the creation of relevant, authentic well-crafted content, to the determination of content frequency and channel mix, to delivery across channels brands should be developing data-driven content strategies that have measurable impact their bottom lines.
“It’s about creating a strategic unified brand experience that delivers the right message to the right audience at the right time and place in the most effective manner,” says Imaginuity CEO, Corbett Guest.
It’s much easier to open the dam than to precisely control the flow. Ultimately, good content marketing is like the efficient and steady current of a healthy river, rather than the terrifying onrush of an all-engulfing tidal wave. Let’s face it, no one wants to be caught in the path of a content tsunami that floods channels and leaves bewildered consumers in its ever-widening wake.
Brand content wakes–regardless of channel–should be tight, focused and easy to ride. And the water between should be cool, calm streams of inviting content; that exact place where customers want to dive in and soak up all everything a brand has to offer.
So, let’s put an end to digital OCD; let’s stem the unflagging tide of poorly executed content marketing. Together we can do it; together we can create strategies that effectively and fluidly deliver content across all channels.
Remember, tidal waves are ultimately destructive forces. Don’t let your content marketing become a tidal wave.
The post A New Type of OCD? appeared first on Imaginuity.