As the years have passed, marketers have been beaten over the head with various versions of the following statement, “Social isn’t an ad channel. Don’t just syndicate your selfish marketing messaging – deliver quality content.” It takes a long time for everyone to catch up.

Early adopters and ground-breaking brands like Red Bull and Starbucks quickly lead the crowd with new tech. But only now, in my humble opinion, are the majority of brands finally starting to invest the right time and effort to either act as a publisher and develop the right content, or find aligned publishers and deliver the co-branded or repurposed content.

So what can we learn from the lessons the leading brands have already taught us? We’ve definitely learned what content resonates universally.

There are basically three types of content, categorically speaking, that generate noticeable results in engagement KPI’s like plays, shares, etc. For your content to have a chance at successful engagement, it should be in one of these three buckets:

1. Educational – Teach something relevant/valuable
2. Entertaining – Humorous, extraordinary, etc
3. Economic – Give something away for free, offer a discount, etc

Don’t rent your social media channels by pushing advertising messages. Own them by making a down payment on your community with great content in one of the three categories listed above. Ultimately, your marketing dollars will go further.

Who knows, we may see brands adopting a publisher division through acquisition or internal restructuring…that’s the direction we’re headed folks.

If you don’t believe me – turn the clock back five years and recall how many ‘social media’ job titles were operating within brands, this is the next phase in the process of adjusting to the new realities of online marketing.

Jason Small
Social Media and the Big W
Founder
www.SocialMediaandtheBigW.com

Popularity: 4% [?]

Google+