Often times when I talk to marketers they are finally realizing they are becoming publishers. Most brands started out with some sort of website, though it was mostly a brochure, it had content. But with the advent of so many new channels via social and digital – the need for content has gone up exponentially. In fact a brand or an individual can build their reputation and trust amongst their customer base, based on the content they create and distribute. B2C marketers, when asked in a survey (1) said they wanted content to be able to help them:
- Become better at converting visitors on website: 65 percent
- Create more engaging/higher-quality content: 62 percent
- Become better storytellers: 61 percent
- Optimize content: 61 percent
- Organize website content: 61 percent.
In the B2B world, marketers said measurement is a key area in which they are struggling. Though, those that used LinkedIn as a distribution channel 94 percent found it to be the most used and the most effective social media distribution platform for placement of their content. (2) That makes sense, as LinkedIn is the business social network for many people.
As we talked to content marketers, another thing was clear. It’s not free. It takes money and time — and that means staff with particular skill sets to accomplish the various aspects of creating, editing, distributing and measurement of the contents effectiveness. As a result of this need for content and the need for senior leadership to understand how important content management is, we created a report that covers some best practices when staffing up a team to deliver on a brand’s promise. The link to a snapshot of the report can be found here.
As you are creating your content management strategy, don’t forget about the people. Yes, it’s important to have technology, but you also need process and people to make it all work!
