Week 3 blog topic #1: Content is definitely king

Novak (2010) calls content without conversation “just broadcasting, or just advertising” but I have to disagree. Good content spurs discussion; therefore, conversation could be viewed as a by-product of content, much like a good advertisement will spur interest for a purchase. It could be argued that word-of-mouth is the most important element consumers use to make a purchase – because it is – (Cohen, 2012) but if a consumer hears a good review, goes to look at the product (or content) and doesn’t like it, what good was the review?

I can think of numerous real world examples to represent why content is of primary importance but popular books came to mind immediately. For example, the title, What To Expect When You’re Expecting, a well-known book preparing women for pregnancy, has spent 597 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list. In comparison, popular celebrity and author Jenny McCarthy penned an insightful and informative book called, Belly Laughs: The Naked Truth about Pregnancy and Childbirth, which only spent a few weeks on the BestSeller list.

Both titles were recipients of a great deal of media hype, arguably more by McCarthy due to her active social media presence and regular appearances on television. McCarthy’s book has an Amazon rating of 4.4 with 729 mostly positive customer reviews. What To Expect When You’re Expecting has an Amazon rating of 3.7 with 581 mostly positive customer reviews. At a glance, it seems that McCarthy’s book was more popular and received more praise; however, the content of What to Expect When You’re Expecting landed it on USA Today's list of the 25 most influential books of the past 25 years. While many arguments could be made against why one book is more relevant or popular than the other, if you consider other classic books like, Huckleberry Finn, published in 1884, or Pride and Prejudice published in 1813, through the lens of their waxing and waning media hype during the past two centuries, you can deduce how I developed this opinion. These two books, in addition to What to Expect When You’re Expecting, provide content that is essentially better than its competitors, thus, feeding more conversation; and so goes the cycle.

Greenberg (2009) says, “Social marketing efforts need to be driven by content, not vice versa. Without content, there is not a whole lot to talk about.” He also says, “Have something to say. Say it often. Be interesting.” I agree with those statements, albeit with one exception. For social media, providing consistently valuable content often is important to stay relevant, but providing one piece of content that will remain perennially relevant is of equal importance (see classic book examples above). The difference is, it is easier to produce pretty good content fairly often than it is to produce one really great piece of evergreen content just once.

For a more closely related social media example, consider this: Hepburn (2009) relays a tale of two coffee vendors by analyzing content vs. conversation. Vendor A (Amy) is an extrovert who has gained a large online following by tweeting and conversing regular with friends and followers, even if the conversation is not always relating to coffee. Vendor B (Jill) is not an extrovert but creates content that educates and entertains coffee lovers: Video of a Best Barista competition, customer video notes about their favorite coffees, and a “Finding the Perfect Coffee to Suit Your Mood” PDF.

Hepburn (2009) says both vendors have used “smart moves to grow brand awareness” but by creating interesting content, Jill gave her audiences something more to talk about. To return to Novak’s Cornflakes and ferret discussion as an example, “I had cornflakes for breakfast” is not likely to generate any sort of conversation because it is boring. There is nothing groundbreaking about that statement. Incorporating a ferret into the conversation does spur discussion but is not providing any sort of useful content apart from a few statements of exclamation from her audience, much like Vendor A.

To paraphrase Hepburn (2009), conversations and relationships are only part of the social media picture that can be sustained for a short time. Content, like a good cup of coffee or a classic novel, keeps an audience coming back.

References 

Cohen, R. (2012, May 22). Marketing influence: The power of persuasion. Forbes. Retrieved February 2, 2013 from http://www.forbes.com/sites/reuvencohen/2012/05/22/marketing-influence-the-power-of-persuasion/

Greenberg, M. (2009, October 20). Content is king of social marketing. MultichannelMerchant.com. Retrieved February 2, 2013 from http://multichannelmerchant.com/social-media/1020-content-social-marketing/

Hepburn, S. (2009, December 21). A tale of two coffee vendors: Content vs. conversation. Media Emerging. Retrieved February 2, 2013 from http://www.mediaemerging.com/2009/12/21/coffee-social-media/

Novak, C. (2010, July 27). Why conversation, not content, is king. SocialMediaToday.com. Retrieved February 2, 2013 from http://socialmediatoday.com/wordspring/152636/why-conversation-not-content-king