Tag: SocialMedia

A Whole Other Universe

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Take a moment to think about your day. How many people did you call? Did you send off more emails than you received? When you politely disagreed with someone, did you furrow your brows? Whether you inherently notice it or not, humans are always communicating with one another. Through body language, vocalization, and specialized squiggles called “letters” we are able to transmit our ideas and feelings. Steady advancements in telecommunication through the 19th century to the present day allows us the option to choose the best delivery method and how exactly we will converse. Recently, industry experts have expressed worry that technology is overtaking our cultures and institutions because it develops so much quicker. How can we, as a society, be on a level playing field with objects that upgrade every year or so? (Here’s looking at you, Apple.)

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The City of Calabasas’ Content Strategy

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Recently, the City of Calabasas, California released a Request for Proposals in an effort to get started with their website redesign project. While the City’s intentions are good, they made no indication of prioritizing a content strategy that would help them to keep pushing out useful, organized information out to the public.

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The Ethics of Fake News & Clickbait

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In this era of digital consumption, pieces of information are being catapulted across the Internet at speeds that defy traditional methods of sharing. Word of mouth, newspapers, and even television have succumbed to mighty online sharing avenues like social media, websites, and apps. Within seconds, information can be published and shared all across the globe – reaching huge, diverse audiences that digest content in a variety of ways. Some audiences are serial sharers that click “retweet” or “share to timeline” without even batting an eye. Other audiences are keen, silent absorbers that thoroughly investigate content that grabs their attention. Whichever audience you may fall into, one thing rings true – it is becoming harder and harder to decipher what is real, honest content and what is faked.

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Botany, KPIs, & Content

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Want to know what these three things have in common? Keep reading!

This past week, I took a look at the Royal Botanical Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) in order to develop a strategic framework for their content that took into account their business goals, audiences, and current external-facing content. To ascertain a better understanding of what the RBGE’s goals were, I referenced this evaluation conducted by Bernard Marr. As the RBGE rolls up into the Scottish Government’s purview, the organization was tasked to promote 3 business goals:

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The Content Tree

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The other day at work I opened an email containing a marked-up PDF from our legal department. The requests for edits were easy except for one that said “insert FBS on all.” FBS? What the heck was that? I turned to my colleague, who had many more years of experience – and lots of interaction with our legal department – for guidance but even she was at a loss. After a few minutes of futile googling and guessing, a quick call to legal dispelled the mystery around the acronym for “Fair Balance Statement.” The point I am trying to make is that something that may be super obvious in one industry might not be as apparent to those outside of it, or those who are working with a new team. As we have discussed previously, content (and its importance) has recently shot up in the past decade, and because of this, there are still some misunderstandings about areas involving content. In today’s post, I’d like to help clarify some of the most important areas of content and their functions. We will be covering: content strategy, content marketing, and content creation.

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My Relationship With Content

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After concluding my studies and research about deep work, I have made peace with the fact that my life is inundated with content literally every second I walk out the door or peruse the web. Each piece of content I am exposed to has a very specific motive behind it, hoping that people like me will click around and choose to spend money. Marketing for any product or service has become cutthroat as companies battle to gain attention from distracted and saturated internet users. In an effort to differentiate themselves, companies have taken to content strategy to formulate decisive pillars and action items in order to make lead conversions. Some businesses do a great job of it, while others are still trying to get a hang of how to create, curate, and manage content. At the end of one of my previous blog posts, I invited readers to take a look at the content they consume and interact with. In this post, I am going to practice what I preach. To touch upon a variety of subjects, I am going to break down my relationship with content into three sections: what I create, what I consume, and what I attract. Sounds like a fun time, right? Let’s get into it.

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Evolution or Revolution? The Truth About Content Strategy

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It has been a little over 20 years since Bill Gates declared “content is king,” but as we have discussed in my previous post, content is nothing without a plan. In fact, PR Daily reports that between 60% – 70% of content that a company creates goes unused. Let that sink in for a second. More than half of materials that are produced never make it through to be seen by an end user. As you can imagine, this is a huge drain of company time, money, and personnel. In order to make the best use of their resources, an increasing amount of businesses are turning towards experts to guide their strategy so that they may create better-informed decisions in the long run.

Content strategy as a whole is a fairly recent industry as the boom of its popularity occurred from around 2008 to 2014. The idea of creating a fleshed out strategy for all of your content was a shiny, new concept for companies to capitalize on. Job roles listed as “content strategists” began to appear, and from that time on, marketing and brand presence have never been the same. Because content strategy gained popularity and relevance so quickly, many industry professionals debate whether content strategy is a revolution or evolution. From what I have seen on blog posts and resources thus far, there doesn’t seem to be a concrete answer. Experts have been joining one camp or another and defending their stance.

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Constructing Content Strategy

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Content marketing is on the rise. In fact, nine out of ten companies are now foregoing the traditional sales pitches of yesteryear, and instead, are publishing content that will enhance their brands while simultaneously creating value for its viewers. This new way of attracting and interacting with customers and leads has caused more businesses to understand that content truly is key. But what exactly is “content” and what is the best way to leverage it from a corporate standpoint?

To describe it in a simplistic manner, content is material (usually residing online) that does not explicitly promote a specific product or brand, but instead promotes ideas, solutions, and entertainment to stimulate the audience’s interest in the company’s products or services. This content can take the form of employee-produced blog posts on the corporate website, videos, helpful infographics, an emailed newsletter, or social media posts. This content can be curated from other sources as well. In fact, 95% of marketers worldwide share curated content from other organizations to heighten their presence; with 79% of that curation occurring through social media channels alone. The possibilities are really endless here and the potential for success is extremely high – but you have to know how to play your cards right.

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Being Bored, It’s Harder than You Think

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Last night, I had an epiphany while waiting in line at Walmart to use the self-checkout – I know it sounds crazy, but let me set the scene… It was Friday night when my significant other and I went out to do some last minute shopping. I was attending a bridal shower over the weekend and I needed some finishing touches to complete my gift. After choosing the perfect bag to complement the themed card and tissue paper, we trudged our way over to the checkout lines. In true Walmart fashion, only five of the near twenty lanes were open. Disgruntled by the slow cashiers and their customers hauling abundant carts, we decided the self-checkout line would be our best bet. As we walked, the overflow of stuff in my arms caused me to surrender my phone, keys, and wallet to my boyfriend who then stowed them in his massive pockets. Jealous of his functional clothing, I parked myself in the line and waited. The line was easily ten people long – this was going to take a while. My boyfriend, without hesitation, took out his phone and started playing a game. I glanced over, stretching my neck to be included. With my hands full and with my phone in his pocket, I had nothing to do but just stand there. After a while, the itch to scroll through my phone became insatiable. If I couldn’t do it, I rationalized, Max shouldn’t be able to either. “Put your phone away!” I snapped. He looked at me incredulously, mumbled a response, and continued playing. Was I really getting snippy because he had the ability to use his phone while I couldn’t? Why, yes I was! As the line crawled, the craving to look at my iPhone screen grew, and with a rush of disappointment, I realized that I couldn’t cope without my technological crutch. I couldn’t handle being bored.

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Hacking into Humans

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Picture this: You’re in the passenger seat of your friend’s car. There is pop music playing and the windows are rolled down a little, letting in the crisp breeze. You scroll through your Instagram feed while listening to your friend talk about their horrific day at work. Your eyes glance up from your phone occasionally, taking in the surroundings passing by. Badly designed electronic billboard ads and gaudy signs for fast food joints stick out. Those, of course, are boring, so you lose interest in them quickly. Your Instagram feed quickly sucks you back in again. Ads for new clothes and niche products intersperse the feed. Maybe you’ll buy one in the hopes that it’ll change your life. You double tap your thumb at almost every passing post, hoping that in turn, your friends will like back. You hear your name being called, and then again with more angst. Your friend glares at you, and as you look up to speak your phone vibrates, it’s an email. You have unlocked your favorite store’s “diamond membership” and they sent you an exclusive coupon code. Your friend sighs in exasperation as you click through the email and goes silent, turning up the music in response. You try to get them to talk again but they won’t look your way. Oh well, at least now you can go tend to those tempting notifications…let’s see what’s on sale…

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