This edition of The Bella Buzz podcast focuses on the development of quality content as a primary component of an online marketing strategy. Hosts Joe Magennis and Desiree Scales take a step back from focusing on social networks and distribution channels for attracting a community and talk about ways in which businesses can look at new forms of content development.
Many times during the initial planning stages of launching a web site or a blog the immediate push back we hear is that a business owner "does not have time" to create and maintain content on a consistent basis. As the evolution of online marketing continues, we are stating flat out that time for content creation must be allotted in order to achieve any of the business objectives for that web site. Whether it is using a content creation agency like Fluid Media or personally handling the responsibility, a strategy for getting content to the website and consequently the search engines must be developed.
For those businesses where the content speaks to a very specific niche audience, B2B businesses for example, content development will most likely fall to internal resources with possibly some outsourced help regarding production.
Businesses need to look for other forms of content outside the normal boundaries. For example, a business could look to develop a Wiki as part of their online presence, which would help provide educational information to their audience. A wiki can provide an evergreen form of content bringing collaborative resources together, so it doesn't all fall to the company to provide content. The growth of this Wiki constitutes a valuable asset for that company over time. Businesses have to think outside of comfort zones when it comes to content!
Another opportunity for businesses are instructional videos. Low cost episodes can be produced and distributed very simply online and will help to break down certain barriers and comfort zones, allowing owners to speak directly to their target customer. Also consider customer testimonials as a form of rich media content for your site.
User generated content (UGC) is a secret content development strategy right out in the open on the web. Consider a site like Joe's Baseballisms.com where users are solicited to create videos themselves to tell about their relationship with the game of baseball. As these videos are produced and submitted, they can be distributed to the various social networks such as the Baseballisms YouTube Channel, The Facebook Fan Page, and the content becomes a part of the overall experience of visiting the web site.
One factor to consider when developing content on a consistent basis is that our consumption habits have changed towards smaller sized portions. If you have alot to say, break that content up into tinier posts so that you increase the frequency of distribution (good for search engines, RSS subscribers, etc.) and you maintain your audience's attention for each post you submit.
We somehow morphed our conversation into powerpoint presentations in front of an audience and some experiences regarding the Do's and Dont's. The dont's are obvious regarding reading from the slides and including tons of bullets and text on each slide. Desiree points to Steve Jobs for using great slides and recommends the book Presentation Zen.
Finally, to point to last week's episode of the Bella Buzz, our guest Svy Nekrasas Director of Marketing at Bella Web Design, was able to help crystallize the business model thinking for Fluid Media by identifying that it all starts at the content level. When the content has been developed properly the next step is to determine the best networks to use for distribution. It does not make sense for Fluid to work with clients on understanding the networks and how to participate if a complete inventory and creation strategy has not been completed.
How do you handle the task of content creation?
Theme music for The Bella Buzz is Fallen by Digital Chemistry, available for download at the Podsafe Music Network.
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