There’s been a recent discussion on “content shock” that was originally spurred from Mark Schaefer’s post last month. Shel Holtz wrote a counter to it stating that there will not be any sort of content shock or what Shel calls “information overload.”
Content shock is viewed as basically an overabundance of content thanks, in part, to the concept of “content is king.” This concept started a few years ago and now we see all kinds of brands producing content of some sort.
Affiliate marketing has been replaced with content.
The beauty of this is that there is some great content to be consumed, but there is also some bad content. The answer to this has been, “create epic content.”
I’m reminded of Louis CK here when he goes on his bit about using the word “awesome.”
Let’s remember that we are bombarded constantly with content and have been for quite a while. That content varies; it’s on billboards, it’s on ads in magazines, it’s on banners on websites and just about any other item in our lives.
In my opinion, we have learned to ignore this constant bombardment. We drive (or at least try to) without looking at billboards. We turn the page in a magazine and thanks to search engines; we’ve learned to ignore banners.
We have our own set of filters and we pick and choose what we want or don’t want.
We are a curious bunch by nature. If we weren’t, a lot of things wouldn’t exist in this world. We find things that interest us and keep our interest and we pursue it.
This is why you have fantasy football leagues thanks to pioneers like Billy Beane, of “Moneyball” fame, who used statistics and mathematics analytics to find the best players in each position on the field to great success.
At a moment’s notice, we can find out information on topics that interest us. We can look up who starred in that movie you’re watching and fast-forwarding through the commercials (hey, it’s content). We sign up for a competition or giveaway that caught our eye on the sports website.
Then there is the other side of it that has companies using content as a push for business.
Unfortunately, if your company is using content to push for business, there’s already a problem. Content and social media is not the Golden Fleece….it will not save your company.
Sure you can push out content, but honestly, if you’re a telecom company for example, it’s not a sexy topic. There are only so many posts you can publish about your industry that will be read by the decision makers that you should already be identifying and converting.
Visitors to your site will tell you what they want by the areas they visit on your site. They will already have used their natural filters and selective vision to pick and choose the content they want. They will have subscribed or made another action. They may have even contacted you.
Thanks to the evolution of marketing and our own built-in filters, content is still king and it will be for quite a while. We’ll continually look for things that interest us and the info that we want.
We’ll ignore the flood of content and we’ll know what speaks to us. What some may see as content shock, some will see as never being able to get enough for our own consumption.