B2B Marketing Trends 2015 Series, Continued–
Have you ever tried to get a highschooler not to share something on social?
Parents have tried for years to warn teens of the evils of sharing something “they won’t want to face later.” Instead of teaching a new social media decorum, however, now we have a suite of applications that theoretically make socially provocative material more palatable or more private. Now, silly stuff is more popular than ever. Problem solved, right?
Content as Culture
The behavior of the content-curious is socially mediated through a bevy of evolving platforms. Many of them are amazing applications for content marketing initiatives, like Twitter but even YikYak or Secret. So in a way, yes, the problem is solved–content one, decorum zero. There are plenty of opportunities to reach your target market right where they want to be.
The braiding of evolving platforms with personal expression is why content as culture is the #2 B2B Marketing Trend we’re predicting for 2015. (You might enjoy catching up on our article on Top 10 B2B Marketing Trends 2015).
Shared content is still the essence of reputation. That’s as accurate at work today at it was at prom in the last century. Now let’s go one step further. Think of content as the commodity of communication, the “corn” as it were. If content is grist for your marketing mill, how you serve up the commodity is what matters.
Lee Odden at TopRank recently wrote,
Content beyond marketing is what will drive success across business functions in the coming year and beyond – from marketing and sales, to employee advocacy, customer service, audience engagement, to thought leadership and hiring, content touches all aspects of a business and all areas of a business can contribute to the content function.
Lee is spot on. The reverse is also true—poor content can crash your culture and cause marketing to cave.
That’s why we’re suggesting you think of how to take the corn of your content, which is essentially a commodity, and turn it into tasty corn fritter–or salsa, chutney, you name it as long as it “tastes great” once it’s been seasoned.
Seasoning content marketing with culture
Do you have a process for taking the content occurring all across your company, and seasoning it with your own culture?
In 2015, companies that become big stars will be embracing content as a way of expressing culture and shaping this, not shutting it down. They’ll be rewarded by a bigger fanbase than they even imagined, made possible by the folks in their first row: their own employees.
Curious about how content marketing and culture come together? Us, too! We’d love to talk with you about how to help your firm stand out–feel free to give us shout!