7 Reasons Why Great Content is Not Enough

2015 will be the year of many interesting things, one of them it’s content. Since advertisement effectiveness is every year lower, “Content” is the word used now for the information delivered by the brands that is more than a simple ad. The objective of any content strategy is to generate a deeper link with consumers and provide spaces of conversation with the brands and between them. Content that can be shared, viralized, and shared again for the pride of the creative agency that produced it. But remember, very few ideas are powerful enough to be self viral, and if the content doesn’t work, brands, not creatives, are paying the price of failure.

In the last weeks I’ve seen content taking some not negligible share of news, it seems after some years with budget cuts, brands are again investing in content. So before planning your content strategy, just check some of the following:

#1 Be sure it’s great content. Content production could be quite expensive (depending on the content), or could be deathly harmful for the brands if it has something not appreciated by the consumers. Of course, you will need a little bit of consumer empathy, but never forget to test your content among some of your consumers. Some companies deliver first and then test, this might work for some brands or content, but be careful anyway. Now, you have great content…

#2 It could be great content, but not focused to your target. Define your target first, and then create the content. It’s very easy for a hipster creative to create content for hipsters. What about Nannies? Be careful with humor, humor is a very powerful tool for linking to consumers, but very dangerous too, as not everybody understands jokes the same.

#3 It could be great content, but not aligned to your objectives. If it’s awareness, great, but it would be a pity not to use that interaction to make your target do something, gather some consumer data for CRM, sales, etc.

#4 It could be great content, but be sure to be able to maintain it, and have a backup plan to kill it gracefully. If the objective of content is to create a sustainable, emotional link with your consumers, be sure you don’t approach it as a campaign, but more as a long term program. Think big, start small, and have an escape plan, in case things don’t work as you wish (something that will happen sooner or later)

#5 It could be great content, but hardly shareable. If you only count on your media (own or bought), that’s going to be difficult to spread, or very expensive. Be sure the content is good enough so somebody will share it, and foster shareability among consumers.

#6 It could be great content, but you should let the consumers express themselves. Even if it’s very engaging, you shouldn’t leverage only on your content, but let your consumers create their own. That has implications from your brand image perspective, but the link with consumers will be much narrower if they see peers participating.

#7 It could be great content, but you don’t know how does it contribute to your objectives. Measure everything you can, learn, and make the adjustments, it’s very difficult to have a one shot success, there is always something to improve, from topics to formats or mechanics.

Content can be creatively great, but it could be not enough. I’d love to hear your comments about this topic.

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