Content Driven. Audience Centric. Platform Agnostic.
Where Do Audiences Come From?
Customers come from audiences, and there are only three ways to get access to an audience:
Owned media is about BUILDING your own audience – leveraging the channels a brand owns or controls, and using those channels to build your own audience – in order to turn that audience member into a customer, and eventually, an advocate for your brand.
- You can buy it. (Paid Media = Advertising)
- You can borrow it. (Earned Media = PR)
- You can build it. (Owned Media)
Owned media is about BUILDING your own audience – leveraging the channels a brand owns or controls, and using those channels to build your own audience – in order to turn that audience member into a customer, and eventually, an advocate for your brand.
Digital Marketing Doesn't Work Without Content
Literally, every single thing that happens online is ultimately driven by content.
Content is the fuel that powers the engine of the Internet. Yet, many marketers are not investing a single dollar into content.
Almost none of the dollars invested in digital are invested in content or in audience development. Yet this is the sole thing that moves the needle for literally every online tactic.
Coke, Nike, Red Bull, and Starbucks are some of the most recognized and valuable brands in the world, and all are considered marketing thought leaders. All of them have invested heavily in owned media.
Content is the fuel that powers the engine of the Internet. Yet, many marketers are not investing a single dollar into content.
Almost none of the dollars invested in digital are invested in content or in audience development. Yet this is the sole thing that moves the needle for literally every online tactic.
Coke, Nike, Red Bull, and Starbucks are some of the most recognized and valuable brands in the world, and all are considered marketing thought leaders. All of them have invested heavily in owned media.
What Do We Mean By Content? Be Content Driven & Platform Agnostic
In the context of owned media, content is any media a brand voice creates with the intention of serving an audience. We really can boil it down to some form of:
- text,
- video,
- audio,
- images,
- or interactions.
Content Driven. Platform Agnostic
We have to think "platform agnostic". The real question we should be asking is "What is the most engaging, compelling way I can tell my story?"
If we focus on the content – the best way to tell the story, not the best platform to the tell the story on – it makes the decision about how, when and which platform easy.
We have to think "platform agnostic". The real question we should be asking is "What is the most engaging, compelling way I can tell my story?"
If we focus on the content – the best way to tell the story, not the best platform to the tell the story on – it makes the decision about how, when and which platform easy.
There Is An Audience for Everything: The Long Tail
Your brand is not boring to people who have done business with you, are about to do business with you or might someday do business with you.
Your brand is relevant to an audience, somewhere, and content about it will be interesting to them, or you wouldn't be able to stay in business.
No matter how specialized your product or service is, there is an audience out there that is interested in it. This has to do with the long tail economic theory posited by Chris Anderson.
Your brand is relevant to an audience, somewhere, and content about it will be interesting to them, or you wouldn't be able to stay in business.
No matter how specialized your product or service is, there is an audience out there that is interested in it. This has to do with the long tail economic theory posited by Chris Anderson.
There is an addressable audience for absolutely everything, including what your business is about. But they can't find you if you're not producing any content.
Real-Time Audience Feedback
One thing all online channels and platforms have in common – besides the fact that content in the only thing that makes them work – is the ability to see your audience's reaction to content in real-time and respond to the situation.
Good or bad, opportunistic or protectionist, when your brand opts to participate in owned media, it is absolutely critical to understand how the audience is reacting to the content that you're publishing.
We're not just talking about responding via comments or replying to tweets. We're talking about the feedback every member of the audience provides everyday, with their BEHAVIORS – ANALYTICS.
It's critically important, as you are reviewing channel analytics, to understand that you're not actually measuring the effect of content on audience, not the effectiveness of the channel.
Every measurement online is a measurement of content.
Good or bad, opportunistic or protectionist, when your brand opts to participate in owned media, it is absolutely critical to understand how the audience is reacting to the content that you're publishing.
We're not just talking about responding via comments or replying to tweets. We're talking about the feedback every member of the audience provides everyday, with their BEHAVIORS – ANALYTICS.
It's critically important, as you are reviewing channel analytics, to understand that you're not actually measuring the effect of content on audience, not the effectiveness of the channel.
Every measurement online is a measurement of content.
- Open rate?
- Measurement of the headline content. Click through rate?
- Measurement of the content. Time on site?
- Unique visitors?
- Shares?
- Likes?
- Clicks?