The word “content” is one of the most overused in modern English. It is so pervasive that other languages don’t even translate it. Content refers to the words, images, links, music, videos, and more that make up web pages, blog posts, social media, and just about everything else on the internet.
There are plenty of reasons why the term has been lodged into the collective consciousness. Between the tech and the way that content marketing connects to the human being, the term has transcended the word. Below are some reasons why content is king.
Social Media
On the surface, social media is simply the way that people catch up with each other and the way artists, businesses, and other entities promote themselves. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Social media platforms are learning intimate things about us with their sophisticated algorithms. The online content that we create and respond to is highly analyzed and put back into the platform.
Not only can you get noticed on social media, you can even make a living on it. This goes for promotion of yourself but also the promotion of others. At the end of the day, if your content doesn’t get picked up by the platform’s intelligent web of algorithms, you don’t have much to show for it. Content, and the way it relates to the overall machine of social media, is paramount.
SEO
Search engine optimization is, perhaps, even more valuable than social media. SEO is the combination of tactics, techniques, and strategies to push specific websites and pages to the top of search engines like Google and Bing. If you can do this successfully, your business or whatever else you are looking to promote can be an overnight success.
SEO uses keywords, metadata, hyperlinks, and word count to scale these pages. It’s a delicate balance. You have to start with the right combination of all these things to get noticed, and then the list is dictated by how many clicks the site is getting. If you have too many words on a piece of content, for example, it will have a harder time getting noticed. If you are wondering why blog content has become so popular, it’s partially due to SEO.
Data Analysis
Social media and SEO would be nothing without data. Data is probably the most valuable thing on the internet, but it’s quickly becoming one of the most valuable things in general. With large sets of data, you can make a lot of money. Not only can you analyze the information of your customers, followers, and target demographics, you can buy and sell data.
The morality of buying and selling people’s information is still being developed, but there’s no saying that data isn’t powerful. Content is one way to get your hands on data. Who clicks on this page? Who likes this post? How did a video do on Facebook vs Twitter? The amount of data that content can provide is untold. However, it is only worth something if it is properly harvested, organized, stored, and analyzed. The content itself can provide the data, but work remains.
Documentation, Sharing, and Reusing Ideas
Now that content is the way that a lot of businesses are finding new demographics, customers, and followers, there are new platforms popping up to combine content strategies and techniques to get more eyes on what they are doing. For example, technical writing software can help you create content, share it with other team members, analyze how it did, and use the template of success for further content. Content needs to be unique, but it doesn’t necessarily need to be original.
The word content has, somewhat ironically, turned into the antithesis of its definition. Content is what you find inside something. It’s below the surface. These days, a lot of businesses, writers, and artists alike are creating unoriginal content to feed the algorithms. However, it doesn’t need to be this way.
You can write engaging, original, and thoughtful content all while using the above methods to maximize its reach. If you can combine all these things, you’ll have a better chance at success. It isn’t easy, but that’s why the talented content creators stand out amongst the rest.
