Digital Content: From Message to Medium

There are over 92 million connected devices in Nigeria (Source NCC). If you subtract those with multiple phones and possibly other devices like ATMs, we can safely say we have about 70million people who are connected in Nigeria.

All these people are on the internet for at least one of these reasons or sometimes, all three reasons:

• They want to be entertained

• They want to be educated/informed

• They want to engage

All three of these needs require content to drive it. Irrespective of the age or class of the consumer.

Today, digital content drives marketing which has largely moved online to meet consumers in their comfort zone.

Today’s consumer doesn’t want to be directly sold to. S/He wants to be educated/informed, entertained and engaged and if you are going to be successful at marketing anything to him/her, you have to develop content that is engaging, entertaining and/or educative/informative.

Here’s a Case Study of Digital Content in Marketing.

Segun needs a new laptop. He heads to google. He checks for the specifications of different laptops (probably a blog post or a video), he checks for reviews, then he checks prices and possible points of purchase. He asks for recommendations on Twitter or WhatsApp group and compares the recommendations with all the earlier information he gleaned earlier from Google. Then, he takes his decision long before he steps out of his house to make the actual purchase.

Segun has just been sold to – through the different types of contents that were strategically placed for him to consume to aid his buying decision.

Don’t forget that Google aggregates all the content on the web and delivers your specific needs using a filter called Search. In essence, the web will be a desert without content.

What’s The Goal of Digital Content?

In digital content creation, your goal isn’t to sell directly to prospects, your goal is to attract prospects, build trust and guide them through the buying stages.

All elements of Digital Marketing – Email Marketing, Search Marketing, Mobile Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Websites, Display Advertising – are driven by Content – albeit in different formats.

To be successful in digital content creation, you need to look at 2 things:

THE MESSAGE

THE MEDIUM

The Message – What message do I want to pass across? Who is my message going to? At what stage of the buyer’s journey is this person?

The Medium – What medium will this message be on? What format will attract the target audience?

Here’s an example

If your target audience is a 17-year-old chap, you have no business creating an E-book for him to download on your website. He will never read it. Instead, you are better off reaching him with a one-minute video on Snapchat.  Message + Medium

Digital Content Formats

Content can be presented in various formats:

Videos

Text

Infographics

Blog Posts

E-Books/Playbooks/Guides

Articles

White papers

Podcasts/Webcasts

Templates

Research Reports

Games e.t.c

And there Is a new kid on the block –  Online Experience

Online experience uses a mix of different formats to tell a story. Instead of just seeing static text on the screen for an article or perhaps an e-book, it can use a mix of Text, Videos, Infographics and images to tell a complete story.

Here Are Some Online Experience Examples:

http://lnkd.in/TPlanExperience

http://bit.ly/NewMediaMessage

http://lnkd.in/SMSessions .

Facebook Carousel Ad is another good example of Online Experience

Measuring The Effectiveness of Digital Content

Now that you’ve got your message and medium right, your content has got to be measured.

You can use the following metrics:

Lead Generation – How much data was the content able to bring in (Data Capture) – especially for B2B businesses

Engagement – How much people engaged with the content by sharing, commenting etc. – Engagement helps top of mind awareness and word of mouth recommendation

Sales – How much sales was the content able to influence? Businesses need to make sales. The numbers are important.

In some cases, one content may not be able to satisfy all three measurement criteria but nonetheless, it should satisfy at least one criteria – in line with the marketing objectives.

Looking into the future

All marketing professionals of today and indeed the future will need to be able to generate content. Gone are the days when you say, “I am not a copywriter”. Content creation is an important skill in marketing.

Your Facebook post, tweet, Instagram post, Whatsapp chat etc., are all content. You only need to be more purposeful when creating marketing content.

To help hone your content skill, I recommend the book – Everybody Writes by Ann Handley

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