New Study Reveals: Content is King… Not Social Media

It’s an interstesting study, furthemore when content relevance appears to be the main “filter” when building the audience. We share relevant data and gather in groups of interests (communities: entertainment-based: e.g.Facebook, MySpace and professional-based: e.g.LinkedIn) as result of both technological advancements and information overload, which raises the need for grouping and categorization (targeting by interests).

Moreover, it’s an important moment for marketers, who could benefit from the opportunities digital marketing offers by understanding and using it properly. More on Social Media ROI in the interview taken with Ogilvy digital marketers and David M.Scott, best-selling author of “The new Rules of Marketing & PR”:

http://digitallunch.blogspot.com/2009/09/measuring-social-media-hard-vs-soft.html.

I think it is really interesting on the differences between 2003 and today. Just goes to show how the end user is always evolving so when trying to capture their attention, we should be to.

Good report. An interesting insight that has come up is that Community sites are reducing the share of online time by communications sites due to community sites ability to offer the same activities such as email and instant messaging more efficiently.

Jeff,

Once again, thank you for providing us with keen insights into the latest social media studies. You are, indeed, a “content king!”

Your latest report underscores the fact that success in social media is no small task as it requires, for brands at least, as much attention to finding, creating, and sharing great content, as it does to achieving and maintaining important person-to-person connections. Assuredly, the preeminence of content is a reflection of a much more information-savvy consumer. In the end, we are all better served by this higher standard.

Glen

Jeff

Interesting post, with interesting data…I visited the Online Publisher Association site, and did a comparison over a smaller time series (Q307-today) and the changes in values (minutes, visitors, etc) appear to convey a less conclusive and definitive trend…can you comment?

Thank you.

Rick

It makes sense that content is king. Isn’t that the hardest part to come up with? Good content?

Great post! I totally agree – a content strategy must come before a social media strategy! Too many are hung up on a particular tool (Twitter, FB, etc) without even considering who they’re trying to influence with what type of message/content.

I wrote a similar (more lengthy) post on this subject: http://davemorse.net/2009/09/02/why-i-hate-the-term-social-media/

The take-away: content is crucial to an over-arching “inbound marketing” strategy.

@Melody

That is the challenge for most businesses – generating content. Most have a hard time implementing the discipline to get it done.

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for the detailed information concerning changes in consumer habits. As a copywriter, I’m a big fan of content. It’s always useful to have statistical data to go along with my marketing efforts.

Glen’s right on target. Now, more than ever, all marketers much pay attention to the marketplace through ever available means in order to produce content that not only gets attention, but helps actually solve problems.

[...] New Study Reveals: Content is King… Not Social Media « Jeffbullas’s Blog [...]

Nothing surprising here — content has been king of the web since 1995.

However, it is interesting that you bring these ideas up in this way. There are so many people focused on a small part of the web (Twitter, Facebook, etc) and who ignore the much bigger superset of content.

And considering the final quote you cited in the study, I’m damn glad I titled my book “The New Rules of Marketing & PR”,

Hello Jeff – Glad to have found you!

This is a very good post.

Since my core expertise is in Knowledge Management, I’m not at all surprised by this finding. Indeed, in my list of “Principles of Twitter Professionals” I have:

Principle #7: Tweet quality determines the success of your strategy

and I regard it is probably THE most important of them all.

Alex Goodall
@AlexGoodall

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Content is still king in Korea, coz Major Portal Site such as naver.com(Viral MKT is one of method companies like. anyway There are some changes from social activities on Social Media. That’s why I agree your opinion on the post.

Jeff this is great content indeed . I do agree on this, content is king and social media as a marketing strategy is sometimes overrated. The good thing is we can use social media to leverage content because search engines are taking into account both relevance and popularity or social buzz.

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It has no relevance which media one is talking about, content is always and always will be most giving and valuable.
When people finally learn how to read and write then the Facebooks and Twitters will be redundant. Why? Because clear , compelling visceral copy is bloody difficult to create on a regular basis.
Good article though. Thanks a million.

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The Internet Activity Index is the study of the internet activities released by Online publishers Association have the trends of different types of internet posted in it. This is a good post.

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any tips of content for our web site? small hotel in spain http://www.jesuskoa.net so the content of a page is more important than social media?

thanks and best regards

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Still not convinced your website needs quality content? http://tinyurl.com/ljj3hg

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This is a reassuring study for milesmaker™ in that I’m currently in development for a branded ‘content & conversation’ channel; a lifestyle network for Artistic entrepreneurs. My new website will initially offer curated content with creative social media integration and ultimately incorporate interactive elements for community engagement.

I’m on my way!

Good post Jeff and it’s interesting to read some of the comments.

I have maintained for the longest time that the consumer is now KING and that content is Queen.

This royal couple, once given the right Social Media platforms by companies and corporations, should easily be able to experience the perfect opportunity for quality consumer engagement and, of course, we ALL hope, subsequent long term purchasing action. But these changes and this success won’t come easily or overnight!

Social Media is NOT over rated, it’s under utilized.

One of the main reasons, particularly in construction, is fear of change from senior management, the guys that still swear by their fax machines and can’t get their heads around anything digital! Perhaps, they’re scared of negative comments on Social Media platforms because based on their Draconian management skills they anticipate it becoming a major issue? Negative sentiment from staff is something companies have always had to deal with, however, many have never been confronted with doing their ‘dirty washing’ in public. This is great for the staff and ensures, to some extent, that people are treated well and fairly. (Social Media platform as virtual shop steward, perhaps)

If companies addressed ‘internal’ marketing in a more positive and meaningful way, much of the the Social Media monitoring would or could be carried out by loyal and faithful staff. Not ALL the time on Social Media platforms during working hours is ‘downtime’ and ‘desk skiving’ and this should be addressed with a positive mentality rather than a negative one. I believe that in many instances Social Media monitoring is extremely important, has the potential in larger companies to become a stand alone department, simply because people have to act quickly to address problems. Social Media monitoring could become a new industry employing 1,000′s of people within the next few years. (A great job for the ageing population?) This MUST be a good thing for everyone concerned because often a complaint well handled and promptly, can produce untold loyalty from the complainant.

I would also like to mention that not everyone fully appreciates that Social Media Marketing is NOT a get rich fix concept, it needs to be nurtured and it will take time and commitment and passion to see great results.

Social Media in 2011 was discussed on LinkedIn recently and I agreed when someone said (Hi Su!) that we could well see a backlash from companies that don’t address Social Media with any real strategy (or passion) and therefore don’t see any positive rewards for their (paltry) efforts.
These are the people who will moan and complain (The cynical senior management types, scared of change and challenges prior to their retirement) and say that Social Media is just a fad. However, with any luck, due to their lack of foresight and the inability to cope with the inevitable, they won’t be around too long anyway! The companies that address ‘permission marketing’, consider their customer as KING and their content as Queen AND address Social Media and Digital Marketing correctly, are the companies that will continue to be successful and prosper.
Not everyone realises it, but some major changes have happened and there’s a lot more to come!

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Great post Jeff. I agree 100% !

So true. Great post Jeff.

Great post and a great tool in my amoury next time a client says (why should we blog can’t we just Tweets its easier)

Thanks jeff. change is always constant. 

I have a different view, I think the community sites (Facebook, Twitter) are the kings where ordinary “people” are creating content and content sites (NYTimes, Financial Times, WSJ etc) are feeding content and creating a social revolution…

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Content will forever be king. Original content is god! Great post, Jeff!

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Jeff, This is an important subject. Being the content is outdated, I’d love to see an updated version.

Content is being used by Communities. 

In December 2009 facebook has only 350 million active members, in January 2011 it grown up to 900 million active members. More than the population of USA and Europe together. China excluded, to keep their communism they BLOKED facebook and twitter. China has it´s own community revolution. Russian Community site B KHONTAKTE has over 100 million active members.

End of the year 2011 Mobile providers Vodafone creates a new product `Smartphone Crew` that uses social media to help customers with their smart phones. In Holland (and the rest of the world as well) are companies like `Just Connecting` that are earning their pay check by training another companies how to use community sites.
Schools are providing subjects as New media and Marketing.

From 2009 till march 2012 Facebook grow with 250%. I believe that today’s Facebook addicted’s have raised average way above the 6 hours. 14% of World population has a Facebook account. Millions more have another social media account and are active at Community site.

When we read or watch news on site as NYTimes we will probably find an articles about Social media or Facebook. We would even have the opportunity to Like, give 1+, share or tweet any another article.
Facebook (socials media) is not only using the content but it has become a part of it as well.

As sir Peter L Masters MCIM would say “Social Media was Untilized”.

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