You’ll hear us talking a lot about content, and we realise that it’s a big word that encompasses what feels like a great deal of the internet. You may even have heard the phrase ‘content is king’ bandied about - but what exactly does it mean, and is it true? In this article, we’ll be exploring where the phrase came from, what it means, and whether it’s as accurate today as it was when it was first uttered.
Where did 'content is king' come from?
As marketing professionals, if we had a pound for every time we heard ‘content is king’, we might have a fortune big enough to rival the guy who originally coined the phrase - Bill Gates. Way back in 1996, he wrote an essay predicting the future of the internet (no big deal), putting content at the heart of it. By this comment, he meant that the majority of money made on the internet would be generated by web content, the same as it is in other forms of media, such as broadcasting.
In so many respects, Bill was right, and now content is also a way to make money indirectly too, by persuading users to spend their money with certain businesses. To say that the internet is now oversaturated with content is a giant understatement, but the fact remains: the quality of your content has never been more important.
Where is content king?
With so many corners of the internet to get stuck into, it’s important to know where you can have the most impact through content. Those areas are:
Website content
Think of website content as the shop window, where you’re in charge of the display. Here you can choose to tell people what you do, how you do it, and why through static page content, appealing to the people who need your goods and/or services, and converting them into paying customers.
Content marketing
Getting your message out there can be done in so many different formats now. From articles to videos, podcasts to newsletters, the content we consume is varied, and therefore so can your content marketing strategy be.
Social media marketing
It wasn’t a big thing when Bill wrote his essay but it’s become a phenomena that you can barely escape from now - and its popularity shows no signs of abating. The content posted to social media by brands, whether directly from their accounts or through influential users, has the power to sell out products and services in almost every industry.
Social media content predominantly takes the form of photos and videos, with platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and Facebook used as instrumental parts of the organic and paid marketing strategies for many businesses.
Blogging
When it comes to content that you have control of, blogging is still a tool you need to keep in your belt. It rose to fame in the mid to late 2000s, particularly in the world of fashion, beauty and lifestyle, and has since morphed into a way for businesses to demonstrate their expertise.
These shareable articles can take deep dives on different areas of a business or industry, showing both users and Google that you’re a voice to trust.
What about AI content or paid traffic?
AI content
It can’t have escaped your notice that Artificial Intelligence has gained a somewhat mainstream use, particularly in the marketing world. From blog content written in seconds to futuristic images created from a simple prompt, it might feel like human-generated content could become redundant. However, we’d argue that AI means that it’s never been more important to create authentic, helpful content for your audience - as far as we’re concerned, this is the only genuine way to connect.
Paid traffic
Paying to push your content to users who may like it and therefore convert into customers can have real results for businesses, especially when the efforts are accurately targeted. Powerhouses such as Google and Meta (the company behind Facebook and Instagram) have made it far easier for brands to place ‘ads’ that get served to their users. Any good marketer will tell you, though, that it’s a combination of both paid and organic content marketing that attracts customers, cultivates trust, and ultimately results in conversions.
Top tips for creating high quality content
The various forms of content that you can produce all have their own nuances, but you can’t go far wrong if you follow these general rules for creating high quality content, no matter the format:
Through research
This means investigating what your users are interested in and searching for, where they’re hanging out online, and what their pain points are.
Develop a brief and outline
Using your research, you can then produce a brief that outlines where you’ll post the content, what form it will take, and what it needs to say to address those pain points.
Produce your content to this brief
Move on to writing or producing your content to ensure that you cover off everything that your users might need from it, referring to research if necessary.
Use SEO best practices
If you want your content to be discovered (and we’re guessing you do), adhere to SEO best practices to give it the best chance. That means including any keywords and phrases, and ensuring it’s optimised and accessible.
So, is content king?
It was never going to be a no from us - content is one of the most important things you can produce for your business online. Of course, there are so many other factors to consider, without which your content is wasted, which includes the performance of your site when users get to it, the way you respond to comments and reviews online, and the way you promote the content itself. Getting quality content produced is a great start though, and should be prioritised as part of your marketing strategy.
Need help with your content?
Producing content and getting eyes on it is no easy feat, particularly when you’re a busy business owner. That’s why so many businesses pull in experts like us, who can get to know the brand on a deep level in order to produce content that does everything it needs to do. At 427, we specialise in the content on your website, both the on-page and the blog varieties.
We do this to appeal not only to your user, but to Google too, with a technical team that work alongside the content writers and SEO specialists to ensure that barriers to this well written and well researched content are broken down. This gives your site a good shot at appearing high up on search engine results pages, so your intended user can find you quicker.
If you’d like help with your SEO content, we’re only a call away - get in touch today for a no-obligation chat about how 427 can help.