I had the chance to give three presentations about new media marketing last week so I felt like my brain was constantly on the mantra: content is the new marketing strategy. On Thursday I had just come out of a two hour presentation and went to lunch with a friend at Chappy's on Church here in Nashville. The food was great and the atmosphere was too. I highly recommend a cup of the seafood gumbo while you're waiting on your meal if you ever go to Chappy's.
While sitting there at lunch it struck me that when you create content you're kind of like a restaurant. Both content creators and restaurants serve something for people that you hope they're going to like. If we think of creating content more like a restaurant owner thinks about serving really good food (and experiences) to their patrons, we may be helped in making sure we're providing valuable content and not something that's half baked or overdone.
If you're in the restaurant business there are three reactions you hope all your customers are going to have. If you're in the content business, you want these same three reactions too.
- Savor - When we savor a meal it means we're enjoying it at that exact moment. We're taking it in and slowing down to make sure we delight in the full flavorful experience. What if that same feeling could be said about your content? Wouldn't you love it if people savored the content you provide? If they savor your content you know they found the immediate value of it, and regardless of which of the five content strategies you choose, that is the primary rule of good content.
- Share - Have you ever had a meal at a restaurant that was so good you had to give everyone else a bite so they knew what they were missing? Or maybe you were talking about that restaurant for the entire next week after having eaten there because it was so good. Have you ever found a video so funny that you had to send to a few friends because you knew what they were missing? Same thing isn't it? When we find something we like we share. Digital content makes sharing a snap and when you create good content one of the best thing you can hope for after the person savors the content him/her self is that they'll share it. Do you create content that is best positioned to be shared? If you have video on your website that doesn't provide an embed code, you're not making it easy for people to share. If you don't have permanent links for blog posts or articles you're not making it easy for people to share. If your content doesn't meet a need that some people (even if only a small group) have, it's probably not going to be shared...and shared content that's shared over and over and over again is of course viral marketing.
- Save - Finally, the last reaction you want in the restaurant or content creation business is that the person will save it. If we're talking about a meal, when they save it for later they're saying it's worth taking home to finish later. When they see the immediate value in your content and take the next step to save it, they are indicating that they not only appreciate the immediate value of your content but the potential value it will have for them to reference in the future. One bonus with the save reaction: when your content proves to be worth saving, you have probably earned their attention for another chance for them to savor, share, and save your content in the future.