As of this blog post I am following 166 people in Twitter. I see a lot of information on Twitter every day (but not nearly as much as someone like Guy Kawasaki who is following 7,882 people or Chris Brogan who's following 5,020 people) and it's interesting to see the different things people talk about. The "Twitter in Plain English" video does a great job talking about how Twitter connects people and provides an outlet to let people learn about you through little glimpses into your life.

What I've noticed, however, is that the most interesting Tweets don't just answer the "what are you doing" question. Some people who use Twitter only answer that question and quite honestly it's not as interesting as the people who provide a broader view of themselves. Twitter can be a lot more than that for you but you have to think about it in that way. Some people have made that transition, but a lot still haven't. That being said, here are five other questions you anc answer with Twitter to make your Tweets a lot more interesting.

1. What did you learn? This might be breaking news or an interesting blog post you just read or maybe a poignant thought you heard. Tweet this little nugget of information and be sure to include a link if you have one. Use TinyURL.com to shorten the URL and keep you within the 140 character limit.
2. What made you laugh? You can learn a lot about a person by what they find funny. When is the last time you linked to something that made you laugh?
3. What do you need an answer to? Twitter can be a great place to find an answer to a need you have. Just last night I saw that Dave Delaney was having some technical issues with his blog and he asked for help from his Twitter friends. Within minutes Cal Evans discovered the blog wasn't the issue. It was the server and Dave knew he needed to contact his host provider. That's just a great little example of Twitter connecting people to answer a question. One thing to note here, rhetorical questions probably won't get a response but specific questions often will.
4. What are you thankful for? This is also tells you a lot about the person and can also inspire you to be a little more thankful in your own life.
5. What ticks you off? Some of the most interesting Tweets are during a moment of frustration. These are usually funny but I've seen them get pretty serious too. One funny one I saw once was from a commuter here in Nashville who said, "Dear I-24, you are not a parking lot. Let's get moving!!!"

The bottom line is that you want to round out your Tweets to answer more than just what you are doing. People will discover you're a more interesting person and will get to know you better as well.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0qMe7Z3EYg]

I know, I know...I don't usually show video here except on Fridays but this one is worth the exception. I'm not an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) guy but this rap actually has some really good tips about what you need to do when you're building a site.

I'm not a web designer or developer so some of this didn't mean anything to me but as a social media marketer this had some valuable information and a few good reminders. Whether you build sites or just have people around you who do, this is worth the free SEO tutorial...fo' shizzle.

Here are the lyrics:
Your site design is the first thing people see
it should be reflective of you and the industry
easy to look at with a nice navigation
when you can't find what you want it causes frustration
a clear Call to action to increase the temptation
use appealing graphics they create motivation
if you have animation
use with moderation
cause search engines can't index the information
display the logos of all your associations
highlight your contact info that's an obligation
create a clean design you can use some decoration
but to try to prevent any client hesitation
every page that they click should provide and explanation
should be easy to understand like having a conversation
when you design the style go ahead and use your imagination
but make sure you use correct color combinations
do some investigation, look at other organizations
but don't duplicate or you might face a litigation
design done, congratulations but it's time to start construction
follow these instructions when you move into production
your photoshop functions then slice that design
do your layout with divs make sure that it's aligned
please don't use tables even though they work fine
when it come to indexing they give searches a hard time
make it easy for the spiders to crawl what you provide
remove font type, font color and font size
no background colors, keep your coding real neat,
tag your look and feel on a separate style sheet
better results with xml and css
now you making progress, a lil closer to success
describe your doctype so the browser can relate
make sure you do it great or it won't validate
check in all browsers, I do it directly
gotta make sure that it renders correctly
some use IE, some others use Flock
some use AOL, I use Firefox
title everything including links and images
don't use italics, use emphasis
don't use bold, please use strong
if you use bold that's old and wrong
when you use CSS, you page will load quicker
client satisfied like they eating on a snicker
they stuck on your page like you made it with a sticker
and then they convert now that's the real kicker
make you a lil richer, your site a lil slicker
design and code right man I hope you get the picture
what I'm telling you is true man it should be a scripture
if it's built right you'll be the pick of the litter
everyone will want to follow you like twitter
competition will get bitter and you'll shine like glitter
if you trying to grow your company will get bigger
design and code right man can you get with it

Being busy with work is great (particularly when you're self employed as I am) but when you're trying to keep a blog up it gets tough to maintain sometimes. Last week there were some things I wanted to mention but didn't take the time to, so here are three things I've been meaning to post over the last several days...

Thank you PRSA Nashville. Last week I had the opportunity to be on their panel discussion about social media and it was a lot of fun. It was interesting to hear what some companies are doing in social networking but there were also traces of the old thinking when one person commented that her organization doesn't allow blogging. I got the sense that she was not a fan of that particular policy but she's not in a position to do much about it. I would name the organization here...but that would give them further reason to dislike blogs, so I won't. It was a good reminder that there's still a lot of understanding needed for all the social media but what I'm seeing now is that even the staunchest of holdouts from a year ago are finally realizing that the new media isn't a fad and is actually changing media as a whole.

Google Maps has street level views in Nashville now. Google announced last week that Nashville is one of thirteen new cities with the street view. I wasn't familiar with what Google Maps is doing to get actual images from the street level for major cities around the country until an episode of The New Mediology when Nathan told me about it. Since then I've wondered when Nashville was going to get it, and wouldn't you know it just launched last week. It's very cool. [HT to Rex Hammock for this.]

Adobe launched a free, online version of Photoshop last week called Photoshop Express. I've heard mixed reviews about Photoshop Express but haven't yet had a chance to play with it. My guess is the people who didn't use Photoshop previously will like it whereas all the designers who are familiar with the software will recognize any limitations it may have. Adobe is positioning it as a lighter-weight version of Photoshop so you have to expect it won't do everything the software does but you sure can't beat the price. [HT to Steve Nesmith for sending me an email about this a few days ago.]

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnZr0wiG1Hg]

This is probably one of the coolest books I've ever seen. It would be a really cool conversation piece as well as something fun to have around the office to spur a little creativity if you're mind gets stuck. I like things that are well designed but obviously well planned too.

Here's the link for the feed readers: ABC in 3D

You may not know it but you have some control over the way your blog's RSS feed displays. You can allow your feed to show a summary (which usually consists of the first paragraph or introductory sentences in your post) or the full post. Most blogs default with the full post display but I was asked recently if I thought the summary option is a good idea based on the premise that if people can only read an introductory paragraph from the post then it will drive traffic to the blog.

My advice is to never just do the summary and here's why...

• The summary option assumes people care enough to click out of their feed reader to go to you blog. Many feed readers are scanning headlines and if they see something that catches their interest, they want to read it then and there. That's a primary reason for having a feed reader to begin with...the person chose to bring the content to them rather than go to every blog to read the posts. iGoogle wasn't the most popular Google property in 2007 for nothing. Increasingly, people want their online information consolidated, convenient, and quick. Don't make it hard on them because they will likely keep moving through their feeds and never click over to read your post.
• The summary option assumes that unique visitors to the blog are a more important statistic than the RSS readers. Personally, I believe the richest statistic you can measure for your blog is your RSS subscriber base. Those readers have elected to pull your content into their feed reader. They are your new opt-in list so treat them special and don't make life harder on them. You need them more than they need you.
• The summary option isn't a common practice with 99% of blogs. If for no other reason, don't do this because you'll be the one blogger who forces people to click over to your blog to read the posts and it's just counter cultural (in blog culture that is.) If you do the summary, the best case scenario is that people will ignore it an move on. The worst case is they'll think you're controlling and egotistical...and they still won't read it and will move on.

The bottom line is that anything you may gain in some new traffic to the blog will be a much bigger loss in people's attention and your influence because you're creating a hurdle they have to get over if they want to read your posts. It's just not a good idea. You have more to lose than gain.

In the latest episode of The New Mediology, Nathan and I talked about banner ads and the prevailing attitudes from consumers about them. We cited some stats about the types of banner ads that are considered better than others, but in the end there are actually very few circumstances when a banner ad is going to be a good use of your marketing money.

I have actually changed my view on banner ads a little bit over the last year. I used to be completely against banner ads but have actually found there are a few cases when it's worth the money. The only times I've seen banner ads bring positive results for my clients (both in brand recognition and direct sales) is in the cases where a blogger reviewed the client's product positively and then we went back and advertised on the same blog a few weeks later...so that has become the exception to my previous ban on banner ads.

As always, you can download The New Mediology in iTunes or listen online.

This is a little different kind of blog post for me because I'm just coming right out to promote something to you that benefits me directly. This Thursday I'm launching the first of what I hope will be many new media marketing teleseminars at 8pm EST on March 27. The teleseminar is a culmination of what I teach to marketing departments and in one on one consulting combined with the things I practice myself when I'm developing new media marketing campaigns or marketing for myself and my business.

What I've found most interesting after having consulted on new media marketing for over a year now is that the same principles apply to you no matter what your context. What I mean is, the advice I give to a guy just starting a CPA firm or gunsmith business is the same as a well known author or company that generates almost half a billion dollars a year in revenue. So it doesn't matter if you've got a side business you hope will one day become your full-time job or you're working on the next great American novel or you're a marketing director in a mid-size company. The fact of the matter is that the world of marketing has changed significantly over the last several years and it's changing every day. The ease of entry into this kind of marketing is virtually equal for the guy with a $12 marketing budget and the lady with a $12 million marketing budget. There's a new way to approach marketing in strategy and execution and that's what I'll be talking about Thursday. It's one part new media technology, one part new media marketing, and one part tips and perspective that I've learned from now doing it day in and day out. We'll talk about blogging, podcasting, social networking, online video, and other forms of social media and how all of them are just waiting for you to use them well.

I hope you'll join me this Thursday...or in a future teleseminar. Here's the link for more info and to sign up for the teleseminar.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Eng-pRT9uA]

This video really made me laugh. I usually don't connect the videos of the week to new media marketing but there are a lot of parallels here to the marketing world and the major shifts that have been occurring for the last few years.

I have talked with some traditional advertisers and marketers who are like the patient in this video. They refuse to accept the changes regardless of what reality may be. Be willing to hear the truth even if you think you're not going to like it.

For the feed readers, here's the video: May I Be Blunt With You?

Last week I got to hear a former General Motors advertising consultant talk about his work with the company about 20 years. He was with them from the late 70s through the late 90s as I recall. He referenced the phrase, "As goes GM, so goes the country." I hadn't heard that before but with a quick Google search I discovered this phrase has been around for many years. GM's influence on our country and economy isn't nearly as strong as it once was, though I'm sure people would debate me on that. Whether or not it's true some interesting news today out of GM sparked my curiosity...

According to MediaBuyerPlanner.com, GM is putting $1.5 billion (yes, billion) into digital marketing. That's half their annual marketing budget. GM is the third largest advertiser in the country so the speculation will begin as to whether this will trickle down to significantly smaller marketing budgets as other companies see what GM does and follow their lead.

My hunch is that many of the smaller marketing budgets are already there. In fact, the smallest of marketing budgets...like people who have about $100 in annual marketing budgets, have been there for a while. In my observation it's the big companies that are getting on board last. Making the shift to digital marketing at the corporate level, however is still big news and quite bold of GM to shift a full 50% of their budget to a medium that some people still question as a practical advertising platform and marketing channel.

I commend GM for what they're doing and I'm sure this news has already been passed around marketing departments and advertising agencies all over the country by now. Who knows, maybe that old saying will turn out to be true after all.

More than likely you saw Office Max's Elf Yourself promotion during the last two Christmas seasons. If you're not familiar with it, Office Max created the site to let people upload pictures of themselves or someone they know and put the head on a dancing elf. It was huge. It seemed like everyone I knew and was reading online was talking about it particularly during the Christmas season of 2006. As good as Elf Yourself was, it also had a consequence...it encouraged other companies to try something similar and less remarkable. Case in point: Get Irish Now promoting Irish Springs body wash.

I could spend the bulk of this post talking about how Get Irish Now falls short of Elf Yourself in originality and overall delivery but I think the thing that struck me most is that I found out about Get Irish Now because someone from their PR firm emailed me to let me know. In the email pitch they led with a comparison to Elf Yourself and then went on to compare Get Irish Now to "virtual worlds" and opportunities for people to create their own content online.

Without getting into a really long explanation on this for those who don't know about virtual worlds like Second Life, neither Elf Yourself nor Get Irish Now are virtual worlds. They're not even close.

As for the claim that people are really interested in creating content, I agree wholeheartedly but I think the stats that back those claims are more along the lines of social media sites like YouTube or blog or podcasts.

My point here is that if you're going to pitch yourself to bloggers you really, really, really need to know what you're talking about and who you're talking to. If you're a PR person or just want to pitch yourself, your service, your product, or something else to bloggers you need to know what you're getting into. For more on this check out what Chris Anderson did several months ago. I also talked about this when another PR firm contacted me in August. In that post I recommended five things to consider when you pitch bloggers and here they are again if you weren't reading this blog last summer. The full explanations for the points below are on the original post:

• Remember that bloggers are individuals not organizations.
• Be direct.
• Donít be a spammer.
• Bloggers would rather make and break news than react to news.
• Study the individual blogs you hope will work with you.

The bottom line is that pitching your ideas to bloggers is great. I do it too. You just have to remember that you pitch bloggers differently than organizations. Some PR professionals seem to still be learning that.

One final note on Get Irish Now...if you load the site and just wait, meaning you don't do anything for a minute or two, the guy will come out and harass you. Depending on your sense of humor you'll either laugh or want to punch him.

A few weeks ago I was blessed and honored to sit down for a few minutes with Dan Miller, the author of No More Mondays and 48 Days to the Work You Love for his podcast. We talked specifically about why you should care about blogging and other social media, how a person can use new media tools to promote what they do, some examples where I've seen this work, and how to get started.

Here's a link to listen to the interview on Dan's website or subscribe to Dan's podcast and listen to it there.

If you want to know a bit about what Dan's specialty is, check out this video of him on a recent Dave Ramsey Show and his blog. Dan's principles have a lot to do with where I am today professionally and I'm grateful for the time and wisdom he's provided. He's also a great person to work for because he knows what he wants to know, he knows what he doesn't know, and he finds the people to help him know what he needs to know.

Most of us don't need this video but it's not a bad idea to be reminded. Consider this continuing education.

Here's the link to the man hug instructions for the feed readers.

Also, while we're on all this man-talk, here's a bonus video on the man cold.

I've encountered a surge of friends, associates, and acquaintances who are new to blogging. What I've found is that in some cases the new bloggers have been blog readers for quite a while and have picked up on a few things about blogging culture, etiquette, technique, and strategy. In other cases, the new bloggers have jumped right in without having spent a lot of time reading blogs (and therefore missing some of the above mentioned things.) I applaud anyone who's jumping into the blogging waters so this post is for the people who are relatively new to blogging but may have missed a few things along the way...

Here are seven things new bloggers should know:

1. Terminology 101 (part 1): Your blog is a blog so just call it that. It's not a website or a blog site. It may operate as your web presence (which is what I do and recommend in many cases) but it's still a blog. It would be incorrect to say, "Check out my blog site." It would be correct to say, "Check out my blog." It's as simple as that.
2. Terminology 101 (part 2): Every entry you add to your blog is a post. Your entries are not blogs. The blog is the entire space but a post is a single entry. Some new bloggers will say, "I just wrote a blog today about..." which isn't correct. They wrote a post. Not a blog. You can say "post" or "blog post" but not blog. A blog is your web presence (see number 1 above.)
3. Determine your posting frequency: When I was in second grade I signed up for a race with about thirty other second graders. When they shot the gun I took off like a flash. I was a blaze of red-sweat-pant-Member's-Only- jacket-wearing-glory. The problem was the race was a mile. I was in first place for the first 100 yards. I ended up in dead last. I had no energy for most of the race. I used it all in the first 100 yards. New bloggers can start like that. You have new ideas and are fired up and ready to go...which is great, but if you don't plan on keeping up that pace for the duration of your blog life, dial it back a little bit to something you can sustain. I recommend you determine your meal to snack ratio. Blogging is not a sprint.
4. Triple the amount of time you spend thinking about your post titles. Most likely you spend only a few seconds on your blog post title but it's actually one of the most important things you can do. People tend to scan titles and your title may make or break whether someone actually reads the post. This is even more important as people continue to use feed readers in increasing numbers. Your posts are just one trickle in a stream of information and your title is what people will use to determine whether they will read your post or not.
5. Link to people when you mention them. This is one commonly overlooked but easy to fix issue. Good blogging etiquette is to link to a fellow blogger when you mention her/him. If you mention them by name just hyperlink to them. Every blog tool does that. If you see something on someone's blog and it inspires you to write a post based on what you saw, give that person a "hat tip" if you don't mention them specifically in the post. If you've ever seen something at the end of a blog that looks like this: [HT to Chris] then it's a reference to a post I saw on Chris' blog. It's a hat tip to Chris. Bloggers love links and they love to receive credit when credit it due. They'll also return the favor in many situations so this can be strategic as well. Link love is a wonderful thing for everyone.
6. Check your moderated comments often. If you moderate your comments try to check them at least daily because commenters want to know that their comments were worth the time they spent to post them. Comments exist to encourage discussion and dialogue but if it takes you forever to approve the comments, you're not encouraging someone to comment in the future. More than likely they'll think you rejected the comment and then what was supposed to be a positive experience for the person turns into a negative one because they'll be sitting there wondering why you didn't approve their comment. Just approve them often and only reject the stuff that's spam.
7. The golden rule of blogging is to provide content. Unless your blog is intended to be something personal for yourself, friends, and family this rule applies to you. If you have any hopes of blogging with the intent that people will find it helpful, useful, etc. you need to provide content on a regular basis. Here's the test: how many of your previous ten posts were about you verses about something that meets the Old McDonald test? Content is about your readers. A personal blog is about you and that's fine...but if you're not writing a personal blog, don't make it about you all the time. The fact of the matter is most people don't really care about you but they do like it when you give them something entertaining, inspiring, educational, informative, or even outrageous. They may be amused about little things going on in your life from time to time and that's fine to talk about, but otherwise, give them substance that has value for them.

I thought of one additional thing to add to my post earlier today about the recent hire of a full-time blogger at eBay. The additional thought is this: eBay didn't try to outsource the blogging responsibility.

I've had conversations with people who think blogging is something that can be outsourced to college students or copywriters or stay at home moms or new media consultants. It can't. None of those people know the company as well as someone who is inside the company day in and day out. They can convey the culture. They won't have the relationships. They won't respond as timely because they will probably be running most of their content through someone before they post...particularly if there's an issue that demands a rapid response.

Outsourcing your blogging is not only a bad idea, it may be misleading in too. A great organizational blog conveys that your reading a person who is a true representative of the organization. Someone who lives and breathes the organization...and an outsourced blogger just won't do that. Don't outsource your blogging. Don't even think about it.

Last week I found an interview with eBay's new in-house blogger, Richard Brewer-Hay. This is an good move on their part and one that I think will become increasingly common in the future. There are a few things that were especially interesting in the interview and worth noting for any organization that has official bloggers:

• Bringing in someone from the outside isn't a bad thing. Brewer-Hay was hired to eBay for blogging. He wasn't a guy who had been there for a while and moved into that position. An internal person who assumes a full time blogging role isn't necessarily a bad thing, but someone new will have less bias and likely be a bit more candid than someone who's been in the organization for many years.
  
  LifeWay Christian Resources, here in Nashville, hired Ed Stetzer a year ago and Ed is an unofficial blogger for LifeWay but had significant credibility before being hired by LifeWay and LifeWay has received the lift it. An outsider can do that for you. The hard question then is this: when does that outsider become and insider? That's a topic for another day.

• They trust him to say what he's going to say. This quote really jumped out:

Question: Your blog will be linked from eBay's PR webpage. How much influence will eBay have on what you write?

Answer: My words go straight up onto the blog, unedited. It's got to be transparent. There's got to be an authenticity to it, an honesty to it, otherwise there's no point in doing it in the first place. I'm going to open up my e-mail to questions from folks. People can comment, too, and comments are going to be open. You're going to get the good, the bad, and the ugly.

• They're giving him time to launch. Brewer-Hay has been at eBay since January but the blog isn't going to launch until April. They're giving him time to build the blog, familiarize himself with the company, and get his blogging plan in place. It's also giving them time to get the word out about the upcoming blog...hence the interview.

eBay has realized they need a blogger for all the benefit it provides both in being proactive with news and ongoing relations with the people who are most interested in eBay as well as a quick and immediate outlet for dealing with bad news. In the future most organizations with have numerous bloggers who specialize in particular areas of content but not every organization is yet ready to bring a blogger in. In October I wrote about five types of organizations that shouldn't blog. This is still applicable for some organizations today but the good news is that they can be overcome with the right people in place.

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.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NnzF772EkI]

I mentioned Rhett and Link in a post earlier this week. They do some really funny and creative work. Here's one that was quite funny. You can check out their entire YouTube channel for more from them.

Feed readers check out Pimp My Stroller.

That's the topic Nathan and I discussed on the latest episode of The New Mediology podcast. Also, check out the blog that inspired this entire conversation, GoodURLBadURL.com.

...I think he would be saying some of the same things he was saying 85 years ago. I had never heard of Claude Hopkins until recently. I think I would have liked him. I also think he would have liked the marketing opportunities we have today with social media tools. Here's something Claude wrote in his book, Scientific Advertising, back in 1923:

Remember the people you address are selfish, as we all are. They care nothing about your interests or your profit. They seek service for themselves. Ignoring this fact is a common mistake and a costly mistake in advertising. Ads, say in effect, "Buy my brand. Give me the trade you give to others. Let me have the money." That is not a popular appeal.

The best ads ask no one to buy. That is useless. Often they do not quote a price. They do not say that dealers handle the product. The ads are based entirely on service. They offer wanted information. They site advantages to users. Perhaps they offer a sample, or to buy the first package, or to send something on approval, so the customer may prove the claims without any cost or risks. Some of these ads seem altruistic. But they are based on the knowledge of human nature. The writers know how people are led to buy. Here again is salesmanship. The good salesman does not merely cry a name. He doesn't say, "Buy my article." He pictures the customers side of his service until the natural result is to buy.

Claude Hopkins, Scientific Advertising

I think Claude would agree that content is a good promotion strategy. He might even sing a little bit of "Old McDonald" with me.

THEN:

Content was a product.

Content drew people, the people drew advertisers, and the advertisers paid to make more content/product.

Advertisers had to latch onto the content/product because it was the cheapest way to get to the people, and it wasn't cheap...just cheaper than becoming a content/product itself.

NOW:

Content is still a product.

Content still draws people and still draws advertisers.

Advertisers can now create their own content cheaply. They can broadcast and publish with no need of another content/product as long as they can build their own audience.

CONCLUSION:

• You don't have to pay $100/month for a small ad in the Yellow Pages.
• You don't have to pay hundreds of dollars to be in a local coupon booklet.
• You don't have to pay a thousand dollars for a full page ad in the newspaper.
• You don't have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for television commercials.

Still not sure? Check out Rhett & Link. They're a product. Their content is their product. Their product is their content. General Motors saw their content/product and hired them. Who might buy your product if you start getting into the content business and out of advertising?