Oh Hi, Ohio! Best Strategy is to Stir Stuff Up

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Zemanta is a specialty sponsor of the biggest conference on content marketing in the world by the great folks at Content Marketing Institute – Content Marketing World. Today is the second of three days of tight packed program with more than 50 sessions.

CC Chapman and Ann Handley at Content Marketing World — Our friends and “Content Rules” Authors CC Chapman and Ann Handley Content Marketing World Cleveland 2011 (Photo credit: ShashiBellamkonda)

Blogs are still one of the most used content marketing tactics, according to a soon-to-be published 2013 Content Marketing Bencmharks Study. According to 2,400 responses from 30 businesses blogs are used by 73% of marketers, which is an increase from 65% in just a few months. Marketers also consider blogging one of the top ten most effective content marketing tactics, revealed Joe Pulizzi of Content Marketing Institute during the Content Marketing World Kickoff this morning.

The biggest content marketing challenge is producing enough content.

The majority among you still struggles with how to produce regular, new, out-of-this-world and engaging content; just 36% of marketers believe THEIR content marketing efforts are effective. This means we still have a lot to learn.

A keynote speaker Mitch Joel, author of Six Pixels of Separation, named after his successful blog and podcast, made an illustrative remark that most marketers think they’re in hell, but actually they’re in purgatory – at the moment of uncertainty. His argument though was that there’s a massive shift in how consumers react to brands. You have to give people reasons to connect with you – develop utilities.

According to Joel, the only screen that matters is the one in front of you. I was quite surprised by this conclusion. There’s a lot of talk about two-screen experiences. Many TV shows are proof that tweeting while watching your favorite show on TV makes people feel part of the community that was lost after the end of the one-family-one-radio and one-family-one-TV-set eras. And I can make a case that we tend to be distracted by inner-screens within a screen.

Jason Falls, Social Media Explorer: “Before you do something, ask WHY until you come to a measurable value proposition.” Jason put out several quite controversial statements about blogging. The question is whether we agree with him or not.

For example, he says that blog readers don’t make payroll. We could jump on him like hyenas, but the point he was making was (what we’ve already stressed many times on Zemanta blog) that you shouldn’t be obsessed so much or even at all with how many people read your post, how many people tweeted or retweeted about your posts, etc. What matters in the end is how many have you persuaded to buy your products or services, download widgets and apps, etc.

Jason’s 3 tips for how to drive your business by blogging with a purpose:

1. Produce HOLY SMOKES content.

2. Make it easier to pass the content along.

3. Present clear calls to-action.