Need to clean up? Ditch the content landfill

Despite (or perhaps because of) the volume of digital content being produced, we’re in danger of drowning in a sea of mediocre marketing. It’s high time to re-assess why we’re producing content and who it’s for.

A friend was recently asked to produce ‘six pieces’ of content for a brand which was relaunching its site and social platforms. Nothing in the brief about who it was for, its activation strategy or metrics for quality or success. Just ‘six pieces of content’. A similar ethos was applied to their social channels. We have these channels, they need to be fed, we need to keep the algorithm on side, it’s our constant drip-feed of brand awareness, it’s the top of the funnel…

Honestly? It’s content landfill.

If everyone is newsjacking, posting, community managing, blogging (yes, I’m aware of how #meta writing this is) then we end up with a lot of rubbish. And most of it is not even content with any structure or purpose. You can see it in content trends, whether it’s the self-produced DIY videos which litter LinkedIn or the rise of incompatible influencers, there are more and more content bandwagons to jump, there are more bandwagon jumpers and even more bandwagon jumping how-to videos online.

According to Smart Insights there are 3.3million Facebook, 66,000 Instagram posts and, perhaps confusingly, 500 hours of YouTube video posted every second. Access to better production and publishing technology means we all have the promise of reaching our audience and customer but with less taste, quality or brand benefit filters.

For agencies, this is a chance to ratchet up a brand’s fear of missing out (your audience is out there and they want to consume!), for the platform owners it’s a chance to extract more money to target and promote and for the new media gurus it’s a chance to tell brands, and agencies, how they can achieve content marketing nirvana.

But, let’s be honest, much of the content has little value, let alone any shelf-life. Try this one. Look for the five best food brands on Instagram and then come back to me. Done it? Pretty much every one of the pieces lists the same brands for the same reasons. This is not coincidence nor cosmic meeting of great minds. This is because the other polluting side-effect of the need for content is so much of what we consume (or the marketing department is telling their CEOs we’re consuming) is rewritten, recycled or just regurgitated

So what is the solution? How do you clean up?

Firstly pinpoint your content audience and potential customer-base. And they’re not the same. If your content is so good that your clients are consuming your hilarious how-to video, rather than buying into your brand you’re in trouble — there needs to be a defined path from content to purchase. Who are your consumers, where do they play and how do you create content which speaks to them, keeps your brand front and centre and ensures (financial) engagement?

Secondly it’s targeting your actual potential audience. Too many social and content campaigns assume that its potential customer-base is bigger than it actually is — especially for smaller companies. Local is going to be more relevant and attainable. Because we have the tools to reach the rest of the planet, doesn’t always mean the rest of the planet gives a damn.

Thirdly, it’s about better communications. Even now interns and work experience students are manning the community management and posting for organisations. The one place where you have direct contact with your audience and it’s not someone senior answering these complaints, reactions and potential leads? You need to have a word. As a result, often a brand’s social persona is more reflective of what the audience on a particular platform expects, rather than your actual brand persona. Tone of voice, marketing strategy, brand persona, five-year goals, comms policy… are those people manning your IG feed across all of them?

Ultimately it’s up to all of us to make our marketing more effective by insisting on more quality, less quantity and ending the deluge of content landfill.