How Rich Media Content Marketing Could Destroy Small Business ...

In the marketers calendar, 2012 was named the Year of Content Marketing.

My guess, is 2013 will be known as the Year of Rich Media Content Marketing.

I?m not smart enough to understand where the tipping point happened, but all of the sudden every marketer realized that the content we produce online needs to deliver value and serve a business purpose.

So we began to create content with reckless abandon.

For some Big Box companies like LEGO, Nike, BMW and GEICO content marketing came naturally. ?These companies leveraged their size and brand to create enormous amounts of content spread out over multiple blogs and every social media tool imaginable. ?Through aggressive keyword research and strategy every market was flooded with target specific content.

{For more great examples of content marketing read this Content Marketing Institute eBook}

Why wouldn?t these mega-brands hire armies of marketers and copywriters to get their message online?

This is the age of Content Warfare? and we?re all trying to win the battle for attention online.

The interesting thing about content warfare, unlike any real battle, is the little guy has always had a chance to compete. ?Especially at the local level. ?At a local level the unfunded, under-resourced small business even has the opportunity to win the battle for attention online.

At least that was the case in 2012, when we all took to the blogosphere and social media to tell our story through content marketing.

The gap was narrowing.

The Google Penguin and Panda updates were a full frontal attack on low quality link building and content marketing strategies?

?and 2012 was the year that a huge budget couldn?t simply buy you the attention you wanted.

Attention had to be earned through quality content.

Small, local businesses who took their message of value and service and community to the Internet could actually show up higher in search results then their Big Box competitors who for so long monopolized page one Google Search results.

Rich media content marketing is again swinging the balance of inbound marketing power in favor of large brands.

While 2012 saw small business adoption of text based content marketing as a vital component of doing business, in 2013 large brand professional marketers are moving beyond text to rich media content marketing strategies such as podcasts, video, slideshows, eBooks and infographics to deliver their message.

My friend Srini Rao from BlogcastFM and The Skool of Life refers to these as ?Larger bodies of work.? ?The idea being that the content marketing rush of 2012 flooded the Internet with blog posts and in order to stand out from the crowd we have to produce larger bodies of work to tell our story.

The consuming public as begun to view regular text-based blog posts as the norm, the standard for doing business online. ?You must have a consistent stream of regular text based blog posts to educate and entertain the consumers of your product.

But if you want to make a impact, if you want to stand out, if you want consumers to be invested in your brand and business you must produce larger bodies of work in the form of rich media content marketing. ?Rich media takes consumers farther down the rabbit hole of who you are both as a person and a business.

Text based content draws consumers in but rich media establishes a much deeper relationship.

Professional marketers realize this and are moving forward.

Small business marketers do not and are about to fall behind once again.

So where I saw the 2012 content marketing revolution as a huge boon for small business, I see the move to rich media content marketing as a potential death stroke.

Why?

Because creating rich media takes time, effort, planning, creativity, vulnerability, humor, discipline, energy, passion and a little bit of art.

We past the point that small business marketers can ?dip their toe? into content marketing. ?This content warfare. If small business marketers don?t put in the word now there could come a day when attention is lost forever.

Wait?

Small businesses have all those things.

Hell yes they do? and so comes the rub.

In the rich media content marketing game there is one huge advantage that professional marketers have and there is one huge advantage that small businesses have:

Professional marketers have resources.

Small businesses have maneuverability.

Because of the resources at the disposal of most professional marketers creating rich media is not going to be the hurdle, formatting their established brand message in way the Connected Generation responds is the hurdle.

Small businesses will certainly face the barrier of rich media creation, but formulating a message that addresses the need of local consumers in the way these consumers want to view it should not be an issue.

What I?m telling you is hope is not lost for the small business marketer!

Let?s Examine How Small Business Can Use Rich Media Content Marketing

Podcasting

To me the most intimate form of online content is podcasting. ?Removing the visual aspect of the content focuses the mind on exactly what and how a message is delivered. ?Is the individual passionate, silly, focused, or disconnected? ?The Content Warfare Podcast?is growing by 100s listeners every week. ?Podcasts from A-listers like Michael Stelzner and Chris Brogan get tens of thousands of listeners every single episode.

Why is podcasting important to your business?

Simple. ?Someone reads a blog post it might take 45 seconds. ?If someone listens to your podcast you have their attention for 30 minutes. ?That is a huge investment of time by the listener. ?How much deeper and stronger a relationship are you building with someone who spends 30 minutes with your content than someone you spends 45 seconds?

Video

There is absolutely no doubt that using video as part of your rich media content marketing strategy drives engagement, just take a look at my SEO experiment. ?Video gives your consumers a look at who you really are. ?It?s much harder to fake expertise in front of a camera than it is writing a blog post. ?Don?t discount the importance of that fact.

Why is video important to your business?

First when I say video I really mean YouTube. I know there are other online video networks like Vimeo, but to me there is YouTube and everything else. ?YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine after Google which means having a video presence on YouTube gives you access to an entire community of consumers you weren?t otherwise marketing to. ?Additionally,?Google loves YouTube (remember Google plays favorites) and ranks quality YouTube video in Google Search quite high.

Second, video allows us to tell our story or explain the value in our product in a much different way. ?Humans, by nature are visual creatures. ?So telling our story in a visual manner through video is going to have a distinct and lasting affect on the consumers who view it.

Slideshows

There has been quite a bit written about Slideshare?(a social network for slideshows) being the sleeping giant of content marketing. ?I?m not quite sure I?m ready to buy that yet?. Sleeping giant implies Slideshare could one day completely take over the rich media content marketing game. ?I don?t believe that to be true. ?However, I do think it could be just as important a tool as podcasting and video.

Why are slideshows important to our business??

A good Slideshare presentation tells a story or makes an argument one thought at a time. ?Bullet points are for losers. ?A slideshow done right provides the viewer with one powerful concept after another each building a foundation for the message the creator is attempting to deliver.

I really like how easy Slideshare presentations are to consume and share. ?Unlike a video or podcast where the consumer needs to block off time to take in the content, with Slideshare the content can be viewed at whatever pace or timing the viewer prefers.

eBooks

After years of eBooks being created as low quality lead magnets for sleazy Internet marketers to build their email lists, it?s not surprising that eBooks are viewed by many professional marketers as a 2nd tier form of rich media. ?Don?t believe the hype. ?eBooks done right, written with the purpose of expanding upon a topic or idea that delivers value to the consumers of your product still have immense value as a form of rich media content marketing.

Why are eBooks important to my business??

eBooks allow you dive deep into your products and service as well as the issues surrounding them. My straight job is marketing an independent insurance agency. ?We?re currently creating a entire series of eBooks around maintenance and safety with the premise being, ?Do these little things today, so don?t have to deal with big problems tomorrow.? Our eBooks will help insurance consumers reduce the opportunity of ever having to use their insurance.

I feel there is value in this information and I firmly believe the insurance consumers who download and read these eBooks will affix that value in return to our brand. ?The same goes for The No Bullshit Guide to a Successful Blog. ?Everyone who reads this eBook knows exactly how I go about content marketing and the steps they can take to implement those beliefs into their own blog.

?Infographics

Infographics allow us to tell a story or make an argument through a single image. ?As mentioned above, humans are incredibly visual creatures. ?There are many concepts that are simply easier to digest and understand when laid out in a visual format than written in a text blog post. ?Infographics help us do that.

Why are infographics important to my business?

Infographics have a very powerful way of delivering information. ?They also allow for a lot of creativity which helps distinguish our brand from that of our competitors. ?Additionally infographics are heavily shared, meaning people love to share infographics in social media as well post other people?s infographics on their own blog or website. ?This means your message, which may have died on your blog in text form, as an infographic has the opportunity to spread.

I?ve collected over 75 fantastic infographics on Pinterest if you?re looking for some more examples. ?Click here to view my infographic pin board.

Source: copyblogger.com via Ryan on Pinterest

Embrace the Rich Media Content Marketing Revolution

As consumers demand more rich media, we as content marketers must be willing to go outside text based content to build the deeper relationships necessary to win the battle for attention online.

This content warfare? the fight of our online lives.

Thank you and Good luck,

I am?Ryan Hanley?and if you enjoyed this article you?ll love the Content Warfare Newsletter, get it?here.

SPEAK YOUR MIND: How do you plan to use rich media in your content marketing? Do you think that small business marketers can compete without embracing rich media?

Source: http://www.ryanhanley.com/2013/02/20/rich-media-content-marketing/

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