What is the goal of content marketing, really? A YouTube case study

Whether you're a business or a hobbyist blogger, a content matrix can help you get your work in front of the right audience. Learn how to build a visual content marketing plan that keeps your strategy on track and your goals within reach.

Primary sources can transform forgettable content into authoritative, standout work. Drawing on experience as a historian, this post shows where to find them, how to use them critically, and why relying on secondary sources alone can lead to misinformation.

Information databases are strong options for writers who wish to connect with a corporate audience in particular. The corporate audience is an especially engaged group of readers that actively utilizes content in their daily work. If your content is informative and well-written, you should consider publishing it on an information database in order to reach these readers.

Writing in the 1st century BCE, the Roman author Publilius Syrus observed that “a good reputation is more valuable than money” (Honesta fama melior est pecunia). That sentiment remains true over two millennia later. In the Internet Age, our online personas contribute a great deal to our reputation, and they are particularly important for those who seek to position themselves as authorities. Simply producing authoritative content isn’t enough (for a refresher on what, exactly, is authoritative content, check out this post). You also need to have an online persona that bolsters your credibility.

SEO is a vital tool for building an audience, but not all of these strategies are worth pursuing.

In November 1919, Walter Lippmann published an article in The Atlantic entitled “The Basic Problem of Democracy.” Despite the passage of time, it feels eerily prescient.

The other day, I stumbled upon a pop culture relic entitled “The Kids’ Guide to the Internet.” Produced in 1997, the video follows Peter and Dasha Jamison as they introduce their friends Andrew and Lisa to the joys of cyberspace. The sites they visit are static affairs filled with low-resolution images and text in Times New Roman. They’re relentlessly utilitarian and often devoid of interactivity (though Peter does send an email to President Clinton at one point!). Fast forward almost 30 years later, and the Internet looks very different. And it’s not just a matter of aesthetics, either. The modern Internet is a far more collaborative place where engagement and interactivity reign supreme.

In our last post, we talked about how content quality is more important than ever. Search engines such as Google want high-quality content, and authoritativeness is one of the factors they consider when evaluating material. But what does it mean for content to be authoritative, and why is that relevant?

The other day, a colleague sent me an article about the ten most recognizable brands in the world. Many of them have consistent and distinctive brand identities (think Apple’s bitten-apple logo or McDonald’s ubiquitous golden arches) that have helped them become household names across the globe. But good branding involves more than just a snazzy logo; it also reflects an organization’s culture and values as well. I suspect many of us tend to assume that branding is only something only corporations and cattle need to worry about, but savvy content creators know how to develop a persona that can help convey their values and their authority.