At a recent roundtable meeting for the WashingtonExec MARCOM Committee, Geoff Livingston facilitated a discussion on the topic of “The Content Marketing Myth”. The roundtable event, sponsored by CGI, a global information technology consulting, systems integration, outsourcing, and solutions company, discussed whether or not content marketing is still effective in today’s market, what is necessary to have a strong Internet presence, and the importance of analytics and data.
Livingston, principal at Lady Soleil, explained to the Committee that content marketing simply is not as effective in today’s marketplace as it was in the past. He said that due to the dramatic increase in content on the Internet, 20% increase in content every year, the market has become completely saturated. Livingston called this dramatic increase year after year “content glut” and “content shock.” As a result of this trend, the efficacy of content marketing has been on the downslope.
However, Livingston believes that it is still possible for you and your company to have a strong Internet presence. He stated that the most important thing to have a strong Internet presence is for your content to resonate with the readers. He also explains that it is important to be smart with your content and make sure that it is capable of “triggering a conversation.” Lastly, Livingston stated that it is important to “find where your stakeholders are.” What he means by this is find where the individuals who would be interested in your content reside on the Internet, and post your content there.
Livingston also showed the committee the importance of data analytics in creating effective content. Data has become “over engineered” and it is important to find the key data points for your content and track those points rather than all of them. Livingston also said that it is important to not just look at the tip of the data points like the number of site views.
The 2016 WashingtonExec MARCOM Committee Leaders are Sheila Blackwell (FCi Federal), Alan Hill (Serco, Inc.), Eileen Cassidy Rivera and Andrew Bryden (CSRA International).
