Archive for year 2013
Five ways using “controversy” as a content strategy backfires
Apr 30th
I recently listened in on a webinar where a young guy was pontificating on the best strategies to build an audience for your content. A pillar of his presentation was “be controversial.”
This struck me as odd. Is “controversy” really a sustainable position for a content marketing strategy? The more I thought about this, the more I disliked this advice.
First, let me distinguish content that is “conversational” or “thought-provoking” from content that is controversial. A definition of controversial is “a state of prolonged, contentious public dispute or debate.” The keywords here for me are “prolonged,” “contentious, and “public.”
Sometimes controversy happens. Occasionally, it might even be unavoidable. But is this a tactic you should mindfully pursue as a long-term content strategy? Let’s take a look at five reasons why the answer is NO.
1) It is naive.
I have this image in my head. I walk into my boss and I say, “Hey, I just attended this webinar and I’m convinced that we need to be more controversial to be build our company’s blog audience.”
What do you think the reaction would be?
Can you think of any respected, successful company that pursues a prolonged dispute as a social media marketing strategy? Of course not. Companies are built to avoid controversy. Most brands are not built on a negative emotion.
2) It is exhausting.
Have you ever been in the middle of an online controversy? Nothing can suck up more time and energy from your day. Do you really want a strategy with that impact on productivity?
3) It is not sustainable.
Reading “contentious” content is like watching a train wreck. In short doses, it might be gruesomely compelling, but it is not something you want to expose yourself to every day.
Study after study shows that positive, uplifting content gets more views and clicks over time. Who wants a steady diet of prolonged disputes?
4) It drives the “wrong” traffic.
Let’s say you’re the playground bully. Every time you start a fight, a crowd might gather to see what’s happening, but then they walk away when the fight is over. The people who watch might even pretend to be your friend and say the right things but they’re never going to totally trust you because if the bully is chronically contentious, it is only a matter of time before they turn on you too.
Controversial blog posts are like a schoolyard fight. It might drive a short-term spike in traffic through the “fascination” value, but is it going to make somebody want to befriend you? Become a customer? Or, are they just going to stay on the sidelines and walk away?
5) It’s inauthentic.
Adopting “controversial” as a strategy is kind of like adopting “angry” or “love-struck” as a theme. If you are forced to aim for the same emotional tone every day, how do you avoid becoming a character instead of an authentic person?
So I hope some of this makes sense. I am NOT saying that you should never be controversial. If you bring your humanity to your blog, occasionally you may strike a chord in others that results in a dispute.
About 2-3 times a year I write a post that results in controversy. But my content strategy is not to purposefully churn up a dispute. My strategy is to be honest. And sometimes being honest requires the courage to say things that go against the grain of popular opinion and to take the heat that comes with it.
I’d love to hear your take on this in the comment section … at the risk of being controversial, of course. : )
How does controversy work for or against you?
How do you develop a strategy when the target keeps moving?
Apr 28th
I was watching a basketball game between a bunch of 8-year-olds the other day. The “red” team was winning 18-0, an insurmountable lead at that age. The “blue” team was exhausted and disheartened from the pummeling.
But within a heartbeat, blue’s luck changed. A speedy player intercepted a pass and steamed down the court, for a wide open lay-up.
The crowd held its breath as the young player effortlessly flipped the ball up and into the hoop. Of the wrong basket.
The crowd gasped. Tears welled up in the stunned player’s eyes as he realized his team’s humiliation was complete. He had scored a basket for the other team.
This sad little episode seems an apt analogy for one of the costliest mistakes you can make in a business: Having brilliant execution against the wrong goal.
When I first started out in business, my company actually required us to create five-year plans. That seemed like a difficult exercise back then and today that is simply impossible. And yet, it is easy to get locked into annual goals and work beautifully against them, never realizing they’re already out of date.
Business today is not like a basketball player trying to shoot at the right goal. It’s like a basketball player shooting at a goal that is moving.
I think this problem is especially acute for small companies and start-ups. I once had an entrepreneur tell me that the nature of his company changed every three months. It’s true. Simply adding a new employee or a new customer can radically alter the direction of the company. The nature of my work has changed dramatically in the past 12 months.
If you are still heads-down, working like crazy without taking the time to assess the world around you, you might be making a deadly business mistake. Here are five questions to reflect on:
- How am I spending my time today compared to a year ago? If there is a dramatic change, why? Is this a sign that the market is changing or have I lost focus on what makes me profitable?
- What is the biggest internal threat to my business? Is it resources? Keeping up with change? A lack of focus? Turnover?
- What is the biggest external threat to my business? New competitors? New expectations? Problems with the economy?
- How have my competitors changed? Do I even know who my competitors are right now?
- What are my customer’s under-served or un-met wants and needs? Do I think I know, or have I really asked them?
Spending just a little time reflecting on these questions could save you months of heartache down the road. What do you think? How are you coping with the constantly moving target of your business?
This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet. I’ve been compensated to contribute to this program, but the opinions expressed in this post are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.
Tree S(app). A {growtoon}.
Apr 26th
Join the growtoonists each Friday for a humorous take on marketing, social media, and current business events.
Joey Strawn is a social media strategist who loves enjoying a good book and then drawing in it. Check him out on Twitter: @joey_strawn
Five reasons Europeans are behind in social media marketing
Apr 25th
By Mars Dorian, {grow} Contributing Columnist
I’ve noticed something strange here in Europe that I couldn’t wrap my head around. At first.
Whether you look at the number of online job postings, the best viral marketing campaigns, or the world’s most respected social media marketing thought leaders, almost all of the innovation seems to come from the US of A.
There are exceptions of course, There always are. But why is it that a modern society like Western Europe — which has similar or better access to technology and creative minds, lacks so much in the social media innovation game ?
So I asked few professionals in the field, and I’ve found a couple of conjectures that may surprise you.
Disclaimer: Of course, I cannot speak for all of Europe, but as a German living in the thriving European start-up city Berlin, and knowing many tech friends from Madrid, London and Paris, I have a pretty good overview of what’s lacking in (Western) Europe, and more important, what YOU can learn from it!
Let’s find out what’s going on here.
1) Clinging to the past
Gosh, people are obsessed with the past over here. Western Europe is at least 2-3 years behind the US in terms of technological adaptation. And that’s seeing it positively, with glowing rainbow glasses on. Blink blink.
Example: eBook sales in 2012 the US were 22.5% of the overall market, yet only 5% in Europe. From personal experience, that comes with no surprise. When I look around in the subways, I see more people reading deadwood books that eReaders.
But it’s not just eReaders. Smartphones, tablets, heck, any kind of new technological device arrives with years of delay in social acceptance. The minute it’s “old” for Americans, it’s “new” to Europeans.
Lesson: No matter how alluring the past may seem, you can’t cling to it. Content consumption moved from desktop to mobile, who knows where it will move to in the future ? You need to adapt to stay relevant.
2) General disinterest in (new) online networks
The fuel of any social media marketing campaigns are social media platforms.
We need a variety of networks to share our message to make it spread. Americans crave new networks and ideas : yester-yesteryear’s Foursquare becomes yesteryear’s Pinterest becomes this year’s (insert upcoming hit-startup here).
Most of my European friends, even the tech-savvy ones, primarily use Facebook. Seriously.
Twitter? Why would anyone be interested in me taking a crap and tweeting about it?
Google+? Is that a professional Google account?
LinkedIn? Is that some kind of link-building service?
It gets worse. When I visited my mother teaching graphic design at her Uni, and asked her students whether they had a blog or social media presence … no one said “yes.”
But three asked: “What’s a blog?”
Welcome to Europe’s future.
Lesson: in order to spread your content online, you need to try a variety of different online platforms to access your ideal target audience. If it’s just one platform you use (and know about), you’re shooting yourself in the social media foot.
3) Lack of relevant education, lack of thought leaders.
Compared to the US, we have no culture of conferences, other than Loïc Le Meur’s LeWeb event … but even this French guy decided to settle in the U.S.
And with this lack of industry events, this lack of critical networking and conversations, the knowledge doesn’t meld into public mind.
Thought leaders and ruckus makers like Gary Vaynerchuk, Seth Godin and Tim Ferriss change the status quo with their ideas and shine a light on what’s possible now.
Since they’re all American, Europeans seem quick to dismiss their ideas, claiming that what they say will only work in America. Europe lacks role models and mavericks that inspire equally.
Lesson: If you want to level up the innovation in your market and area, you have immerse yourself and become educated. Be it through your blog, network or physical conferences, find a way to bring your knowledge and thought-leading ideas to the public mind.
4) Fractured markets.
Jonah Lehrer wrote in his book ”Imagine: How Creativity Works
Unfortunately, there’s no comparative hotspot in Europe. We have great start-up cities like London, Madrid, Paris, and Berlin, but these are cities that are cultures and countries apart. An app or social media campaign therefore tends to spread only across its culture, especially considering language barriers. French online media doesn’t invade German consciousness, and vice versa.
Lesson: Working remotely from creative hubs is a bad way to innovate. If you want to create more fresh and relevant social media content, you have to be closer to the source.
5) Fear of the future.
It’s no coincidence that in Germany, venture capital is called Risikokapital (“risk capital”).
Throughout Europe, if there’s an unusual idea for a social marketing campaign, people shoot it down first and ask questions later. If it’s unprecedented, it’s viewed as dangerous. Better safe than sorry.
The common mindset seems to be: Let’s see what those crazy Americans are doing, and if it works, maybe we’ll copy it.
M-a-y-b-e.
Hence all the Europe-based copycats of successful American marketing campaigns and online businesses. Obviously, you don’t innovate with that kind of mindset.
You just cope.
Lesson: If you spend your time coping with things, you will never thrive. It’s a requirement to fail with some ideas so you know what works in the future.
Conclusion
The overarching reason Europe is behind has nothing to do with money or resources. It’s more about mindset.
Most of the lack of creativity in the European online space stems from fear – Clinging to past technologies, fear of the future, fear of failing. At least that’s what I found in my interviews and observations.
What do you think?
Mars Dorian describes himself as a creative marketeer with a moon-melting passion for human potential and technology. You can follow his adventures at www.marsdorian.com/
Original illustrations by the author.
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