Is content marketing losing its value?

Well this could be an awkward blog post given that I'm in the game of creating content, let's see how this pans out.

There has been a lot of discussion lately on whether or not content marketing is losing its value. Reading headlines or queries such as "is content marketing dead?" or "is content marketing losing it's value" could be scary for your event marketeer who is hoping to create more waves in their industry with epic content.

Whilst brands race to create more, there is no one definitive answer to this question, however, there are a few things to consider.

On the one hand, content marketing has never been more popular – or more important. On the other hand, there are signs that the power of high-quality content is beginning to wane and you only have to look at YouTube's latest stats to see the trend increasing as more than 500 hours of content is uploaded to YouTube EVERY SINGLE MINUTE.

Sorry, I had to shout there, I couldn't believe it either!

The rise of social media - The decline of quality content

Well, it's already risen hasn't it? With the ever increasing uptake and advancements of social media technologies and other online platforms, it has become increasingly easy for everyone, anywhere in the world to share content. This means that there is more competition than ever before for people’s attention, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to stand out from the crowd.

In the past, content was distributed through channels like television, radio, and print. These were one-way mediums that didn't allow for much interaction between brands and consumers.

But with the rise of social media, content is now being distributed through channels that are two-way mediums. This means that brands can now interact with consumers, and vice versa.

And this is a big deal because it changes the way that content is consumed.

Whereas before consumers would passively consume content, they are now actively consuming it. And this is having an impact on the value of content.

Active Consumption vs. Passive Consumption

When content is consumed passively, the value lies in the fact that it is consumed. The more people that consume it, the more valuable it is.

But when content is consumed actively, the value lies in the fact that it is interacted with. The more people that interact with it, the more valuable it is.

And this is where we see the value of content starting to decline.

Because social media platforms make it so easy for people to share and interact with content, the value of that content is now based on how much it is shared and interacted with, rather than how many people actually consume it. And, unfortunately, most content isn't very shareable or interactive.

This is a problem because it means that the quality of the content is no longer as important as it used to be. You only have to look at the use of clickbait vying for your attention.

The rise of clickbait - The death of quality content

Clickbait is defined as "content whose main purpose is to attract attention and encourage visitors to click on a link to a particular web page."

And it's a huge problem because it means that brands are now more focused on creating content that is designed to be shared and interacted with, rather than content that is actually useful or interesting.

I'm fairly sure all of you have clicked on a clickbait article or TikTok video or otherwise recently. It was a good headline or video short wasn't it? But... can you remember what it was about?

Did it deliver on what it promised? Was the content actually any good? Or just funny for those 30 seconds when you needed a little lift?

Or did you click, read/watch for a few seconds, and then close the tab because you realized that you had wasted your time?

The proliferation of hooks

One reason for the perceived drop in quality of content is the proliferation of hooks. Almost every blog you will read has a hook – buy my book, sign up for a webinar, like my channel.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with that right? You’re giving people something for free, so you could expect something in return. But if you’re not producing quality content, you’ll turn readers off at the first paragraph.

It's like every bad sales pitch presentation you've seen at a conference, where you hoped it was going to be informative and helpful but turned out to be a sly sales pitch instead. At an event, you can walk away from that booth. Online, you can close that tab for good.

So what does this all mean for event content marketing?

Well, it's hard to say, however, as we outlined in our blog post on creating quality content from your speakers who have authoritative voices in your industry (read that blog here), you can still create valuable and shareable content, if you focus on making it truly useful and interesting.

Doing this will mean that you create content that has real value, and that people will actually want to consume and interact with. It will give them a flavour for what's important at your next event and you may increase that conversion percentage a little more.

It's not going to be easy, but it's still possible. And it's worth doing because quality content is still valuable, even in a world where clickbait is edging towards the content crown.

Here’s my hook - if you want to make waves in your event industry, get in touch today here