Hosted by Skyword, the panel also included bigwigs from Conductor, Outbrain, and Traackr, all cool names in the content world, and the local digital marketing scene.
I had the pleasure of attending to hear what great minds had to say about content. Here's what I learned.
- It's hard to mingle and balance a tiny plate of apps on your wine glass.
- The Moakley Courthouse has a spectacular view of the harbor and downtown waterfront.
Wait... back to the content
- Pierre-Loic Assayag, CEO of Traacker, brought the focus straight to your audience. Calling on marketers to "Influence the influencer," Pierre-Loic argued that your audience is full of influencers, and it's the marketer's job to reach them so they in turn influence their audience. A fascinating take on what we do, I loved the idea of reaching out to a few people who have a big voice in their communities (whatever those may be) and focusing on resonating with those people, then letting them do the heavy lifting of convincing a broader audience. At it's core, it's leveraging word of mouth via digital-age tools and networks.
- Seth Dotterer, Marketing VP at Conductor, reminded us all of the importance of SEO in what we do with a staggering stat: 94% of site visits come from unpaid content sources, like Pinterest, not your SEM campaign. When your content exists where you can't control it (your consumers do), it's crucial that your SEO strategy comes first to inform the content creation, so you can be found for the right things.
- Tom Gerace, CEO of Skyword, rattled off a fantastic list of questions you NEED to ask when creating content, to make it meaningful, relevant, and scalable. And it all tied back to identifying your audience, matching your message to your brand's personality, and focusing on the end goals to define the hows and whats of your content campaign. Life (and marketing) moves fast, so there's no time to waste on creating content that isn't informed and backed by logical decisions!
- Last but not least, Gregg Freishtat, SVP Strategic Alliances at Outbrain, took the mic to remind us all that content's not about us - it's about them (your audience). Understandably, consumers care about themselves and their lives, not about your brand, so if you want to reach them you'll need to provide something that's of value or use. Your work won't go far if it doesn't serve a purpose in your reader's world. Make it resonate.
