I do know a little bit about content and please don't take any of this the wrong way. I do adore content. I spent the better part of my early childhood career, ages 20 through 30 and then some, creating content, building platforms and/or outlets for the dissemination of content. I have made numerous now proven to be apparently meagre attempts to package content, re-purpose content and re-vitalize content across multiple content driven channels and have on many many occasions used my own particular takes on a form of a sort of content marketing strategy, mostly for the purpose of selling… more content.
So it may be bit odd that at a well known-to-myself risk of being labelled some sort of a curmudgeon; I've recently found myself saying somewhat nasty sounding things about content and/or this whole "content marketing strategy" again. And again, trust me I know the value of content. I applaud the creation of content and I understand the use of content as an underlay this so-called social, search and search-social marketing... Strat-ortunity? It's just... this current particular search and search-social marketing content strategy seems one dimensionally focussed. AND, the sheer and brutal loudness of the current clarion call for more and more content, well folks, it kinda frightens me, ok, at least when I'm in a more melo-dramatic mood (merely worries me on most other days).
Like any english language word said three times in a row, content, content, content quickly looses it's meaning… I mean, are we happily satisfied yet?
We were each given the tools to create our own content at birth; given the tools to publish & distribute this content of ours in a more or less unfettered by "the powers that be" fashion, a mere 20 years ago. Many of us (present company excepted) have made very good use of the unfettered-ness of content publication & distribution and have littered the world with noble notions, solid opinions, good advice and well thought out thinkenings. So many more of us have helped get these noble notions out and about by posting, re-posting and re-tweeting them on and along through each and ever channel made available to us re-twee-posters. Listen, it's not really a fear of more content; it's just "more" (and then more) content for the sake of… and it is always for the sake of, with respect to content, which has me… worried, you? no?
Really? ...you want me to tell my most cherished clients that they need to shift their focus and begin putting herculean efforts and costly time toward creating publishing & distributing content for the sake of their edge-ranked-SEO rankings? Really? Is this my new pitch? Let me show you how to cut through all the clutter by creating our own… clutter? Am I to drag them to their doom, again? Can any one of us not see the inherent trouble-sums in this? Can we not extrapolate, whip out the spreadsheets at calculate how this all ends… up (ranked).
Backtracking for backlinks…
I do get it; and in all likelihood will be swept up and into it, with a half painted on smile no less (at least on those days I'm not focussed on other things; things like actually, you know, trying to sell sh…stuff)... I already do do content; am a part of this content renaissance and have been so since (not to brag or anything), since the first days of content-upon-the-nets. It is after all our content that defines us; it is the content we create, adore, promote and re-post that ties us to the tags the labels folks use to slot us, catalog us and file us under "will work with" (when the supply of peanuts is topped up). AND perhaps I am making too much of my own content over these worries of what we are doing with all this content. I'd really rather content end up as sullied as dare I say...
Perhaps we'll continue to find ways to filter all this content maybe even one day find ways to filter without filters that demand the need for even more content, and more filters. Maybe we'll reach a happily balanced stand-off… perhaps content will not go the way of, shall I say it so obviously… email marketing. Did I just lump social-search driven optimized content in with... dare I?
If I apear to be on some slow trotting high horse here, pay no heed. I'm just exercising my right to use this content venue of mine to express concern over something I truly believe in (again I do believe in content as a major component in all this), AND to generate more of my own content. That we will "blow it" once again, I have no doubt… but we've blown it before, and here we are, again.
My only request; may I ask your politely, before committing your content to this ever faster flowing spigot; ask yourself, does this content of yours have any meaning? Does it even have the slightest fragmented bits or piece of useful purpose beyond increasing a ranking. In that brief millisecond your content obtains it's presence upon the pinnacle of the ever growing pile; will that one person who half sees it go… aha (before re-posting it)? By all means, don't sweat over the question, goodness knows, you'll have no time for that… there is more content to be made. After all...
Sigh... all that content, just to say, I'm worried, or... keep your content meaningful folks. And for those content creators who view content as something to be counted... 50
Coming soon... maybe next. Let me tell you a... funny (er) story.
So it may be bit odd that at a well known-to-myself risk of being labelled some sort of a curmudgeon; I've recently found myself saying somewhat nasty sounding things about content and/or this whole "content marketing strategy" again. And again, trust me I know the value of content. I applaud the creation of content and I understand the use of content as an underlay this so-called social, search and search-social marketing... Strat-ortunity? It's just... this current particular search and search-social marketing content strategy seems one dimensionally focussed. AND, the sheer and brutal loudness of the current clarion call for more and more content, well folks, it kinda frightens me, ok, at least when I'm in a more melo-dramatic mood (merely worries me on most other days).
Like any english language word said three times in a row, content, content, content quickly looses it's meaning… I mean, are we happily satisfied yet?
We were each given the tools to create our own content at birth; given the tools to publish & distribute this content of ours in a more or less unfettered by "the powers that be" fashion, a mere 20 years ago. Many of us (present company excepted) have made very good use of the unfettered-ness of content publication & distribution and have littered the world with noble notions, solid opinions, good advice and well thought out thinkenings. So many more of us have helped get these noble notions out and about by posting, re-posting and re-tweeting them on and along through each and ever channel made available to us re-twee-posters. Listen, it's not really a fear of more content; it's just "more" (and then more) content for the sake of… and it is always for the sake of, with respect to content, which has me… worried, you? no?
Really? ...you want me to tell my most cherished clients that they need to shift their focus and begin putting herculean efforts and costly time toward creating publishing & distributing content for the sake of their edge-ranked-SEO rankings? Really? Is this my new pitch? Let me show you how to cut through all the clutter by creating our own… clutter? Am I to drag them to their doom, again? Can any one of us not see the inherent trouble-sums in this? Can we not extrapolate, whip out the spreadsheets at calculate how this all ends… up (ranked).
Backtracking for backlinks…
I do get it; and in all likelihood will be swept up and into it, with a half painted on smile no less (at least on those days I'm not focussed on other things; things like actually, you know, trying to sell sh…stuff)... I already do do content; am a part of this content renaissance and have been so since (not to brag or anything), since the first days of content-upon-the-nets. It is after all our content that defines us; it is the content we create, adore, promote and re-post that ties us to the tags the labels folks use to slot us, catalog us and file us under "will work with" (when the supply of peanuts is topped up). AND perhaps I am making too much of my own content over these worries of what we are doing with all this content. I'd really rather content end up as sullied as dare I say...
Perhaps we'll continue to find ways to filter all this content maybe even one day find ways to filter without filters that demand the need for even more content, and more filters. Maybe we'll reach a happily balanced stand-off… perhaps content will not go the way of, shall I say it so obviously… email marketing. Did I just lump social-search driven optimized content in with... dare I?
If I apear to be on some slow trotting high horse here, pay no heed. I'm just exercising my right to use this content venue of mine to express concern over something I truly believe in (again I do believe in content as a major component in all this), AND to generate more of my own content. That we will "blow it" once again, I have no doubt… but we've blown it before, and here we are, again.
My only request; may I ask your politely, before committing your content to this ever faster flowing spigot; ask yourself, does this content of yours have any meaning? Does it even have the slightest fragmented bits or piece of useful purpose beyond increasing a ranking. In that brief millisecond your content obtains it's presence upon the pinnacle of the ever growing pile; will that one person who half sees it go… aha (before re-posting it)? By all means, don't sweat over the question, goodness knows, you'll have no time for that… there is more content to be made. After all...
Sigh... all that content, just to say, I'm worried, or... keep your content meaningful folks. And for those content creators who view content as something to be counted... 50
Coming soon... maybe next. Let me tell you a... funny (er) story.
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