“Content is King” is an age-old writing proverb that should be engraved in a marketing expert’s mind. Content is how you get eyes to look and to read your message. Today’s approach to social media has clouded this ancient law; technology has stepped in as the head honcho on campus. But is technology really the answer? Is how we push out our message, more important as the message itself?
Mobile versions of content, social media dashboard options such as Sprout Social, and Twitter chat platforms like Tweetchat, concern the marketer more than the actual content in today’s message process. The vehicle that will push the message out into the spotlight shouldn’t be more of a concern than the actual message.
By marketing terms, content isn’t just words on your screen. Content is an umbrella term for articles, but also photos, videos, contests and blogs, just to name a few. Content is the backbone and foundation of a brand’s message.
Renaissance Hotels, a sister sector of Marriott Hotels, understands the “content is king” phenomenon and is the fuel behind it’s marketing efforts.
“Content is critical for us because it’s the currency that drives our relevance and therefore consumer consideration for our brand. And content for us lives first and foremost in the offline world through our hotel guest experience. This is how we ensure that what we do and say is authentic. Then we extend it to online to continue the dialogue with existing guests and their network (our prospects)” explains Dan Vinh, VP Global Marketing, Renaissance Hotels at Marriott International.
The hotel titan understands content is the fundamental approach to any marketing tactic. The company first focuses on content, then moves the engaging content to its online audience. Content is being embraced first, technology second.
The mobile culture today is more concerned with the number of shares their content gets on Facebook, or the number of hits a blog post obtains. If marketing teams would focus on the quality and worth of their messages, they wouldn’t have to keep pushing out the same message, but explained differently.
The well-known media strategist said it best; “Social media is about sociology and psychology more than technology.” Marketing professionals, take a page out of his book, not from his Twitter feed.