Together, Let’s Think Out of the Content Box!

I don’t want to be a social media expert or guru. There are a lot of guys and girls out there telling you what you should and shouldn’t be doing in social. I read some of them, and you should too. Some of them really know what they’re talking about. I’ve been working in digital content for more than 15 years. I know content.

I started blogging before blogging. In 1996 a friend came up with the idea to start an online music magazine. We started The Pit, and I wrote album reviews, book reviews, movie reviews and interviewed local San Diego area bands. We talked about doing web pages for bands, but differed as to whether we should charge bands or not. Eventually The Pit petered out. At the same time I wrote for a tech blog called Netweek and the online version of WWWiz Magazine. At this point I’ve been writing online for nearly 17 years, for multiple blogs, and have put together and managed multiple blogging teams.

I started in web design when web pages were just text and graphics. We were excited when we could format text, use tables for interesting alignments, and could put moving text in the browser status bar. When JavaScript came along, we thought the world had changed! We could be so interactive! We used to do it all by hand, and now we have CMS’s and WordPresses.

I started in online education when online courses were page turners and little more than online PowerPoint presentations. We had graphics and text, and next and back links at the bottom of each page. Eventually we incorporated email and message boards. Eventually I got to the point where I was developing highly interactive scenario based courses emulating real world equipment and experiences…and still seeing a lot of online PowerPoints.

I started in online marketing when brands were just starting to get online, and debating e-commerce. The first company I managed a website for had just launched on the web, and wondered whether or not they should sell online, and use e-mail to market. Now if you’re not selling online and not e-mail marketing…you’ve missed the boat.

I started in SEO when you submitted forms to a whole bunch of search engines, and hoped that they liked your site enough to list it. There were tens of search engines that would have someone look at your site when they got around to it. Get your keywords dialed in! Now there are a handful of search engines, and it’s all about content and relevancy.

I started in online communities when they were bulky message boards. Most of the music boards I used were on band and music sites. We’d talk argue and fight over bands. I still have some of the friends I met in those online boards today.

All before Myspace and Facebook.

I said I’d never get on Myspace, then did to promote my bands. Then I started a personal page. Then Facebook came along. I got on there to promote my bands, then got a personal page. Then Twitter came along, and at that point I decided I better get versed in this whole social media thing, and started to build up my online presence and my personal brand.

Every job I’ve had has had some online content component to it. I’ve seen the evolution of digital content to what it is today--highly interactive, adaptive, mobile, telling stories, connecting, evoking emotions.

So much more than how things started “back in the day.”

The first marketing campaign I really remember going viral was the marketing campaign behind “The Blair Witch Project” movie. This was before “viral” was even a relative term in marketing. This was a documentary style film, and the filmmakers marketed this low quality, gritty horror film as being real. And it was convincing. They built up a legend around the film, for which the lines have been so blurred most of us don’t remember whether or not there was ever a real Blair Witch. The marketing campaign was tied into some books, an accompanying documentary and a website. All of this before social media.

Some of the best branded marketing goes viral. You remember the Old Spice commercials, the dollar shave club guy, maybe even the world’s most interesting man.

The key is connecting directly with fans, and though the music industry as a whole has largely failed to adapt, some bands have. Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails have made numerous albums available directly to fans as downloads. Radiohead allowed fans to pay what they wanted for a certain album, and ultimately wound up making more money from that album than from all of their other albums combined. All because they went directly to fans. Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead have also released several deluxe packages of albums only available via the web that hardcore fans have snapped up for hefty price tags.

U2 and Prince have offered web exclusives to fans. U2’s most recent move, working with Apple to release its latest album to iTunes users, resulted in 1 billion people getting the new U2 album. Some criticized the move as being a force feeding, but U2 still got its album out to 1 billion people. The Law of Averages says that’s potentially a lot of new fans across the world.

With the rise of mobile computing, we see a lot of tie-ins to TV shows, and what’s called “third screen experiences.” This basically entails viewing a show on a TV and then viewing supplemental related content on a mobile device. “The Walking Dead” is a standout in the third screen viewing experience. “Walking Dead” also has an awesome video game tie-in, and an almost built in expanded universe with its comic book cred.

Other recent TV shows have pushed hashtags, worked with online fans and communities, and have tried to keep interaction going. “American Horror Story” and “The Strain” are two good examples in the horror genre. The “From Dusk to Dawn” TV series dared fans on Twitter to tweet to Santanica Pandemonia, the sultry female vampire from the show. Fans were asked to tweet what they would do for Santanica, and the best responses were put into graphics with the character and shared via the show’s Twitter.

I’m tired of seeing brands miss opportunities, not understand content, SEO, social media. I’m tired of seeing brands stuck in “90’s thinking.” I’m tired of seeing brands failing to and refusing to adapt.

I am interested in helping brands and people think out of the content box and use content to market differently. I’m interested in branded content marketing, and branded entertainment. Brands can create their own content and need to remove their blinders and be open to new opportunities. Look at what’s being done in branded content marketing by brands, by film studios, by artists, by musicians who are connecting directly with people via content. Brands need to connect directly with their fans, their brand advocates and followers, and use these people to get new fans, brand advocates and followers.

I want to be a leader in the digital content revolution. But what is the digital content revolution? I think it’s finding new ways to connect to people with content. So many brands are still not doing it, and wasting opportunities.

Let’s work together to think out of the box!