Being Heard Through the Noise

Most people will argue that the Internet and rise of the smartphone have improved our lives. But with the increase in communication, we’ve increased the amount of noise out there. I’m not talking about physical noise since almost everyone seems to wear headphones on their daily commute, but digital noise.

With the rise in social media and blogs, we're all published writers with an opinion on who should the win the US presidential election to which cat is the cutest in the latest viral video. As a digital content marketer, I’m constantly sifting through the noise, looking for examples of great content and applying them to clients. 

For our media clients, I use Hootsuite to help aggregate targeted athletes’ Facebook and Twitter accounts. Instead of having to separately check each person's social media account, Hootsuite organizes real-time lists of their posts on an easy to navigate dashboard. This has come in handy on slow news days, where the client doesn’t have a specific message to push but wants to stay current. 

I love reading, especially books (my current fix is a mix between mystery novels and books on social economics). Recently I've found a new respect for well-written blog posts and online articles but rarely have the time to read them all when I come across interesting articles. Instead of racking up the bookmarks on my web browser, I can save them to the app Pocket, which downloads the article into an easy-to-browse format that is even accessible offline. Now when I find myself in line at a coffee shop or on a long subway ride, I have something meaningful to read.

Another gem that I love to use on a daily basis is The Skimm. The sassy but informative newsletter delivers a summary of the top news to my inbox every day, usually arriving in the early evening since their scheduled send out is synced with US East Coast Time, not Beijing Time. With the tone of talking to your best friend, The Skimm has achieved what every digital content marketer dreams about: customers that look forward to receiving their daily updates rather than letting it go unnoticed in their spam folder.

These are just a few of the tools I use on a daily basis both personally and professionally to try to sift through the excess of content available. If there’s one thing that marketers can learn is that today is an environment where quality beats quantity. Good content drives engaged readers to your article, website, or product. Great content keeps them coming back for more.