Quality Content: Kings or Pawns

Have you ever heard the phrase "content is king"? It refers to a marketing strategy in which your business gains the most repeat clients because of the high-quality content it produces. But, like many phrases over time, the meaning behind the "content is king" phrase has become diluted.

At the beginning of the 2002 film, The Count of Monte Cristo, Edmond Dantes meets and speaks with Napoleon Bonaparte about chess. After explaining the tradition of passing a king chess piece back and forth between himself and his friend, Edmond says it means that they are "The king of the moment." Napoleon then tells Edmond that everyone in the world is either a king or a pawn. In his na?veté, Edmond thinks this view is too negative and wants to believe that people are good and collaborative. That is, until he is betrayed by his friend and realizes that he was a pawn the entire time.

'What does this have to do with the "content is king" phrase?' I hear you saying. While I normally hesitate to agree with anything Napoleon said, I have to say that his character in the film had a point. If we change 'people' to 'content,' we get 'Content is all either kings or pawns.' Let's explore what this means.

High-quality content is an incredible tool to use as a marketing strategy. Relatable, engaging, and captivating content builds your audience and keeps people coming back to your website or business. This type of quality content is king. Unfortunately, this type of quality has become the lesser-used content.

Content mills and similar businesses do not worry so much about the quality of the content as they do the quantity. Their philosophy is that the more content they put out, the more traffic they will get to their website. This philosophy is a working strategy but comes at the cost of authenticity. They use AI to create content, or they encourage their writers to use AI by demanding a large amount of articles in a very short period of time. This content is pawn quality. It's sloppy and can be sacrificed without causing any harm to the rest of the marketing strategy.

When you contribute to the vast expanse of content that exists in the world, think about the quality you are creating. Does your content add to a conversation or help bring change? Does it increase understanding or address needs? Even if it is just for entertainment, is it genuinely entertaining? If your content is copy-and-pasted from Chat GPT, or if you are just churning out as much content as possible without contemplating what it adds to the world, it is not worthy of kingship.

Creating content has become very accessible. Anyone can start their own blog or social media posts, after all. But, it is not enough just to fill your blog or page with a large quantity of posts. The quality of the writing is critical! A truly successful content-writing business will produce kingly content. Before you share your content, think about what it might be worth. Is it creative and authentic? Does it give your readers the royal treatment? Or, after reading, do they feel that they were pawns in your business scheme?

Always remember to write with authenticity, quality, and integrity. Then, you can know that your content is king. 'King's to you' on all your writing endeavors!