Bo Sacks recently distributed an article by Dave Morgan called “It’s NOT About The Content.” His argument is that the point of media is to gather an audience that you can sell to advertisers, and if you can get away with cheap content, so much the better.
Then he asks this interesting question. If it was “all about the content,” then “how come media companies that make content today have revenues, profits, and stock prices that are down so much?” Again, he says “companies that make content are nowhere near the top of the list of the most valuable companies in the world anymore.”
Okay, you can’t argue with that. Google and Apple aren’t rich because they create great content but because they’ve figured out how to collect and sell our information. If you want to make a lot of money, Dave asks, “What is your technology and data strategy?”
That’s a fair point. But editorial directors still have to create the best content that they can. So here’s a list of “worst practices” for content creators. That is, things you should avoid.
Poor Quality. If it’s badly written, has grammatical errors, lacks depth or accuracy, people will turn away.
Overly Promotional. Everybody knows you have to sell soap, but you have to keep the correct balance.
Irrelevant or Off-Topic Content. This one is very important to me. Too much content wanders all over the place without getting to the point.
Inconsistent Posting. This is one where I have to eat my own cooking. I’ve not been as consistent with my video and email updates as I should be. Consumers want to know that they can expect new stuff from you on a regular cadence.
Some people say Lack of Authenticity is a big deal, but I think this a bit over-rated. I don’t care if you’re “authentic,” whatever that means, if you’re providing good content.
Insensitive or Controversial Content is certainly a big deal for some people because everybody is so absurdly sensitive these days. Jonathan Haidt seems to think that’s a consequence of a lack of play in childhood and over-exposure to smart phones. Be that as it may, you’re dealing with prickly people.
Poor User Experience tops the list for mobile sites, in my opinion. I have come to dislike reading on my phone because the experience is almost universally awful.
Lack of Engagement – that is, content that doesn’t encourage on-going interaction – is important to the publisher. I’m not sure how important it is to the reader. I rarely read something and then feel let down that they haven’t hooked me into something else.
Repetitive Content can be annoying, where you keep riding that same hobby horse, or simply rewording old stories. Keep it fresh.
All these things are important, but the biggest one – in my opinion – is Ideological Bias. Too many content creators ignore this.
I was listening to an interview with a pollster the other day, and he said that if you group together people who (1) make over $100K a year, (2) graduated from an elite school, and (3) have a master’s degree or better, their views on most issues are way out of synch with the public. But here’s the amazing part. They don’t know that. In fact, they believe their views do represent the majority opinion.
A fish doesn’t know that he’s wet, and these people don’t know that they’re living in a bubble.
So editorial directors, take heed. Hire some people with no college degree. Hire some people who went to state schools. Hire people who had to work to pay their way through college because their parents were poor.
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