8 Secrets of Managing Content Overload That Everyone Misses

The arrival of the Internet has been both a benefit and a bane for many publishers, who are still trying to determine how to monetize their digital platforms. The massive increase in digital content produced by brands and publishers is overwhelming and daunting to consumers. Smart data and creative distribution strategies can help publishers and brands deliver the right content to the right people at the right time. As publishers struggle to survive in a digital world, brands have increasingly become their most powerful allies, by fostering the production and development of the online publishing industry with substantial investment in digital advertising and producing quality, relevant content for website.

In an attempt to transition past banner promotions, advertisers are starting to assert their place as publishers, working closely with media owners to produce content that promises not to interrupt the user’s online experience, while providing their savvy audience something helpful. A successful content creator provides relevant information for target audiences when they need it without overwhelming them.

The New Technology Behind Native Advertising

While native advertising is not new, its shape, the technology deployed for exponential growth, and its distribution are fresh. A new generation of media brands including Vice and BuzzFeed are championing this means, while more traditional ones, such as the Guardian, Telegraph, and New York Times are not far behind. Although content marketing empowers brands to build engaging interactions and publishers to identify a significant additional revenue stream, it also contributes to content overload on the web. The result is risking turning off the very audience it wantsto attract.

Over 40 percent of people, a third of which are millennials, report feeling overwhelmed by the volumes of information on the Internet. They prefer friends’ recommendations on social media rather than searching for products and content themselves. This trend has overreaching implications for publishers, particularly those relying just on advertising revenues and trying to build audiences at scale. It also affects advertisers who are looking for a deeper connection with consumers by heavily investing in native advertising.

Creative Distribution Strategies

The recent push toward branded content has also contributed to the feeling of content overload. However, creative distribution strategies supported by smart data can leverage the opportunities offered by media convergence and prevent content overload from hindering the overall value of native advertising. Here are eight secrets for managing content overload that you may have missed.

1. Listen and Learn

Knowing your audience is as crucial for brands as it is for publishers. You can achieve this by auditing your audience’s overall conversations. In fact, social listening is a particularly effective tool for this. It is a unique strategy to provide clear insight into content consumption habits, what people are following, the content formats they prefer, who influences them, where and when read, and their feeling about the content.

2. Capitalize on Context

Discovering the right context that your audience can relate to enables you to weave in your brand story instead of selling it. Also, developing an editorial calendar enables you to generate content that matches what audiences are likely to be looking for and thinking about at certain times throughout the year. Most importantly, maintain flexibility and be prepared to react fast to what’s happening globally. Creating relevant, attention-grabbing content will be worth it.

3. Curated Content

Because consumers are extremely savvy, they can easily spot quality content when they see it. They don’t care about your product or brand unless it’s relevant for them. Content curation is an ideal technique for publishing high-quality, relevant, and consistent content and is crucial to any successful content marketing strategy.

4. Creative Distribution

When you adopt an always-on mentality, you can combine smart data with technology to explore new distribution tactics. This strategy will enable you to connect with and surprise your audience by delivering the right content at the right time to the right person.

5. Media Convergence

Mobile technology is quickly blurring the lines between mediums while media habits are changing at a speed never before seen. Against this backdrop, brands must employ media convergence to deliver relevant and appealing content to move consumers from engagement to action while driving real business value.

6. Do One Thing Well

Any content writing service will tell you that a simplified approach is a very effective strategy. Brands are known for doing one thing well. Because audiences know what to expect, they gravitate toward that brand. Make sure you have the right level of staffing to achieve your objective.

7. Build, Measure, Learn

Brands have realized the value of creating, building, and establishing a measurement platform for the data that underpins content. This allows them to learn, iterate, and respond quickly to what does and doesn’t work.

8. Think Feeds

In addition to considering core content, determine where it will go and design for the medium in mind. It’s ideal to partner with people who have a good understanding of what works in the appropriate channel. Creating continuing partnerships with a handful of new school social networks and publishers to develop and adapt content is likely to be the focus for many brands over the coming year.

Consumers are already suffering from content overload, and by 2020 the amount of information on the web is estimated to increase by 600 percent. This constant barrage of content makes it more challenging than ever for your information to grab their attention. For most marketers, the irony of more content being less impactful is not lost. As more and more companies adopt content marketing practices, marketers are searching for ways to navigate the paradox of more content with less return.

Sharing a Data-Driven Story

Data-driven content is created off the back of existing public online resource, questionnaires, market research, surveys, and current data. The concept is simple: Take a data set and turn it into a piece of thought provoking, educational, and shareable data.

There are two ways to share your data-driven story. The first is visually, using images, infographics, tables, illustrations, and charts. The second way is through relevant, timely, and well-written content that provides an overview of the topic, supported by thought-provoking details, figures, and facts from the data source. Make it more of a teaser than a full-scale informational resource. This way you control the source data and prospects have to provide their contact information in exchange for downloading your data-driven, proprietary content. The strategy behind this approach is simple: Attract and translate prospects into qualified leads.

Reaching the End Goal

Throughout the process, remember that your goal should be to create relevant, thought-provoking, and informative content. The result will have a direct impact on your target audience’s ability to be more confident and help them make better buying decisions. The indirect impact of these efforts for your organization is an enhanced potential to:

• Close more leads
• Create your database
• Convert prospects into sales
• Display expertise in a particular area
• Qualify and prioritize leads for sales teams
• Attract and increase relevant traffic to your site
• Maintain ongoing relationships with your target audience
• Develop brand credibility and continual top-of-mind awareness

Content overload in today’s infrastructure is practically inevitable. The key to preventing it is discovering a balance. With a little forethought and planning, you can share relevant content to the right audience without it overwhelming and driving them away.