There is an ongoing debate in social media as to whether content or conversation is most important. Some people think content is the key; others think conversation is the “be all, end all” of social media. In his article, “Content is King of Social Marketing,” Greenberg (2009) talks about why he thinks content is most important, and suggests using your marketing calendar to give content its needed focus. Conversely, Novak (2010) discusses in her article, “Why Conversation, not Content, is King” by saying, “users are constantly sending out little bits of information, but the fun really doesn’t start unless those morsels are taken up by someone else and responded to, passed along, or even ‘liked’” (Novak, 2010, para. 4).
These opposing views bring to the forefront the argument at hand. Is content or conversation most important in social media? In my opinion both are important, but I do not think you can have conversation without having content to talk about. Greenberg agrees saying, “Without content, there is not a whole lot to talk about” (Greenberg, 2009, para. 4). However, Novak argues, “Content without conversation is just broadcasting, or just advertising” (Novak, 2010, para. 3).
Rosenthal seems to agree with Novak that social platforms should be mostly about conversations saying, “the social world is now about building authentic conversations and amplifying messages from passionate supporters and influencers, which drive the positive activity being sought by each community” (Rosenthal, 2011, para. 3). In my opinion conversations bring visitors back to your social media space because they are engaged by the content enough to talk about it, or share it with others. But what would they talk about if you were not posting engaging content? By creating engaging content that makes your audience say, “holy smokes” (“Holy Smokes”, 2013), you create the emotional response that engages your audience to have a conversation, and this is why content is the most important.
So, how do you create content that is engaging, important, and leads to conversation? Lockwood gives these steps to creating content that works:
1. Have a plan.
2. Brevity counts.
3. Simplicity matters.
4. Be fun.
5. Be thoughtful.
6. Have a call to action (Lockewood, 2012, para. 4).
Furthermore, Greenberg also gives tips to successful content publishing: have something to say, say it often, and be interesting (Greenberg, 2009, para. 15). Zarrella goes a step further to support the significance of content by calling the importance of social media conversations a myth. In his research on blogs he found “no significant correlation between the number of comments a blog post received and the amount of traffic that blog post got” (Zarrella, n.d., p. 10). He also looked at Facebook and Twitter. On Facebook he found “there may be no useful relationship between the amount of feedback (comments and likes) on a wall post and the number of people that see that wall post” (Zarrella, n.d., p. 11). On Twitter he found the same to be true saying that only “broadcasting more interesting content” (Zarrella, n.d., p.13) will increase your reach. To me this shows overwhelmingly that providing more interesting content for your audience is the most important thing to focus on for your social media efforts. What is your vote, content or conversation?
1. Have a plan.
2. Brevity counts.
3. Simplicity matters.
4. Be fun.
5. Be thoughtful.
6. Have a call to action (Lockewood, 2012, para. 4).
Furthermore, Greenberg also gives tips to successful content publishing: have something to say, say it often, and be interesting (Greenberg, 2009, para. 15). Zarrella goes a step further to support the significance of content by calling the importance of social media conversations a myth. In his research on blogs he found “no significant correlation between the number of comments a blog post received and the amount of traffic that blog post got” (Zarrella, n.d., p. 10). He also looked at Facebook and Twitter. On Facebook he found “there may be no useful relationship between the amount of feedback (comments and likes) on a wall post and the number of people that see that wall post” (Zarrella, n.d., p. 11). On Twitter he found the same to be true saying that only “broadcasting more interesting content” (Zarrella, n.d., p.13) will increase your reach. To me this shows overwhelmingly that providing more interesting content for your audience is the most important thing to focus on for your social media efforts. What is your vote, content or conversation?
References
Greenberg, M. (2009, October 20). Content is king of social marketing. MultichannelMerchant.com. Retrieved January 30, 2013, from http://multichannelmerchant.com/social-media/1020-content-social-marketing/
'Holy smokes' content equals social media success. (2013). Credit Union Magazine, 79(1), 10-10. Retrieved from
Lockwood, H. (2012). Social media content-developing the words that work. Rough Notes, 155(2), 110-110,112. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1022314513?accountid=2837
Novak, C. (2010, July 27). Why conversation, not content, is king. SocialMediaToday.com. Retrieved January 31, 2013, from http://socialmediatoday.com/wordspring/152636/why-conversation-not-content-king
Rosenthal, J. (2011, September 15). Social Media: Evolving from broadcasting to conversation [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2011/09/15/social-media-evolving-from-broadcasting-to-conversation/
Zarrella, D. (n.d.). 6 deadly marketing myths busted [ebook]. Hubspot. Retrieved from http://www.hubspot.com/Portals/53/docs/ebooks/6_deadly_marketing_myths_busted.pdf
Very interesting post. Guess the best way is to have good content on your blog and the rest will follow, as the song sings...
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