Content is moving through a maturity of sorts within the enterprise. Talking with a few colleagues some noticed that companies were putting out more content, some noticed that some companies placed less of a focus on content and I have yet to notice any sizable advances in companies developing relevant content (content specific to me when I need it and on the device I where I want it).
On the surface there seems to be a dichotomy in how companies are utilizing content. It doesn’t seem possible that companies are actually producing less content today than before. What we found was that companies were blogging less which made it seem like they were de-emphasizing content. Not the case at all. Let’s look at what is different today than when companies started to blog.
Blogging is simply a tool that enables you to self publish content on the web. A few years ago, blogging was the only way that marketers could actually publish on the web unless they went through IT to have it published using the corporate content management systems.
Fast forward to today. Now content takes form in long form through blogging and short form through updates on walls, tweets, Posterous. Content also takes the shape of video, audio, powerpoints, documents (Scribd), etc. Content is not only produced by the public relations team or marketing team, content is being distributed by any employee who posts an answer on Quora or LinkedIn or who tweets or updates pictures from the company picnic on their own Facebook page. Content simply takes so many shapes today that it is impossible for companies to actually control all of it.
Controls of information within companies have been in step decline for 2-3 years and it’s having profound affects throughout the enterprise. IT’s perimeter is no longer the walls of the building, the perimeter has become every employee who carries a mobile device or logs into the network in an airport. Marketers must train employees on tactics once only used on the few people who spoke to the press. Today everyone can have that voice. Employees communicate differently today internally. So what does all this mean? The only way to find out is to employ the services of Toby Bloomberg for an hour during this week’s chat. Toby returns to host another chat this time focused on the maturing nature of content within companies and what it means. The topic this week and questions will be:
Topic: Fear and Loathing in Content Creation
Q1: Where is the sweet spot these days, in content creation or distribution?
Q2: How is blogging/content development changing or maturing for companies?
Q3: How do companies need to adapt around content?
Please join us in this online chat on Tuesday, August 30 at noon ET. Follow #sm125 from your favorite Twitter client or simply go to our LIVE page at www.hashtagsocialmedia.com/live. The format will stay the same with the first question starting at noon and a new question coming every 20 minutes at 12:20 and 12:40.
