Content is designed to fulfil a variety of purposes.
- It is a tool that generates engagement with your audience.
- You can use content to sell your services and your products.
- Content sits at the heart of a brand reputation, portraying your values and personality.
- You can develop a content strategy to reach out to a broader audience group.
Finally, content is also a major actor in educating the audience on significant topics.
In a typical content strategy, marketing and industry data dictate the type of content that is required and the preferred format and distribution methods to achieve your objectives. In the mind of most content creators, data comes before content. However, in some specific cases, content could come before and transform data.
Disengaged audience or privacy concerns?
Data protection regulations give users control over their data. Both GDPR and CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act) allow users to reach out to businesses and request the deletion of their data. What data regulations fail to provide, however, is an accurate representation of data deletion. Customers who want their data to be erased have a variety of reasons. Concerns about data privacy are the most expected reason, yet it isn’t the only one. Customers who have grown disengaged with the content and offering of a company can request the deletion of their data. It is a quick and effective way of getting rid of unappealing content. As a result, businesses that fail to track deletion processes in relation to their content distribution schedule may be missing on valuable insights.
Your content format could expose data
The rise in authentic content poses new challenges for businesses. Social media platforms, especially, are filled with screen captures and photos that are designed to show the backstage of the company. Similarly, content creation for a business pitch can also include captures of services that have been delivered to other clients, including their data. Without real-life content, you can’t promote your business expertise. However, real-life content could accidentally expose confidential data. Visual formats could dramatically increase cyberthreat vulnerability, which in turn could lead to unauthorised access, data loss or thief, etc. Managed IT support for cybersecurity and backup solutions, as explained on this website, are essential to the protection of your data at all times. Ultimately, hackers are getting creative, and many could use candid visuals to gain access.
Everybody wants a freebie
Running contests is one of the most effective strategies to grow your customer and audience group. A contest requires targeted content to boost your promotional campaign and reach out to a broader audience. However, while most businesses record an increase in audience segments during the contest, the changes are rarely long-lasting. People are happy to join your newsletter list if it means they can enrol to win a free product. But these temporary customers are not always converted in the long term. Many unsubscribe shortly after the contest had ended, leading marketers to work with inaccurate audience data until then.
Everybody lies on social media
Hugh Laurie, as the cynical Dr House, used to repeat in the eponym TV show a famous line: “Everybody lies.” Without being as cynical as his character, it’s easy to see that posts and interactions on social media need to be considered carefully. An individual can build a social media profile for various reasons, from seeking their next career move to gathering likes and followers. With plenty of different intentions behind each post, businesses that use social media data to define future content may not get an accurate image of their audience. While there is no reliable alternative, it remains essential to question the meaning of the collected data. If the content generated for social media audience segments doesn’t hit its target, perhaps the segments are not a fair representation of your audience’s real needs.
High engagement rates on video are questionable
Video format records some of the highest engagement rates. Video content is more digestible. Additionally, video content also showcases the person behind the brand, making the business more personable. Positive data results could encourage companies to create more video content. But how much do users engage with a video?
Irrelevant comments posted underneath YouTube videos demonstrate one thing: The majority of users do not watch the video or understand its content. In other words, high video engagement rates may not show the full picture. The nature of the format leads to potentially unreliable data.
The relationship between content and data is a complex one. Most marketing strategies rely on data to design and schedule their content generation. However, if your content success hits a plateau, it becomes essential to consider how content can affect data and leads to an unreliable image of your audience groups and brand influence. The challenge for businesses is to figure out which set of data is reliable and which is questionable.