New Research Answers: Is Content Marketing Sustainable?
By Steve
Rayson, Director, BuzzSumo
Is content marketing
sustainable?
This is the question Mark
Schaefer posed in his seminal “Content Shock”
post in early 2014. Four years later, what does the data tell us about his
predictions?
On the plus side it has never
been easier to research and create content, from blog posts to videos.
However, as Mark predicted,
lowering the barrier of content creation to near-zero has contributed to an
exponential rise in content production, making it more difficult than ever to
gain attention and engagement. This post takes an in-depth look at content
trends, what Content Shock looks like today, and the implications for content
marketers and content strategy.
Does Growth In Content Publication Mean Lower Returns?
Schaefer noted on this blog
that the amount of content we consume on a daily basis had grown to nearly 11
hours per day (some estimate this is now up to 12 hours).
However, he suggested there has to be a practical limit to the amount of
content a person can consume and that if the content supply continued to
explode it would impact the economics of content marketing. We’re creating a
world where it will be increasingly hard for content to reach readers and where
the rate of return on content marketing would fall.
I decided to look at recent
trends in content publication and content sharing to see if this supported
Mark’s hypothesis. What I found was a consistent pattern across many topic
areas and industries.
In essence, as the volume of content
published increases there is a fall in average engagement in terms of social
sharing.5 For example, if we take a specific topic such as influencer marketing,
we can see from the chart below that there has been a significant growth in
articles about this topic over the last three years and that this has
correlated with falling average shares of these articles on Twitter.
We find similar patterns across
all social networks, though occasionally there are variations where average
shares decline on one network but increase on another.
This decline in average
engagement may be due to a number of reasons. For example, the volume of
content may simply have saturated the market. Alternatively as more and more
people jump on the bandwagon of influencer marketing the quality of the content
may have declined, making people less likely to share articles. It’s probably a
combination of factors. However, this chart is essentially exactly what Mark
predicted would happen in a world of Content Shock.
Declining content engagement as
publication volumes increase over time appears to be a common pattern.
We see this pattern when we
look at the data for Content Marketing content and average shares across all
networks below.
In this case, the number of
articles about content marketing is relatively flat but it is still
highly-saturated with more than 1,000 articles being published every week on
the topic.
In some cases even where
content volumes are falling we still see a decline in average shares. For
example, the chart below shows that the number of articles about virtual
reality peaked in 2016 but despite falls in content volumes average shares are
still flat or declining. This is also likely due to content saturation with over
1,000 articles a week still being published on the topic.
The Pattern of Content Shock
The consistent pattern we see
is growing interest in a topic that drives up both the number of articles and
the total number of shares.
For example, below is the chart
for machine learning articles showing shares across all networks (LinkedIn,
Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest).
We see that the volume of
content being published eventually exceeds the interest in the topic and this
competition for attention leads to a decline in average shares. Interest in a
topic also does not keep rising forever, it typically reaches a peak at which
point we see total shares start to fall. Even when interest begins to wane at
this saturation point, it is common to see that the number of articles
continues to increase. It appears marketers climb on the content bandwagon past
the point of effectiveness.
The decline in average shares
may be due to a number of reasons, for example:
·
People
may not discover the posts as their feeds get inundated with content on a
topic.
·
There
is not enough time for people to read and review content, possibly not enough
time to even scan the headlines in areas where 1,000 articles are published
each week on a topic (like content marketing).
·
As
marketers jump on a trend, poorer quality content is produced that people don’t
wish to share.
·
People
might only share the top articles on a topic, so an increase in content doesn’t
lead to an increase in sharing for latecomers.
In some established areas we
see both content volumes and shares becoming stable, for example articles about
the NFL, where
volumes and average shares have remained fairly constant over recent years.
Content Shock Is Not Everywhere
The good news is that there are
always topics which are earlier in the content cycle and where content
saturation hasn’t happened yet, or where interest is still growing faster than
content publication. For example, if we look at Bitcoin articles below, we can
see average shares are increasing despite higher volumes of content.
Politics is another area where
we see growing engagement with content. For example, for articles published in
The Guardian’s politics section below we can see quite a steep rise in average
shares since last summer.
This is no surprise since the
UK had a referendum on European Union membership last June and a General
Election in 2017. There has also been heightened political awareness with the
US Presidential Election and European elections in 2017. I personally think
there is also more tribal sharing of political content where people share to
show support for their tribe.
Thus despite living in a world
of Content Shock there are always new and emerging topics of interest. A key
challenge for content marketers is to identify
and create content for these new areas of interest and to build an audience and authority before it becomes saturated with content.
If you only start creating content
after the topic has become popular or after content saturation, it will be
increasingly hard to gain attention and engagement. In fact, it might not work
at all.7
Is content marketing sustainable?
Mark forecast a world where
organic reach would slump and where you would have to pay to promote your
content to be visible (a radical new idea back then!). Mark posed the question
of whether the cost of content promotion, combined with falling returns in attention
and engagement, would become too high for some companies and whether the
winners in a world of Content Shock would be the companies with the biggest
pockets.
This is still a very relevant
question. In saturated areas it is increasingly hard to gain attention and
engagement organically — and even with paid promotion in some areas.
Is content marketing
sustainable? The answer is, “it depends.” The right strategy depends upon the
nature of the content market and your position in it. For example:
1.
If
you are entering a saturated content market you need to look at creating radically different and
exceptional content. Less is more when it comes to content production. Another
“me too” list post will sink without trace. In our experience it is better to
focus all of your promotion on a single day to become the story of the day
rather than spread your promotion and amplification efforts over a period of
time.
2.
In
a saturated market you need to discover
specific niches or networks where
content is still gaining traction. We can see many examples where average
shares are declining overall but rising on a specific network such as LinkedIn
for content that is business focused.
3.
In
a market experiencing Content Shock promotion
and amplification is critical,
including paid promotion. You may need to spend as much or more time on content
promotion than on content creation.
4.
If
you are already a leader in a saturated area producing more content may be a viable strategy to effectively create Content Shock for your competitors. In
a more recent post Mark correctly wrote that Content Shock isn’t the problem,
it’s the solution. By producing high quality, core evergreen content, and also
regular content such as news, updates and practical tips, you provide less
opportunity for new entrants who will struggle to gain attention. However,
suddenly publishing significantly more content is likely to result in lower
average engagement as it takes time to grow your audience.
A key task for content marketers is
to identify areas before they become saturated.3The good news is there are always new content areas and
opportunities. These often stem from new technologies, research, and social and
economic developments. If you are early in the content cycle you will want to
focus on building your authority, reputation and trust quickly. This means:
1.
Creating
core evergreen content such as “what is” content.
3.
Increasing
your content cadence to keep your audience engaged and to provide less
opportunity for new entrants while maintaining a certain level of quality.
4.
Content
promotion is still important in an early stage market but less so than in a
saturated market, hence you can spend more time on content creation than on
promotion.
Understanding Your Content Market
There is no simple content strategy
any more. The ideal strategy will depend on the stage of the content market and
your position in that market4. Ideally you will be spotting
content opportunities early before they become saturated. In saturated markets
Content Shock means you need to produce exceptional content and focus heavily
on content amplification.
Regardless of your business or
topic, content marketing strategy must begin with an assessment of how Content
Shock has affected your category.
Steve Rayson is the director of content research company BuzzSumo.
You can review your own content areas and produce charts like the ones in this
article using BuzzSumo’s content analysis tool. If you’re
not a BuzzSumo customer you can take advantage of the free 14 day trial to
perform your analysis and refine your content strategy accordingly.
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