You are what you say online – The evolution of branded content...

You are what you say online - evolution of branded content has to be beyond a few social posts on festivals. Getting the most out of the Hero, Hub, Hygiene model

Brand Managers, your content marketing these days is like a distracted conversation in a loud bar, half your message is drowned out by background noise and the other half comes off as disingenuous banter.

The goal is to make your content feel like a warm dinner table conversation over a home cooked meal.

Getting the most out of Hero, Hub, Hygiene

The three H’s approach popularized by google as a video content strategy has long transcended YouTube. It segments content into three major types

Hero- Large scale. Designed to reach as much of your audience as possible.

Hub- Episodic or scheduled at regular intervals, designed to have your audience return on a regular basis

Hygiene- Educational in nature, direct user benefit by addressing queries

This publishing approach to content marketing needs a couple of key ingredients and a somewhat nimble mindset to work

Number 1:

Brand managers now need to start acting like magazine editors, this means managing a content calendar, manage in house editorial or engage the services of an agency with publishing chops and most importantly become the last stamp of approval before content goes out (I exaggerate, you can trust your agency to get it right most of the time ... can’t you?).

Number 2:

Consistency, content strategy can be like a gym membership, signing up is easy but showing up every day, another matter completely.

The content calendar needs to become your new Bible. Content Marketing is after all a long game. Pick a theme and stick with it. It takes a whole lot of convincing before people start believing you stand for something.

Number 3:

A digital home, I don’t mean a non-responsive website with outdated design and even older content that hasn’t been updated since its inception. To go back to the earlier analogy this is your dinner table, this is where users get your full brand experience. Your strategy should always center around getting people to visit your website/app and spend time engaging with new and useful articles, videos, infographics etc.

Brand websites need to start looking more like their publishing counterparts. Your audience is used to consuming content on slick, well-designed editorial properties. You need to make sure you look the part.

Caution, your social channels are not your digital home. They are for all intents and purposes ad networks and should be treated as such. Use social to filter users to your own website, the promise of meaningful engagement on social is a ruse, your content is always a swipe away from fake news, dank meme’s and polarized content.

Your social channels are a feedback mechanism for your actions both offline and on.

Number 4:

Differentiation. Sameness is a losing strategy. Your content strategy needs to evolve beyond posts on festivals and generic product announcements on social. There is a lot of noise out there, you need to create a unique identity that stands out in the crowd.

Number 5

 A Journalistic mindset. Always be on the lookout for a story. Weather its people who embody your brand message, Stats that build credibility or news around your message. This needs to become the fuel that powers your hygiene content.

In conclusion, It’s safe to say brand managers don’t have it easy.  To make the most of Hero, Hub, Hygiene they need to figure out the new “marketing meets publishing approach”. Make sure their message is distributed in a coordinated manner across all channels, consistently. While ensuring that their brand comes across as unique, interesting and above all authentic.