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The amount of data that people create online continues to increase exponentially. Now that brands have learned how to harness some of that Big Data, though, it’s changing the way they approach the content creation process. Here are three fundamental ways that Big Data is changing the content marketing world.
#1: Big Data is changing the type of content that brands create
At one time, brands essentially created online content in a vacuum. They might have been able to track several key performance indicators (KPIs) – such as the number of new email newsletter subscribers within a specific period of time – but they didn’t have a detailed view of how each specific piece of new content impacted that final KPI number.
That’s all changed with Big Data. What is happening now is that marketers have a much better view into the performance of each new piece of content. In some cases, they can track this performance in near real-time. As soon as they write a new blog post, post a new YouTube video, or send out a new tweet, they will have a pretty good idea of how much engagement it is creating. As a result, brands are able to fine-tune and tweak the type of content that they create on the fly, without having to wait until a new content marketing campaign ends.
#2: Big Data is turning content marketing from an “art” into a “science”
Any time you bring in the data analysts to analyze performance, you are automatically going to change the way that content is perceived within your organization. In short, content marketing is transforming from an “art” to a “science.” In many ways, that’s a good thing.
Think about how content used to be created just a few years ago. You probably had the equivalent of an editorial meeting in order to decide which stories, themes or concepts you wanted to highlight. You also probably talked in terms of an editorial calendar, in which those stories, themes or concepts were mapped out across a specific time horizon. That made it very easy for the CMO to know what was going to happen, when.
Today, however, the rules of the game have changed, thanks to all the data out there. You have analytics tools that will tell you what’s trending, where, and with what demographic. You will know exactly what type of content to create, how long (or short) it should be, when to post it, and how to optimize fan engagement.
#3: Big Data is giving a competitive advantage to brands with content ecosystems
Perhaps most importantly, Big Data is delivering a huge competitive advantage for brands that have a well-developed content ecosystem in which all their social, mobile and online platforms are integrated into one sophisticated content marketing strategy. This means you aren’t duplicating the same content for multiple platforms, and it means that you are optimizing the reach of each post for specific audiences.
One thing is certain: you can never have too much data if you’re running a content marketing campaign. In order to stand out in an increasingly crowded content marketplace, it’s no longer enough just to pump out a lot of content around the clock. You have to understand the performance of that content. Brands that take that lesson to heart will be able to create the right content at the right time for the right audience – and grow their business in the process.
