Content, content and more content. Everywhere you look there’s new articles, images, videos and way more – so why?
Content. It’s insatiable in today’s modern landscape. How much have you consumed already today? Because this surely isn’t the first piece you read, watched, or listened to. The thing is, it doesn’t matter whether you’re at the office secretly doom scrolling TikTok or at home binge watching Netflix, there’s new content in every direction. It’s inescapable. Even here at IDM, we’ve been consistently pushing out content, from our portfolio pieces or our blogs (yes, just like this one). There’s always been an urgency to showcase our new work, our new knowledge. And quite frankly, it’s not just us.
Have you ever thought about why there is such a driving force behind this need for content creation? What the carrot on a stick dangling in front of you is to make you consistently create and share. The answer comes as no surprise, but lies in the algorithms that govern our online experiences. The ever-growing appetite for information. We’ve talked about algorithms in the past and how to utilise them to push your content higher but we haven’t done a deep dive before. So let’s jump off the high dive.
A little about algorithms
Just like in Space Jam: A New Legacy, algorithms are a sneaky finite sequence that are integral to our online experiences. Consider how Netflix builds a unique homepage per user based on your previously watched. Before you’ve made any conscious choice, your experience has already been curated. Who decides what content appears on our social media feeds, what articles pop up in our search results, and even what products we see when shopping online? Algorithms.
Platforms like YouTube, Netflix, and other social media giants use sophisticated algorithms to analyse our preferences, behaviors, and interactions. They want to keep you on your platform longer so they curate your experience. The goal of algorithms ultimately comes down to user experience, as a marketing agency we might try and manipulate (we use that word lightly) them to get better results for our clients but the entire point is to ensure the content users want to see is the content they get.
So how should you approach content creation?
A main consideration is what value is your content bringing to your audience. Even at IDM, we’ve recently cut down our blog to once a month because – to be blunt – we don’t want to put something we’re not happy with. We’re switching to a quality over quantity model. So if we’re putting something into the world, it’s helpful and impactful (hopefully you noticed). As the algorithms have changed, this method is actually becoming more commonplace too.
We used to have goals of how many posts we’d like to get out on our platforms per month, but ultimately our audience just wanted to see our latest projects. A few years ago we archived our entire feed on Instagram and changed it to reflect our portfolio of work. Nothing else. This meant we could post on our feed once a month and still serve our audience. And by only posting when you have something of value to share, your audience will recognise you as a person or brand that actually has some integrity. That stands for something.
So keep your target market in mind and how best to reach them. That might not always be the standard practice we’ve come to know. Consider your user’s journey across all platforms. Whether that’s Instagram, email marketing or even in person.