Determining Goals: Content Vs. Conversation

( via acidlabs.org )

Before deciding the type of content a site should display, it is essential for companies to listen to the conversations of their target audience. Listening to the voices of the consumer will help generate the appropriate content to set a website apart from its competitors. While engaging in conversations with consumers is important for a company’s personal voice, it can only do so much without persuasive content. Blogger Nathan Pieratt says “Effective content has energy. It has passion and an agenda to spur a response from the reader. It is the energy behind the message that is important because it will drive consumer engagement and that creates a more personal experience with the reader”.

Take for example The Tale of Two Coffee Vendors. One vendor focuses on interacting with Twitter followers to establish the brand’s personality, therefore representing the voice of the brand. Though conversation is a key element of providing good customer service and public relations, there needs to be a base of good content to keep that conversation going.

The second coffee vendor researches what kinds of online outreach methods will engage the target consumer. This vendor creates a tool for their customers to use in order to learn about the varying types of coffee, turning customers into “coffee aficionados”, resulting in brand loyalists. When this vendor turned a concept into an everyday tool, it began by locating a need within a market and successfully found a way to begin conversations based off their own self-generated content.

Michael Greenberg stresses the importance of content, comparing it to the purpose of the BusinessWeek. If BusinessWeek comes to a halt on their content, their readers would freak out. Content must keep generating because without it, there isn’t much to discuss.

In the end, good content will generate conversations and bad content will generate conversations. The type of social media being utilized, or focused on, will determine the goals of the company. When it comes to Facebook in the content vs. conversation argument, Veronica Fielding knows what it takes for a business to utilize the platform to its fullest stating: “Simply announcing what your company is up to isn't going to get fans engaging with your brand. Post information that is relevant to your brand and of interest to your stakeholders. Invite questions, suggest other reading, provide links, curate other content”.

Ideally, both content and conversation are needed for a business to go full circle in its social media marketing. Without content, there is not much opportunity for engagement and users may quickly forget any details about the business. Without conversation, consumers may not feel like they are part of a community. By focusing on both areas, online users are presented with ideas and are then encouraged to take part in discussion. Though comment forms are fading from popularity, users can engage in conversation by sharing links on other social platforms.

Though I lean more toward the argument for content, both content and conversation will always go hand in hand when determining if a business is succeeding in accomplishing their goals.