Coca Cola, which is one of the worlds most recognized brands has recently announced that its marketing strategy is moving from “creative excellence” to “content excellence“.

This is due to the the realization that on a social web people can create more dynamic stories about a business and brand than they can ever hope to achieve on their own.

Coca Cola is making sure that it is embracing this changing paradigm in marketing and creating content that is  liquid and contagious and let the global crowd create the dynamic stories about a brand.

This is the crowd sourcing of marketing.

This is what makes social media marketing so effective, it taps into the leverage of the conversations of billions of people that communicate and share daily on the global web.

These conversations are about content and this takes me to three stories.

Story One: Books and the Power of Imagination

I was only nine but I had just discovered the attraction and magic of books.

After learning to read I started to find the allure of the printed page compelling and contagious.  I started borrowing books from the school library about pirates and tropical adventures and other stories that took me to far away places as my imagination took flight.

The book bug had bitten me so hard that reading two to three books a week wasn’t unusual and the school librarian must have thought that I was stalking her. This healthy obsession with stories and books had me reading under the bed covers at night with my bed site lamp hidden under the blankets after the obligatory nights out curfew so that my parents thought I was still asleep!

The power of stories and their power to engage my imagination had me enthralled.

Story Two: News and the Man on the Moon

It was such a big news event that school finished early and we were able to go home and watch the man land on the moon.

Television was still black and white and  I remember watching the shaky images from the moon arriving on the TV screen as Neil Armstrong announced “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”

Watching man step onto the moon is a memory I will never forget.

The power of media to distribute powerful news stories was evident on that day July 20, 1969 .

Story Three: Discovering Information on the World Wide Web

It was in 1995 and I remember connecting up the modem and logging onto the internet for the first time. Alta vista was a crude but still useful search engine that allowed you to find information from the web that has since seen the death of printed encyclopedias and the rise of wikipedia.

I remember thinking that my visits to the library would not be so frequent anymore and hunting for information would be quicker and much more convenient.

Information, data and content could now be found and consumed from the other side of the world via the internet and personal computer.

Content: Stories, News and Information

Stories, news and information are eagerly sought by everyone and these can all be published online. This is content, any media that can be published on the web.

Social media marketing requires content that is compelling and contagious. It requires content that begs to be shared. It requires content that is so liquid that people want to share it online and offline.

Social media marketing without these types of content is like man without a soul or a king without clothes.

Content is the Hub and Heart of Social Media.

Note: To view the presentation below click on the image.

This presentation that I gave as a keynote at the BE-Wizard conference in Italy recently, looks at the key building blocks for creating and marketing you content.

This presentation includes.

• What is content marketing?
• What are the types of content you should be creating.
• Why Multimedia is important in your content marketing plans.
• What the benefits are of content.
• What are the 10 commandments of content marketing
• What great content should be.
• What content shouldn’t be
• The power of images, photos, video and infographics
• Why search and content are linked and synergistic.
• What are the 8 challenges of content marketing?
• How do you come up with the inspiration and ideas for creating content?
• What are the ultimate types of content?
• What is addictive content?
• How do you structure and optimize your content for the social web?
• How do you promote and market your content, so it spreads and is shared?
• How do you measure success?
• Some case studies of the global superstars of content.

What about You?

How do you use content for your marketing? What works for you? Are you creating dynamic stories?

What are some of your successes with content that you have experienced and maybe surprised you.

I look forward to hearing your stories

More Reading

• 10 Reasons Why “Liquid” Content Should be Included in Your Social Media Marketing
• What are 10 Addictive Types of Content?
• How to Increase Your Blog Traffic by 55% with One Button
• 5 Motivations for Sharing Content
• 20 Ideas for Social Media Content that Engages
• Is it Better to Share on Google+, Facebook or Twitter
• 9 Questions to Ask your Customers When Creating Content

Image by Auntie P