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November 23, 2009

The Dumbing Down of Content...and the Opportunity It Creates.

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In the November issue of Wired magazine is an article titled "The Answer Factory: Demand Media and the Fast, Disposable, and Profitable as Hell Media Model" which describes the business model of Demand Media. Where other publishers create content then try to sell enough ads or subscriptions to help pay for it, Demand Media turns the model upside down.

At Demand Media, they use technology to scan the web to determine what people are searching and what ads on those search results might pay. They then commission content (through an army of freelancers) at rates to match the forecast revenue. It is infinitely granular, highly targeted, and apparently....profitable as hell.

Most people who I have referred the article to immediately recoil. "Who would read that junk?" "Their content is terrible!" "That will lead to two tons of trash on the Web".

Exactly.

And in that trash is the opportunity. As citizen journalism, user-generated content, and automated production engines like Demand Media churn out content by the pound, the need for trusted filters (channels, editors, call them what you want!) grows. Sifting through the junk to find the real gems is getting harder, not easier. So, as is the norm in business, the pendulum swinging away from publishers will likely begin to swing back in their favor.

The difference is that where publishers once had an advantage because they controlled distribution which was costly, now everyone has access to affordable distribution. Thus, bloggers like Chris Brogan or David Pogue (who also happens to work for the New York TImes) who have legions of followers, are in fact well-suited to fill the role of "trusted editors".

In similar fashion, ethical corporations can also fill that gap. Companies like Northwest Mutual or Blue Cross Blue Shield, who have worked hard to cultivate trusted relationships with customers, are in a terrific position to capitalize on the need for information filters, and in so doing to strengthen/expand their business reach.

So. from the wreckage of the publishing industry will emerge a new landscape for "publishing", and where once only a few powerful individuals like Rupert Murdoch held sway, the future will be likely be more democratic...and much more personal.

*Image: Copyright Wired Magazine, November 2009

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November 4, 2009

Maybe They Were On To Something

I am sitting the lobby bar of the Marriott Marquis in downtown San Francisco and working at my computer. This behavior nominally subscribes to the logic of some uber-consultants in social media...except I am doing this by necessity not choice (I could not check in because the reservations were not in my name!)

Nonetheless, I am happily engaging with real customers in real settings. I can hear the talk around me. I see all the people tapping on their computers, yet we are interspersed with people who are here for social reasons...to have a drink with friends/colleagues or to watch the World Series game in a public venue. I can talk with people in between my work, about business or personal topics.

This environment is strangely energizing. Coming from my workaholic, baby boomer ethic upbringing I feel oddly "bad" about working in the "bar". But, watching the flow of people, the small gatherings, the ebb-and-flow of activity, is actually educational.

As a B2B marketer whose roots are in the theory and practice of "proper" marketing, the realities of a socially-driven marketing world are being driven home every day. Working in the bowels (or towers) of major corporations, it is easy to forget that our constituents are social beings who not only carry our brand message, but who help define it. The people around me are talking about financial topics (one table), about using social media like Facebook in marketing (no joke...one table), about sales, and yes even about the game. These are smart, connected, intellectual people who are likely the target for many of our pitches. They are also social beings who interact and operate as humans, not as "targets" or "prospects."

I am not suggesting you spend a lot of evenings tapping at a computer in the lobby bars of major hotels in large cities. But, if you are an enterprise marketer, I encourage you to try this exercise out once in a while - even in smaller venues in your own neighborhood. Listen to what you hear, and watch the flow. Become your own personal ethnographer. It may give you a new perspective on how to manage your day job.

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