Why You Can’t Put a Price on Content
Did you know that, on average, 27 million pieces of content are shared daily, and that number is projected to increase? 27 million is a colossal number. The majority of users who see and share this content use mobile social media apps. Mobile usage is expected to increase by 23 percent this year alone. Industry leaders, such as Moz, are rightfully preaching the importance of investing in social media advertising to spread our content reach. We all get it. We all agree with it. So why do we still label content as a “cost” instead of an “investment”?
Cost vs. Investment: What’s The Diff?
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, “cost is the price of something” . When we use the term in business there is usually a monetary value attached. On the other hand, “investment” is the spending of money with the expectation of a profitable return. Investments are more favorable than costs because they hold the potential of returning more than we spend, thus increasing our profit margins.
Investments are like social etiquette, they are largely a matter of perspective. For example, prior to 2010 the majority of small business owners likely saw social media advertising as a cost. It wasn’t strongly relative to search engine optimization. Users were addicted, but they weren’t all streaming their news feeds via mobile applications. Social media advertising was just like any other type of advertising, the cost required to reach an audience and (hopefully) generate leads. If advertising reaped effective results, small business owners labeled it as an investment; if not, it was simply a cost.
Online Content: Cost or Investment?
It’s 2014. Social media advertising is big business because Google uses social media in rankings! The majority of your audience is glued to their mobile device(s), and they get their “fix” on an almost minute-to-minute basis. With 27 million pieces of content being shared every single day, shouldn’t smart businesses owners be reevaluating the label they’ve assigned to content?
If you have previously thought of content as a cost, it’s time to step into the 21st century. Content is not cost. It’s an investment. And it is PRICELESS in today’s SEO game. But this does not mean that some nasty misconceptions about buying content don’t exist.
The Dreadful Dollar Days Are Done
Rewind back to 2010 again, and you will find yourself smack in the middle of the dollar days of online content. I shudder to relive these days. You see, around 2010 the popular means of winning the SEO game was to order up content overflowing with keywords. The practice is commonly referred to as keyword stuffing; however, in hindsight, it was more akin to ordering that fast food burger from the local greasy spoon that hits your lap overflowing with excess grease. Nasty! That’s what readers thought of keyword stuffing, but to businesses, it was the cost of success.
You’re a smart businessperson. What is your primary goal in the Cost vs. Gain Game? Is it not to reduce costs and increase gains? How do you do it? You decrease and/or eliminate costs. THIS is where the dollar days came from, from the businesses who wanted greasy content at dollar menu prices. And it made sense! They didn’t expect quality. They expected the cheapest possible “content” stuffed with keywords to drive their SEO. End of story.
Readers and writers the globe over are elated that the dollar days are done. Fast food content is out. Gourmet content is in.
Preparing For Global Exposure
The nature of the Internet has made us all global enterprises. You never know who will visit your website. Launching a website isn’t like opening a storefront that’s only seen by passersby and noted on a local community level. Search engines don’t discriminate by country or nationality. Therefore, the content you publish—your daily share of those 27 million pieces at the world’s fingertips—has to be ready to handle global exposure. As a result, online content is absolutely priceless. Ask yourself:
- Is your content ready for international exposure?
- Does it take into consideration other cultures?
- Even within the continental U.S. we market to a bilingual audience, does your online content do the same?
- Is any of your content translated into a non-English language?
- If you’re a non-English company, is your content ready for an English speaking and reading audience?
Investing In Your Future
Online advertising and marketing are the way of the future. They have been since the invention of the Internet. The backbone of the Internet may be computer code and a level of technical knowledge that most of cannot hope to fully grasp, but the backbone your clients and potential customers see is composed of your content. Isn’t it time to stop looking at content as a cost and instead see it for the investment that it truly is?