Have We Created a Content Marketing Bubble?

Remember playing with bubbles as a child?

The delight we would take in watching them fly into the sky and our squeals of laughter as they would pop and disappear in our hands?

Over the past decade, or so, we’ve seen bubbles of a different sort; the housing bubble, the dot.com bubble, the stock market bubble. And it’s not as much fun when these bubbles burst.

Enter the Content Marketing Bubble.  With so much focus being put on content recently have we in fact created a content bubble?

Smashing Magazine had posted a question in Quora awhile back asking, “When and how will the content marketing bubble burst?” While most stated that content marketing is here to stay and will only continue to increase and grow, I’m remaining skeptical.

Yes, marketers will always produce content. There will always be an audience for blogs, articles, podcasts, webinars and such offering valuable insights, subject matter expertise and “how-to” guides.  My issue isn’t with the marketing of content. It isn’t with content itself. It’s with the intent behind the content.

"Content marketing is the marketing and business process for creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action." 

Joe Pulizzi, Content Marketing Institute

Content Marketing should be, at its core, about customers. It should be about providing “relevant” and “valuable” insights. It should be about helping the reader solve a problem.

But two things have happened that are driving a fundamental shift in the currency of content.

1) Search Engines Want Content

As I discussed in a previous post, Google has long stated that it wants fresh, quality content. SEO and content now go hand-in-hand. So if you are looking to develop a strategy for increasing your rankings in SERPs – and let’s face it many marketers are – you’re going to be investing in content marketing.

Determining fresh content is easy. It’s new. And new is only new for so long. So we know that we need to be producing new, “fresh” content on a regular basis. But how can search engine robots determine quality? After all, isn’t quality subjective based on the reader?

Enter the mysteries of Google algorithms. 

What we do know is that Google uses over 200 ranking signals in determining rankings for organic search. Backlinko keeps a running tab of these signals in its Google’s 200 Ranking Factors: The Complete List.  What we don’t really know is what factors are used in determining quality.  

Links are obvious. Bounce rates, time on site? Most likely. What about social signals?

I’ve been doing quite a bit of digging to see if I could find a definitive answer on how social signals affect SERPs. I found a lot of discussion. Some controversy. But no definitive word. So if anyone has any insight, please share in the comments below!

Let’s face it though. It’s hard to believe that the number of likes, tweets, shares and comments doesn’t play a part – even if indirectly – in determining quality. I mean, if people are sharing it, it must be good. Right?

2) Content Saturation

Read any piece a marketing advice, and chances are it will tell you that in order for your marketing mix to be successful, it must include content marketing.

Here’s the thing though: 27 million pieces of content are shared every day. (AOL/Nielsen, 2013)

Every day!

And that was in 2013. Can you imagine what it is today?

That’s a lot of content to digest. It’s a lot of content to produce. And it is – as many marketers know – a lot of content to compete against. Which leads me to believe that those respondents to the Smashing Magazine’s Quora question might be right, at least for now. Content creation will continue to accelerate.

So why does all of this matter? What fundamental shift has been happening?

The problem arising from this content saturation is that continually producing large volumes of articles and adequately promoting them often comes at the cost of quality.

It becomes a numbers game.

Instead of focusing on the content and how it can benefit our customers and community, many marketers have been getting caught up in how to quickly produce more content, get it to rank in SERPs, and get more shares,likes, and comments. It becomes about the social signals rather than about what is relevant and valuable to the customer.

It stands to reason that at some point, more and more businesses will start seeing diminishing returns. The investment needed to succeed will become too great.

Yes, Content Marketing is here to stay. But as one commenter in the Quora thread put it, “Content creation will continue to accelerate-- but it will become less effective for the many and super-effective for an extremely creative few.”

So are we in the midst of a Content Marketing Bubble? I guess only time will tell.

For now, I’ll continue to produce content. And I’ll do my best at marketing that content. But, I'm going to focus on the quality - rather than the quantity - of that content.

What do you think? Are we heading for a bursting - or deflating - of the Content Marketing Bubble?

Jacqui Genow is a Small Business Marketing Consultant helping business owners and solopreneurs take the guesswork out of marketing by providing clarity and direction ~ a roadmap ~ to reaching their marketing goals.

If you are looking for strategic marketing solutions and expert guidance tailored to the unique needs of your business, get in touch.

Follow me on Twitter: @jgenow