The evolution of social media and content marketing (during their to-date short lifespans) has been telling companies and brands something very specific for years:
Brands need to get social and think like publishers, not marketers.
At first, the reason for this shift in strategy came from the need to interact and engage with people by creating and sharing valuable, useful, and meaningful information. Those needs still hold true, but with a new Google algorithm change, there is another piece that has jumped up to the top of the priority list.
In Google’s new algorithm change, websites with fresh content will be ranked higher than sites with dated content. This has long been a part of the Google algorithm, but now, it’s taking on much greater significance and will affect 35% of Google search results.
What does this mean for brands?
Well, anyone who said blogs are dead over the last few years was very, very wrong. From fresh blog posts to Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn updates, brands need to spend time creating amazing, shareworthy content.
It’s not surprising that this day arrived. Paying for links can only get a company so far. Quality content that’s published frequently has long been the best strategy for building long-term, sustainable, organic growth. However, for many companies and brands, it took the mighty Google to make them realize short-term tactics only work in the short-term.
Remember, quality should always be your top priority when it comes to content marketing. By updating your content frequently, Google will reward you, too.
Time to get writing!
Image: Flickr
Susan Gunelius is the author of 10 marketing, social media, branding, copywriting, and technology books, and she is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She also owns Women on Business, an award-wining blog for business women. She is a featured columnist for Entrepreneur.com and Forbes.com, and her marketing-related articles have appeared on websites such as MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, TodayShow.com, and more.
She has over 20 years of experience in the marketing field having spent the first decade of her career directing marketing programs for some of the largest companies in the world, including divisions of AT&T and HSBC. Today, her clients include large and small companies around the world and household brands like Citigroup, Cox Communications, Intuit, and more. Susan is frequently interviewed about marketing and branding by television, radio, print, and online media organizations, and she speaks about these topics at events around the world. You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+.
