10 Reasons Why You Should Never Say “CONTENT IS KING” Ever, Ever Again!

Hands up if you’ve ever said… “Content is King”?

Keep your hands up if you actually know what you mean when you say…

“Content is King”?

‘CONTENT IS KING'

OF WHAT EXACTLY?

The obvious vagaries of this phrase are enough to never use it again. Content is king of…?? The Internet? Marketing? Digital communications? Direct marketing? Everything?

1.

‘CONTENT IS KING’

IS A DEFENCE MECHANISM

Why do we feel the need to defend content when it is the lifeblood of marketing and communications? Think about the Internet for a moment. Without content, the web is just a hollow shell – a tangled mess of code that means nothing to anyone

(except coders). Content is what makes marketing and communications valuable, relevant and meaningful.

So let’s stop trying to justify the importance of content.

2.

‘CONTENT IS KING’

BUT WHAT IS ‘CONTENT’?

The phrase ‘Content is King’ drips off your tongue like honey. But what do you mean when you say it? Content means one thing to you and another to me. It’s a Facebook post, a tweet, a TV show, a radio jingle, a Tumblr GIF, a recipe, an instruction manual,

an annual report, the time on a smartphone, the temperature on a weather app, a BUY NOW button, a letter to the editor and on and on.

3.

STILL NOT CONVINCED?

Fine. I’ve got 7 more good reasons. Let’s keep going… I’m enjoying this!

‘CONTENT IS KING’

COMPARED TO…?

What exactly are you comparing Content to when you say content is ‘King’? Are you saying content is more important than information architecture (IA) or user experience (UX) or interface design (ID) or front end development

(FED) or user testing (UT) or conversion or channel selection or media planning or contextual placement or creative?

If your answer to this question doesn’t roll off your tongue as quickly and effortlessly as “Content is King”… then we might have a problem.

4.

IF ‘CONTENT IS KING’

THEN BLAH BLAH BLAH IS QUEEN

SOMEBODY PUT ME OUT OF MY MISERY! See what happens when you start making silly claims like ‘Content is King’? People start getting their knickers in a knot and defending their own territory.

If Content is King then Context is Queen. Seriously? That is such a flawed proposition. You can’t even separate the two if we’re talking about effective content marketing. Evidence A: TV commercial doesn’t work so well in a newspaper. Can we move on?

Content does not live in a vacuum. It is interdependent on a host of other factors to make it work.

5.

‘CONTENT IS KING’

CONTENT IS VIABLE

In the early years of the digital revolution, Technology was the golden child. It was the enabler. It was the driving force of the Internet. But once the Internet was built, people started realising that the stuff you put in it was what mattered. Hence ‘CIK”.

These days, any digital agency worth its salt is planning content at the experience design stage. It’s being hardwired into the things we build like apps and sites and even devices. So if you’ve been pushing the barrow for content, props to you, but don’t say ‘Content is King’ anymore. It just tells people that you

still actually don’t believe content is a valuable, viable, invincible part of what we do these days.

6.

‘CONTENT IS KING’

AND YOU’RE THE JOKER

In 1977, Ken Olsen said “There is no reason why anyone would want a computer in their home.” At the time it seemed like a pretty insightful, reasonable thing to say. These days, we laugh at the ridiculousness of Ken’s prophetic words. Don’t make the same mistake.

Be thoughtful about technology, content, digital progress and innovation. Saying stuff like ‘Content is King’ is not only conversation spam, it’s terribly thoughtless and unoriginal. Don’t be a joker. Be ace.

7.

I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU’RE STILL HERE.

Well, I’ve got three more chances of converting you. If these don’t work, I’m afraid there’s nothing else I can do to help rid you of this curse. Unless you’re up for hypnotherapy?

‘CONTENT IS KING’

NO. CONTENT IS CONSTANT

Whatever ‘Content’ means to you, I’m prepared to put $100 on the fact that it is going to be around for a very, very long time. It will continue being planned, created, curated, aggregated, marketed, syndicated, distributed, analysed, monetised, read,

watched, listened to, commented on, shared, liked, uploaded, downloaded, mashed-up, remixed, GIF’d and gifted long after you and I go to iHeaven.

So by all means, waste your precious time regurgitating silly sayings like ‘Content is King’ if you must, but in the meantime, I’m going to go do something more valuable… like fluff my pillows.

8.

‘CONTENT IS KING’

…IS POLISHING A TURD

This presentation gets a little brash towards the end. But there’s a good reason for that… YOU’RE STILL NOT CONVINCED!! If you’re working in an agency, or any role that develops digital or traditional content solutions for clients, don’t waste your time or theirs by flirting around with the notion that content is king. Be smarter. Be more strategic. Clients might use that phrase.

Your colleagues might use it. You might have a slide in your powerpoint deck that has it plastered over the page in IMPACT font – just to reinforce it a tad more.

Stop. It is meaningless. Challenge it. Move on. We know content is important – show them why and how.

9.

OKAY, HERE’S THE LAST REASON. THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH…

‘CONTENT IS KING’

…IS SIMPLY WRONG

It’s as simple as this… There is no value in content if there is no AUDIENCE to consume.

There is no point in creating content if there is no platform to host it. There is no meaning in content if the message is wrong, or irrelevant, or misunderstood.

There is no point distributing content if it is not placed in the right environment. There is no return on the investment in content if it is not planned.

There is in fact only one truth…

10.

CONTENT IS COMPLEX.

But please, do not quote that. The last thing we need is another silly phrase being bandied about.

IMAGES IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE http://www.flickr.com/photos/chriscrussell/8680091413/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/evarinaldiphotography/8540647831/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/haagsuitburo/2627515964/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/lwr/101651382/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/hugo90/6846014684/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/jhf/3505776764/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/alltheaces/134903626/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/hmvh/96534917/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicklockey/8094821257/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/moogan/5083736177/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/94725359@N06/12815032923/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/thebusybrain/2492945625/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/33370236@N06/3908079582/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/fuschia_foot/7012564229/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/davepattern/2558464492/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimwall/5085754440/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/davepattern/2558464492/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/evill1/3106097873/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/dippy_duck/5528956694/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/wmjas/2144288152/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/filterforge/9040670330/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomwachtel/12717114374/ THANKS FRIENDS!