Content Marketing Catchup: 10 Charts Changing Content Marketing, IKEA’s Content Empire, and More Must-Reads

Here’s what you missed while trying in vain to think of clever #BreakTheInternet tweets…

Why Clickbait Is Dangerous for Brands

For content marketers trying to boost their numbers, adopting clickbait tactics can be awfully tempting. Herbert Lui explains why that can be a bit of a siren song:

There are signs that a revolt against clickbait may be coming. Earlier this fall, Facebook gave one of the clearest definitions of clickbait in a post explaining how they were cracking down on the practice: “‘Clickbait’ is when a publisher posts a link with a headline that encourages people to click to see more, without telling them much information about what they will see.”

While Facebook isn’t going to read every headline and penalize brands accordingly, they are going to penalize links that fail to hold user attention, explaining: “If [users] click through to a link and then come straight back to Facebook, it suggests that they didn’t find something that they wanted.”

This is the kind of content that’s counterproductive for brand publishers to post. After all, the objective of brand publishing isn’t to get empty clicks—it’s to build relationships with people. But how can brands strike the balance between creating shareable, compelling content and manipulating readers for clicks? Read it.

Totino’s Pizza Rolls Launches the Trippiest Content Marketing Campaign We’ve Ever Seen

We always talk about knowing your audience, and boy, does Totino’s know their audience. Without a doubt, Totino’s Pizza Rolls’ latest effort is the most whacked-out, college-student-focused campaign I’ve ever seen. Our resident college-aged contributor, Jillian Richardson, breaks it down:

Totino’s challenged Tim and Eric to use pizza rolls in as many ways as possible. What the two did with the prompt is trippy, to say the least. The screenshot below—sorry for the nightmares—is enough to give you the essence of the ad, but it’s worth watching the whole thing. It’s psychedelic and weird. It makes you squirm. And for some reason, you’ll want to share it with all of your friends—at least if you’re a college student like me. Read it.

10 Charts That Are Changing Content Marketing

One of our most popular posts of the past year was “10 Charts That Are Changing the Way We Measure Content.” Now, Sam Petulla is back with another edition.

Our first charts piece focused on the basics of measurement—getting a feel for sharing, time on page, and the importance of promotion—but in this post, we’re taking charts on some new topics and going a bit deeper, exploring everything from sponsored content trust to the evolution to mobile. Enjoy. Read it.

How IKEA Became Kings of Content Marketing

Our latest content marketing case study lands us in the plentiful land of Swedish furniture:

John Lennon may have said the Beatles were more popular than Jesus… But what about IKEA? The Swedish “Life Improvement Store” prints over 200 million copies of its catalog each year—double the amount of Bibles printed in the same time frame.

While IKEA’s print offering is its most enduring piece of content marketing, it only scratches the surface of the brand’s exemplary content marketing efforts, which are many and varied and all revolve around one common mission: to improve people’s everyday lives. Read it.

These Brands Hijacked the Kim Kardashian #BreakTheInternet Trend Without Looking Like an Ass

Because those previous four pieces were pretty heavy, and you need some lighter fare. Happy weekend, you content marketing ninja.