The Content Strategist
Last Friday, Wendy's and Boyz II Men paired up to create a ballad about the chain’s limited edition pretzel bun. Not gonna lie, it's been stuck in my head for the entire day. I'm a sucker for crooners in suits.
While in our own minds, we content marketers are incredible superheroes able to create content faster than a speeding bullet, the truth is: we're only mortal. There's always going to be something that gets in our way. More often than not, it's us.
Late last week, Upworthy updated the world on their sponsored content efforts, and you'll probably never believe what they revealed: Their native advertising efforts are doing really, really well.
"The idea of writing a press release—for me—feels like the worst thing imaginable. I'd rather be able to tell an interesting story." Those are the words of Ben Tamblyn, Manager of Storytelling at Microsoft and the man behind Microsoft Stories, one of the most impressive long-form brand storytelling projects we've seen. At last week's Contently Summit, Tamblyn joined Carrie Parker, VP of Content Innovation at American Express, to discuss how to create truly engaging brand stories and measuring their impact.
The tenacious sketch comedy duo, Key & Peele, builds a relationship with their audience so their promos are memorable and appealing rather than eye-rolling. And maybe if we all take a page from their book, we won't have to keep inventing ways to avoid ads anymore.
I’ve learned that great editors work the sidelines to make writers into stars. Or at least, that's what they used to do. The crucial relationship between editors and writers doesn’t have to change. But as with all aspects of the media business, an editor’s role has to evolve in order to survive.
There may have been some things you missed over Memorial Day Weekend: the chance to partake in three days of debauchery on Fire Island; that Instagram of your boss doing tequila shots on the boardwalk at 11 AM that he smartly deleted the next day; and the latest and greatest from the wild world of content marketing.
Don't be self-promotional. Content strategists have been pleading those words to brands for the past decade, but many brands still remain skeptical. But now, there's a study to back up that simple but crucial advice.
BuzzFeed, The Onion, The Atlantic, and more explain how they define "sponsored content."
