CLEVELAND, Ohio – Once upon a time, celebrities exuded magazine perfection. Companies used ads to sell products. And content was defined as stuff inside something else.
Now, content marketing is multi-billion-dollar growth industry, and brands are aiming to create the best emails, videos, social media campaigns and more to build relationships with an audience that may eventually buy their products.
“It’s still the wild west. Nobody has the answers,” Kaaren Whitney-Vernon, senior vice president of branded entertainment at Shaftesbury, a Canadian production company that partnered with Nokia to create a Netflix documentary series called futurithmic.
Whitney-Vernon and Nokia head of campaign strategy Heather Ritchie gave a Wednesday session at Content Marketing World, which draws 4,000 smartly casual marketers to the buzzy, bright Huntington Cleveland Convention Center.
Attendees there proudly speak geek: “Integrated marketing” and “digital content agency,” “link juice” and “search engine optimization” and “functionality.”
It’s incredibly collaborative, said Zeina Khodr, who traveled from Sydney, Australia, for her third consecutive year. “I enjoy the different screens, the tools to use,” Khodr said.
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The landscape can change as quickly as social media algorithms. Take celebrities, for example.
In “Keeping Up with the Goop: Why Celebrity Lifestyle Brands Kill It and How You Can Do,” Ahava Leibtag of Aha Media Group translated what companies could learn from celebrities.
Princess Diana changed the perfection game, winning over the world by confessing her unhappiness.
“Vulnerability was the currency,” Leibtag said.
Then came the technology paradigm shift. Anyone with Internet access could write about celebrities. And celebrities could communicate directly with their fans.
On social media, they invite their audience behind the scenes. They cross-promote their content, and get news sites to write stories. And they give their audience what they ask for.
Companies can do the same, by posting videos showing how a product is made or telling the story of how a product has changed someone’s life.
The goal of Content Marketing World is to help marketers make amazing content.
“We all need to up our game if we want to connect and be heard,” said Ritchie.
Added Whitney-Vernon: “Everybody’s benefitting, including the audience.”
A Content Marketing World attendee takes a picture of one of the illustrations of a keynote speech.