Beyond the feed: Content as cultural, social and capital currency

19.12.2023

The digital world is awash with content. Each day, 3.7 million videos are added to YouTube. 95 million photos are posted to Instagram. If you wanted to listen to all the music on Spotify, it would take almost 300 years.

But, paradoxically, this same set of circumstances also offers savvy brands more opportunities than ever to capture audiences' imagination – and favour.

As the traditional arbiters of culture – news organisations, TV networks, publishing houses – have watched their influence fragment into an endless number of algorithmically generated feeds, we've seen a correlated rise in brand-owned content that bypasses these gatekeepers to speak directly with consumers.

So, how can you make the most of this opportunity and capture attention for your brand?

What we talk about when we talk about content

Broadly, we can define content by intent rather than format. Podcasts, videos, long-form editorial writing, interviews, social media executions, print publications, games and more can all be considered content, but what unifies them is their ability to offer an audience something of value – whether to inform, educate, entertain or inspire.

Compelling content is tailored to meet the needs of a specific audience, rather than adopting the broadcast approach of traditional advertising. While a conventional campaign message might be expressed as 'Our product can solve issue X.' A content-led approach might position itself as 'The underlying reasons behind issue X and how to address them, including our product'.

In this approach, content reorients itself around the audience's needs – rather than a brand's desire to 'tell' the audience something. This bilateral relationship, where brands address an audience need in exchange for their attention (and, ultimately, a connection with your brand), is the fundamental differentiator.

This approach carries the additional benefit of being (relatively) far-reaching, as you’re fostering connections based on audience needs – inclusive of their frustrations, aspirations and desires – rather than basic demographic information.

This isn't to say one method is inherently more successful or appropriate than the other, but rather, both approaches have merit and can often be effectively used in tandem.

Content humanises your brand

Content allows you to be the author of your story. By its nature, content creates more time and space for people to engage with your brand.

You can think about it in terms of a YouTube video. While the ads that play before a video (traditional advertising) are restricted to a handful of seconds, the featured piece (content) can be virtually as long as you'd like (or as long as your audience remains engaged). This presents a powerful opportunity for brands who have something compelling to say.

More than this, though, it's increasingly something your audience expects. Recent research showed that 73 per cent of Australian consumers expect brands they like to provide them with relevant content.

Content is a powerful medium that lets you showcase what your brand is really about. It's a space to share your values, to demonstrate your personality and tone – and bring the abstract notion of brand to life in depth, colour and clarity.

For example, when working with Grocon to launch Home – Australia's first premium build-to-rent brand, we saw the opportunity to address the needs of an underrepresented audience with targeted content.

We knew from research that modern renters felt under-served and unappreciated. With 'Life at Home', a print and digital journal we created, we shaped our content to speak to their unique needs, interests and concerns.

With articles ranging from thought-leadership about the future of home ownership in Australia, to expert health and wellbeing advice and tips for styling houseplants from those in the know, the publication was used to both engage prospective tenants and to foster a sense of community in those who had already moved into Home.

'Life at Home' launch issue

Don't be a slave to the ‘rithm

With the plethora of platforms demanding attention from modern brands, it's easy to feel overwhelmed. Often, brands find themselves scrambling to create content for these channels due to a sense of obligation ('Should we start a TikTok account?').

This ‘more is more’ approach to publishing is a matter of having the cart before the horse (or the post before the platform), where you find yourself scrambling to create content without having a clear sense of why you're doing so in the first place.

Alternatively, with the help of a considered strategy, you can create a self-sustaining content ecosystem across multiple channels that ladder back to your primary goal or purpose.

With this approach, messages and intent are moulded to the platform that best suits them and delivered in the most appropriate way for the audience. For example, if you've spent time on both TikTok and YouTube – you quickly realise while they're both video platforms, the style of content and messaging that works on each varies widely.

Content meets your audience where they are

The average Australian spends more than 5.5 hours per day on their phone – with that number climbing higher still for millennials and generation Z. Publishing content in a digital environment simply gives you more opportunities to engage with your audience more often – regardless of where they are in the marketing funnel.

Whether through your social platforms, engaging with relevant influencers, via a newsletter database, or through organic search – a regular publishing cadence can create and drive brand engagement and conversion. Content can be equally effective as a discovery tool for those unaware of your brand as it can connect with – and ultimately convert – those who are.

Then, there are the additional SEO benefits to be gained from hosting editorial content on your website – and the less tangible (but highly desirable) outcomes of positioning yourself as an authority on a given topic or topics, which in turn drives trust and loyalty.

In the physical world, content executions like magazines and broadsheets offer additional opportunities for brand engagement. These projects lend themselves to being used as gifts with purchases or distribution through retail environments as physical manifestations of brand that can be shared and revisited.

What’s your story?

How do you put this into practise and start building out your content offering?

Ultimately, content is about telling stories – and compelling storytelling has been a desirable trait for as long as humans have been able to communicate.

If you can identify and communicate the most salient (and relevant) stories about your brand, you’ve got a powerful marketing tool waiting to be shared.