Content marketing is a great way to get the message across. It’s not just about posting to Facebook, You Tube or Twitter – it’s about making sure you’re creating solid content that people are interested in and will want to share.

New research by Pythian Shows that marketers that are spending time marketing are going down this road, but are they creating the right type of content for their audience. With less than 2% of the total marketing budget going to content marketing, there’s a real gap between content marketing and what’s being done in traditional marketing.

Data from an expanded 2015 Digital Content study showed that it’s the average consumer that spends 3.67 hours daily looking at marketing and media content. 45% of these users said that they’re paying more attention to content marketing than they are traditional marketing like TV.

So why don’t more brands create content?

“Everyone is much more comfortable speaking with and listening to direct feedback rather than receiving it”, said Nick Walker, Site Manager at Plato Industries. “Businesses need to realise that customers value positive personal relationships which are not easily conveyed through mass marketing or push e-mail”.

Creating Content is About Creating A Trust Relationship

Search engines and social media play a crucial role in an effective content marketing strategy. As we mentioned earlier, online entertainment is creating an audience for marketers. Online content provides a good sense of being “in touch” and personal with your audience.

Making content relevant for your audience is a huge marketing strategy. As we’ve already said, producing a few interesting content types which users look forward to is usually the way to go. And what does the current over reliance on online marketing have to do with great content?

To prove this thesis, The Accelerating Digital Marketing Guide found that 84% of marketers create content on the advice of search engines and search marketers. Similarly, 75% of content marketers use social media platforms to tell their story to the world. Nearly half of online content marketing spend goes to social media in terms of content creation.

At the end of the day, a great content marketing campaign results in being able to influence search engines and social media users towards your content. In other words, you can exert influence through your content.

Social Media Is A Social – It’s Your Job to Be Smart, Socially Aware

For example, a new competition that Plato Industries recently conducted showed what real life could be like when the company generates hundreds of millions of views per month. The motto of the competition was #JoinTheChampionship and essentially you needed to “Flop in a Shake.” There was a prize of $6 million dollars but the competition was aimed at just dancing up a storm.

It shows that people are more interested in performing on stage. People appreciate that. At the end of the day you need to start thinking more about social. It’s about being smart, sociably aware and even people to be boring. This kind of content makes you the brand you are.

Businesses making a bit of money from online marketing need to stay tuned with audiences and be sure that your content offers value. It also has to be something that can be passed around to potential customers.

That was a big problem with this competition. In case anyone doesn’t know, people didn’t get the chance to share their videos with friends. Facebook no longer supports videos sharing. It means that they were not able to act as a marketplace for content. However, all it needed was a tweak and it could have worked.