The content wasteland
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Someone I know recently told me they never read email newsletters but also never unsubscribe out of fear of upsetting the sender. It got me thinking because I know this person does indeed get my monthly mailer. Clearly they don't read it, and I know they haven't unsubscribed either. It took me down a bit of a rabbit hole investigating what the trend is – it's quite stark when you explore actual engagement behaviour. People have simply stopped reading, and listening. The golden era of content is over. There was a time when we all looked at those producing and posting stuff as brave opinion leaders. No longer. The cat is out of the bag. We now know that most people have very little to say. And those that do have something useful to say are on repeat - they say the same thing in a slightly different way over and over. And AI has commoditised production, leading to podcasts and posts that are too long, and videos that are fake and views that are packaged to sound like every other opinion. I take my content seriously because I, unlike those of you who sit behind the cover of an established brand, have to promote myself. And let me tell you, it's a wasteland out there. LinkedIn engagement has completely tanked. Celebrity content producers suddenly get pedestrian engagement. Twitter/X has mostly emptied of interesting views. Instagram is now AI reels. Even websites are all starting to look the same. Where does this leave us? Firstly, we should start unfollowing, instead of merely ghosting. Unfollow everyone, and everything that you don't listen to. Including this monthly mailer, if that's the case. Yesterday I deleted all the food videos I saved on YouTube because I've come to realise I'll never actually watch them (or cook them). It is time to audit our attention, and take action. Secondly, when you do decide to stick around, it's time to re-engage. We need to actively signal what matters again, because therein lies the true engagement that encourages useful content. The era of authenticity is upon us – in what we consume, what we produce, how we act and in how we build brands. B |
Smoke Signals
Stong views on branding, marketing and business growth.
Soon, you’ll be able to automate all of your marketing, and the burden will be off your shoulders. You can already see this happening - try briefing your preferred AI tool to do the following: Market research: Describe your typical customer to your AI, and then ask it some questions about how it would think and behave. It will answer them almost exactly like a real customer - it’s called synthetic research. Marketing plans: Tell it who your target market is, describe your marketing objectives...
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