I hate the phrase ‘content is king.’ Content isn’t king. Content is as common as dirt, and there’s far too much of it about. If you really think the world is waiting for your brand to pump more ‘visual creativity’ into the space, you are deluded.
We want to see pictures, stories and opinions from friends, family and independent, likeminded strangers. The last thing we need is more white noise from brands who make the following statements in their weekly content meetings:
“Let’s make sure we push all that out in social too.”
“Tell the intern what you’re doing so she can put it on Facebook.”
“We need to be relevant. We should definitely do a Wimbledon/summer festivals/Egyptian riots themed quiz.”
“But people can never get enough pictures of cats/food/Cara Delevingne.”
However. There is a place for brand-created content in social, as long as every single piece is designed to serve a purpose and provoke a reaction. We’re not talking retweets or likes. We’re talking about three simple categories: