Content Marketing World has convinced me that big data will change the way content is written. Fortunately for ASJA members who are flexible, there is still plenty of work available.
Being someone who pivots between traditional journalism and customized content, I’m feeling a need for balance. Having just returned from CMW, I witnessed both a dire need for writers specializing in tech—congratulations to tech writers here—and an astonishing realization that the future is now. There are digital companies clearly trying to replace the creative process of writing. And they have analytics and experts presenting on panels that will convince larger corporations (those who can afford their services), that there is absolutely no need for creativity in the writing of their brands’ stories.
One vendor on the trade show floor spoke with me enthusiastically about a platform that takes a company’s content and runs it through a system to give it a consistent voice, tone, and message. When it comes to creating branded content from a CEO’s point of view, perhaps this seems like a solution. The writer inside of me red-flagged it as a problem.
My writer spirit was already dampened by the time I walked into a session called, “Moving Business by Moving People.” The company, Manifest, has apparently created a platform that studies dark data—social media and such—to gather key phrases used by a company’s target audience so that they can do “persona development” to create the customer journey. The speaker for Manifest claimed that when members of a target audience see their own key phrases in a marketing campaign, it moves the audience to buy products. Again, the presenter was quite enthused about its ability to go one step further than the old-school SEO.
As I walked out of the session, I looked around the conference at the 5,000 or so people attending. Many of them were young professionals in their first and second jobs. I worried that these people would never know the satisfaction of working in a creative industry where every word is not tied to big data, every phrase is not quantified in terms of products that can be sold, every sentence is not examined by data geeks and qualified—or disqualified—based on how well it matches the sentences they have proven are selling some products.
Is this the zombification of the written word? Does this mean that publications that deal purely in the creative word, that appreciate tone and voice, will become more valuable—or less valuable—in the future?
All ended well at CMW. I spoke with representatives from Contently, IZEA, MediaMobz (which is interested in expanding its writer based beyond its Hollywood origins), Scripted, and others who get the need to tell stories that rise above the clutter. A session by a gentleman who worked in marketing inside a large law firm and has spun off his own business convinced me that there is, indeed, plenty of content work available to independent writers who want small business clients.
The second point that was clear during CMW was that the word “influencer” is still very important. Two Dell content managers introduced themselves during a speakers’ welcome reception and explained to me, “Yes, we need writers. But we also need writers who are influencers.” We’re back to the questions of recent years: How many followers do you have on Twitter, how many friends on Facebook, how many links on LinkedIn? Do you Snapchat? Release videos on Instagram?
Yes, there were potential clients at CMW. I watched one ASJA member try to explain to two very interested tech clients that he was not taking new business. (He may be reconsidering at this point.) I watched another member enter a conversation with the Dell managers and I knew instantly that she had the insider lingo necessary to work with them.
The enthusiasm at Content Marketing World is an uneven match with the lack of enthusiasm for journalism and traditional publishing, these days. It seems that book publishers are more interested in influence than they are in your words. (Even The Elf on the Shelf had four marketers at CMW, by the way. I’m guessing they were there to learn about data to hit hard via digital during the upcoming holiday season, not to gather up writers who can create elfin content.)
As large, traditional magazine and newspaper companies also use big data to sharpen their own brands, better target their audiences, and convince advertisers to continue supporting their publications, how will savvy advertisers react? Will they continue to partner with journalistic companies or will they assume the role of publisher, leap over journalistic outlets, and aim directly toward their model customers?
Personally, I think the data folks haven’t figured in the human factor. Traditional media has been around for a long time. Time will tell, though. For now, it seems that we writers may be the winners. There continues to be an insatiable desire for good storytellers if you’re willing to be flexible in the assignments you take.