Case study

Can advertising enrich content? Trends publishers must be paying attention to[Online] Available at: www.memeburn.co.za Publishers exist to deliver quality content to their audience.

The content, first and foremost, must deliver a rewarding experience. Good content is current, trustworthy, and accessible.

Can advertising enhance content? In a word, “No”. A strong viewpoint for me, as a leader of an advertising driven business. Though, content has to live happily alongside advertising as, for most publishers, advertising foots the bills.

Good news is that good content enriches advertising. Content drives so much of our world: nearly half of all social media posts refer to external content, a tweet is four times more likely to be re-tweeted if it contains a link to content.

Looking at leading publishers, you’ll find less advertising, more carefully placed. More ads don’t equate to more revenue.

Within my company, we frequently observe that good publishers make little revenue from their home page: content is good so users engage with it, read it, delving into individual articles. Advertising performs better within the deeper layer of content–at the article itself. Poor publishers make great revenue from their homepage as visitors simply don’t want to read it. The ads are more interesting than content.

While I believe that advertising does not enrich content, it could enrich content consumption experience. Many publishers have grasped opportunity between advertising and content. For instance, tech site Mashable knows they would be featuring next iPhone. So why not support content with an ad which tells readers where they could get it andwhat data bundles are available?

Content is the story and good advertisers understand that act of selling is also the story: we do not sell product in Chapter One, we introduce it, develop awareness and trust, providing information and differentiation, and finaaly a sale is made.

Leading brands are aligning selling process with content, taking potential customer along the journey which sees content informing the customer, the advertisement supporting this, and at the very end of the journey, if successful, sale is made.

problem1) Read the case study and answer the following problems.

1.1) Do you agree that good content enriches advertising?

1.2) Describe how advertising could detract from content.