Content companies will soon have the potential to reach more consumers than ever before as it becomes easier, faster and cheaper to distribute content across an increasing numbers of channels. The challenge is how to capitalize on this access to new potential audiences while continuing to satisfy the needs of your existing content consumers.
Make the Business Case for New Content Ventures
Content companies will need to decide which audiences and channels they want to focus on in the future. This exercise will include a discussion of what makes your content unique and differentiates it from other content in the market, as well as how you plan to monetize that content. Make a business case for why you are targeting a particular new audience and channel, the specific types of content you aim to provide and how you’ll measure the success of this endeavor.
You’ll also want to investigate whether or not you need to invest in additional resources such as technology and staff to support your efforts. When looking at emerging technologies, you’ll be weighing the merits of augmented and virtual reality, machine learning and behavioral analytics.
Reassess Your Current Content Resources
At the same time, assess your current content creation and management processes. You may need to overhaul workflows to make them more efficient and rethink employee and partner roles and responsibilities. Your end goal is to have the capacity to rapidly scale up to produce more content, whether it’s brand-new or repurposed, for new audiences and channels.
If you expect to engage in a lot of content reuse, you’ll also need to ensure you have the right structures in place to support effective taxonomies, tagging and content management that is separate from content presentation. Your goal is to unlock the potential of every piece of content you produce to extend its longevity and its usefulness across channels, audiences and devices.
Serve Up Content Wherever Your Audience Gathers
At the end of this process, you should have a plan for how you’ll balance the needs of your existing content consumers with those of new audiences. Look at how other providers have already transitioned their content to fresh markets. The path to success often means starting small, experimenting and then gradually building out a loyal audience.
What's clear is simply distributing undifferentiated content to as many audiences and channels as possible isn’t the right way to build meaningful and profitable relationships with new consumers. When you try to create content that appeals to everyone, you typically end up with unfocused and dull material which interests almost no one.
Make sure the content you offer is an appropriate fit for each channel. For example, long-form content is unlikely to work well on a medium like Snapchat where content is only available for a limited period. Think about the devices people use to consume your content and investigate how you might use location-aware content on mobile phones.
