As promised, we’re delving into the first law of content from our “Five New Laws of Content” white paper today. The first and, for many organizations, the most challenging law, is the Law of Consumption.
The Law of Consumption can be summarized as follows:
As the rate of content consumption increases, the value of fresh content increases.
Let’s think about this for a minute. Do you read any blogs or other content-rich media on a daily basis? If so, which blogs/media do you check in with most frequently? If you’re anything like me, you’re drawn most to the places with the most up-to-the-minute, regularly updated content.
Today, there is more information to read, watch, analyze and share than ever before. Yet, for many, simply consuming these vast tides of information is not enough. We now place a very high premium on the currency of information.
Experience tells us that audience engagement increases as the rate of new, timely content increases. Even content that is written or produced at length (e.g., white papers, collateral, videos) is not immune to the effects of this phenomenon. While people will always appreciate the effort that goes into this “slow content,” they will increasingly seek out the latest — even if it sometimes comes at the expense of the greatest.
As the white paper explains, this may have to do with our physical makeup, and our brain’s tendency to become hardwired to desire more fresh content as it becomes more available.
So why does this law present a significant challenge for content producers? As anyone who has managed a content marketing program knows, good content takes creativity, resources and a significant amount of time to produce. The law of consumption indicates that content is perishable. The content you produce yesterday may be old news today.
In a recent study by the Content Marketing Institute and Marketing Profs, 20% of those polled found that producing enough content was their biggest challenge. This percentage is likely to get larger as the rate of content churn increases.
How will you manage the increasing need to produce more content, more frequently?
Check back next week to learn more as we introduce another challenge for content producers and marketers: The Law of Complexity.
Image via The Storage Effect.
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