It seems a long time ago when Bill Gates first declared those four famous syllables: “Content is King.” Indeed, it was a long time ago. The man whose name will be synonymous with technology for centuries to come actually uttered those words back in 1996, and so much has changed in the 24 years we’ve lived through since. 

However, he was, and is, right – not to mention visionary. Content is King was actually the title of a now-famous essay that Gates published on Microsoft’s 1996 website. “Content is where I expect much of the real money will be made on the Internet, just as it was in broadcasting,” said Gates – and that’s exactly where we are right now, with a variety of content to get to grips with as we navigate modern content marketing.

Live & Kicking Content

Gates surely didn’t envisage how prominent video would be in our lives right now, but it’s now synonymous with content across multiple platforms. From live webinars and live streaming, to educational and informational vlogs, to influencer marketing – if you haven’t got into it yet, don’t get left behind. 

To get started, all you need is a smartphone, which already comes loaded with editing software. When it comes to influencer marketing, Socially Powerful are a global influencer marketing agency who pair businesses with the ideal influencers for their brand.

Reactive Content

Somewhere between Gates’ essay and the ‘right here, right now’, there was a time when a content calendar would suffice, and you could plan everything you publish ahead of time. 

Unfortunately, though, time being time, it doesn’t care what you’ve got in the pipeline, and will throw up plenty of new things you need to photograph, film and write about. However, reactive content does allow you to remain on the frontline of events and showcase your status as a seriously ‘on the pulse’ brand that never misses a trick.

User-Generated Content

Since the dawn of advertising, creative directors, artists and copywriters have tried to find the ideal spokespeople for their brands or constructed what they believe to be the ideal ‘every-person’ to sell their products. Now, that’s actually easier than ever, via the format of user-generated content.

Working in a similar way to influencer marketing, user-generated content involves a real person, using a real product, but reviewing it or showcasing it completely independently. With consumers around 2.4 times more likely to see this form of content as ‘authentic’ than anything brand-created, this is the kind of content-driven testimonial you can’t afford to miss.

Data-Driven Content

With greater technology comes greater complexity – or, at least, this is how it will initially seem when you first delve into the data behind your content marketing efforts. However, once you’ve got your head around where to find the data and what it is telling you, using it to improve future content marketing campaigns becomes more straightforward with practice. By looking at what worked particularly well in your most successful campaigns in terms of who reacted and when, you can establish a why. You can then use this to drive the rest of the content you create or, on your behalf, your users, influencers or any of the other kings of content create here in 2020.

(With thanks to Bill Gates. Who was certainly on to something. Or had the data to back up his claim. Or… was the ultimate influencer in content marketing history!)