Homerun Nievera, a digital evangelist and CEO/Group Publisher of Mediablast Digital Corp., declared, “Content is still King!”
Nievera presented the new building blocks of social media marketing campaigns in the form of content strategies during the Social Media Marketing Level-up Seminar held recently at the Hotel Jen in Manila. In the sell-out audience of entrepreneurs and marketers, Nievera emphasized that, “no social media campaign will be successful without the right compelling content.”
Briefing them on studies that stress the need for a strategic look into content marketing, Nievera said that the more than 40 million Internet users in the Philippines are now after companies’ authentic selling propositions (or ASP) versus the past marketers’ principle of the USP (unique selling proposition). He said that the customers of today are more choosy in their preference especially with the millennials — who command more than 70 percent of potential buyers — are seeking recommendations and testimonials from their peers more than that of what advertisements say.
Thus, Nievera, says, “Marketers have to be sensitive with the content that they present to their target audience. Gone are the days when a 30-second TV ad was enough to get them to buy. Today, a 6-second seemingly crude Vine ad works wonders.” He referred to the trend in the US where big retail chains like Lowe’s have shifted to 6-seconder video ads online and succeeded in getting more loyal customers.
Content marketing, Nievera says, is “getting the customers to learn from you and eventually buy from you over and over again.” He said that this is now a far cry from what traditional marketers have been practicing for decades. Using digital content marketing tools such as blog posts, articles, videos, and infographics are creating more impact than simply putting out banner ads. Nievera said that, “banner ads are ok as long as you complement them with compelling learning content.”
Nievera, a certified digital and distance educator, is going around the Philippines to educate Filipino entrepreneurs and marketers about the value of content marketing. He has been pushing its formal adoption in digital marketing courses and plans to soon roll out an online course on content marketing through his digital learning platform Edusentro.com.
Author: Jim Moriones
