What is content shock?
omtlahore September 21, 2021In the digital market, companies create as much content as possible to attract and convince consumers. The boom in available publications each year accelerates the effects of content shock, a real thorn in the side of advertisers. Faced with consumer weariness, it becomes necessary to adopt a new strategy in the development and distribution of content.
Content shock
Content shock, literally “content shock”, is a theory put forward in 2014 by an international marketing expert, Mark Schaefer. Since the advent of the Internet, more and more publications are shared; but this explosion of digital content is not proportional to the number of consumers. The content shock, therefore, reflects an online information offer that is too dense to be properly understood. And for good reason, it doubles in size every 9 to 24 months!
However, Internet users are looking for content and scroll through the posts over increasing durations, the equivalent of half a day on average in total (according to a study carried out in 2020 by the company Nielsen). For a company, increasing its number of publications is the guarantee of better visibility, especially when they come from an Inbound Marketing strategy.
Content shock occurs when the consumer is saturated with information, and thus pays less attention to what he reads, hears, or sees on his connected media. The phenomenon is accentuated by the predominance of certain companies on the Web, very active in the sharing of publications. This pushes competitors to develop an even more abundant and sometimes less relevant content offer. As a result, consumers may feel overwhelmed by this wave of information and take less interest in it. As a result, the creation of multiple contents by companies ends up losing profitability.
Businesses posting 16+ articles per month have 3.5 times more traffic than businesses posting 0-4 per month. Hubspot
The strategy to limit the content shock
In order to stand out in the mass content available, companies have every interest in changing their approach. Not by limiting their publications, but by adapting their content marketing strategy to the market and to the reality of content shock.
Several aspects must be taken into account in the development of a more efficient Inbound Marketing strategy:
- Although knowing his buyer persona to hit the right target
- Adapt the content according to the stages of the buyer journey
- Limit the number of formats used
- Focus on quality content and make regular updates
- Alternate feature articles and micro-content, or snack content
- Ensure apply good practices of SEO
The Content x10 method
Developed by Garett Moon, CEO of CoSchedule, in his book “10x Marketing Formula”, the Content x10 method is part of a global content marketing strategy aimed at optimizing its visibility on the Internet. It is based on the creation and distribution of useful and original content, regularly updated and republished by the company. These publications are made from a keyword chosen for the target of the company. The general theme is then broken down into several contents with in-depth analyzes and powerful and quantified information. They thus bring a fresh perspective to consumers, arouse their curiosity, and make them want to consult the company’s other publications on the same subject.
At a time when the number of digital publications is exploding, Internet users are moving towards the most captivating content, and are turning away from companies with redundant posts. Beyond a lack of interest, the content shock can cause a degradation of the image of the company with its target. But content shock can also be used to stand out on the Web when it is part of a content marketing strategy based on the quality and selection of content. The most efficient companies will be able to adapt to the state of the market, with agility and relevance!
