Content Marketing Predictions

Social Media & Content Marketing Predictions For 2011

Our 2009 predictions saw more than 40 experts come to the table with their magic eight balls.
Last year, over 70 of the leading social media and content marketing experts looked into the
mirror. Some were right, while others were, let’s say, a bit off the mark.

This year, well over 100 thought leaders seek out the truth for 2011. My sincere thanks to each
of them.

As you’ll see, Facebook, gamification, brands as media and content strategy all play their part.
Even a few daredevils believe that print may, in fact, show its face again in 2011. Who knows
where the real truth will rest?

Hats off to this year’s speediest sorcerer Paul Roetzer from PR 20/20 who submitted his
Joe Pulizzi prediction within minutes of my initial blog post.
Content Marketing Institute
Thanks for joining us on this ride into 2011 and beyond. Enjoy!

All the Best!

Joe Pulizzi
Founder, Junta42 | Content Marketing Institute

Get content marketing how-to advice, samples, case studies and much more.
#predictions11 Page 2
Sign up for FREE today at www.contentmarketinginstitute.com.

Paul Roetzer Clare McDermott Jay Baer
We’ll start to see a more visible shift in the structure In the last few years, marketers jumped on content 2011 will be the year that we begin to have a
of corporate marketing teams and the allocation of marketing simply because “everyone is doing it.” unified view of subscribers, fans, and followers.
resources, as more organizations recognize content’s API-driven advances in CRM and databases will
ability to generate leads and build loyalty. With more experience under their belts, brand enable companies to better understand the full ar-
marketers will become more sophisticated in their ray of their digital marketing and social media
In addition, marketing services firms will need to use of content to reach customers. For example, relationships.
evolve to meet growing demand for outsourced matching content to the sales cycle, designing and
content creation (i.e. blogging, eBooks, white distributing mobile content, and realizing that This will allow brands to communicate more
papers, case studies, etc.). This requires hiring and certain functions (ie. marketing automation) are coherently, and with context and relevance.
developing social-media savvy copywriters who best outsourced to experts. Being able to send an email only to people that have
have the ability to generate content that engages clicked a particular bit.ly.
audiences and motivates them to take action. And here’s the part that is less about prediction and Sending a Facebook status update only to people
more about dreamy hope: Let’s hope that 2011 gives that have visited a particular product page on your
pr2020.com us more examples of B2B marketers taking risks website.
with content.
That’s the future, and it starts in 2011.
That means having uber-intelligent, fresh points We’ve been talking about ”one to one” marketing for
of view about issues in your industry; publishing 20 years. It’s finally here.
Doug Kessler content that is smart and at times wickedly funny;
Content will get shorter and shorter. Fewer 15-page hiring talented designers to infuse your content convinceandconvert.com
white papers more 2-page Cheat Sheets. with personality and edge; using your employees as
the face of your business in blogs and video; finally,
More video, more mobile content and more, thinking long and hard before adopting an
better-designed eBooks. e-newsletter.

Some markets will approach content saturation. Let me turn that last one into a prediction: hordes
We’ll have to work harder to earn that download. of businesses will abandon the e-newsletter format
because no one is reading them.
velocitypartners.co.uk
soloportfolio.com


Marty Weintraub Sandra Zoratti
Marketers will realize they don’t own and can’t fully leverage original content they Customers say, ”Know Me or NO Me” (and vote with their scant dollars and
post only on third part social sites including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and scarce attention)
others. As a result, there will be more focus on strategies to better leverage the
content to the benefit of permalinks the brand manager truly controls. Relevance will become the new standard for Content Marketing in 2011. Com-
panies that have made smart investments in predictive, data-driven capabilities to
Savvy brand marketers will create “original” new public content by aggregating produce relevant content based on customer knowledge will take share away from
categorized interactions they’ve had with others, which took place in walled their traditional marketing-oriented competitors.
garden social networks Google and Bing do not index.
In our current economy, we all know that consumers are spending less. More
Content posted on sites like YouTube and Facebook will be serialized, incenting interesting to me is the way they chose to spend their precious dollars -- and it
users to visit the brand’s home website to see the next installment or otherwise is driven by the relevance factor of content. In an recent consumer pulse survey,
seek fulfillment. more than 63 percent of consumers said they will stop doing business with
companies who continue to spam irrelevant content into their email inboxes,
Also marketers will learn better leverage rebroadcast engines, like Twitter feeds Internet feeds and mailboxes.
that rebroadcast categorized feeds, subscribed to and culled from PRWeb and
other classic PR services, to expand the initial distribution blast. 2011 will be the year in which savvy marketers will walk away from the irrelevant
content mass marketing push and begin to understand their customers’ next
At the moment, such distribution techniques are tactics usually practiced in the actions, relevant needs and communication preferences as the critical
public relations world. Search and contextual marketers will begin to view press foundation on which to build customer engagement.
releases as another “paid” marketing channel, measured by impressions, CTR,
CPC, conversion, etc.. Marketers who continue to use 1995 interruption marketing techniques of slick
‘n quick, glitz ‘n glamour will not survive. Content Marketing is important. And
Finally, there will be a greater emphasis on paid social, to seed viral activity and becoming more important.
prove sentiment for specific content.
Marketers who have prepared to become Relevant Content Marketers and engage
For instance, organic video promotion will start with 20K paid Stumbles, 5K customers in interactive, relevant, two-way conversation will thrive in 2011.
users from highly targeted Facebook Ads and 30K users from YouTube promoted
videos. The line between paid and organic will blur in social spaces. profitwithloyalty.com

aimclearblog.com


Russ Henneberry Laurent François John Bottom
Unfortunately I think most brand marketers will Brand marketers will get back in touch with the Virtual libraries. If this word is not heard more in
attempt to replicate viral content like the most forgotten content producers on Social Earth: 2011 then it really should be. This is a long-overdue
(admittedly hilarious) Old Spice campaign. journalists.. concept that will help to make sense of content
Of course the value provided with the Old Spice marketing as marketers try to convince purse hold-
content is humor. citizenl.net ers to support what they are doing.

My prediction is that in 2011 and beyond it will be Whether or not the term itself appears, there will be
those that create content that educates, protects, increased acceptance of content marketing as the
makes people money or saves people time that will process of building a body of useful information,
build the most loyal communities around their not the sporadic creation of articles that fit in with
brands. campaigns.

Communities are difficult to form and sustain
David Meerman Scott I think content marketers will see increasing value
Marketers will finally realize that social media are
around humorous content. For brands wanting in building a repository of knowledge [and there-
just tools -- true success comes from developing a
more than a ”flash in the pan” success story, fore authority] that prospects can find when they
real-time mindset.
humorous content should take a back seat to need it, rather than when it suits the marketer and
content that provides lasting and meaningful value their budget cycles. [Why should customers follow
webinknow.com
to members of the community. your financial year and budget planning?] Market-
ers are gradually coming round to the idea that this
tinyandmighty.com is the key part of content marketing.

Direct prompting – typically via automated email –
will always be a factor, but 2011 will see a
growing realisation that the underlying aim is to
create a useful mine of information and advice, not
Albert a single campaign.
Being part of blog networks where content is
syndicated, will be a crucial part in marketers Good words: incremental, continual, libraries,
distributing their content through out the web. repositories, resources
Bad words: Campaign, targeting, response
mooladays.com
baseonegroup.co.uk


CJ Walker Kirk Cheyfitz Shelley Ryan
1. Localization will be on the radar screen for The current mechanistic obsession with media In 2011 webinars will continue to proliferate as a
Americans too. channels and “consumer channel preference” will content marketing vehicle -- the technology keeps
go away, mercifully, and the ad world will come to getting cheaper and easier. However, I don’t think
2. More companies will see the value of the journal- understand that content (story) is what determines there are enough marketers yet who care about the
ist as content marketer. the audience’s channel choices, not some abstract quality of the content or its delivery, so most
preference for a one channel over another. webinars will still be mediocre or just plain lousy.
3. The increase in outsourcing to expert publishers
and content strategists will continue. In other words, when it comes to messages, what it’s Adding a webcam to the mix just because you CAN
about is always more important than what channel is another trend that will rise, even though the
4. The conversation about augmented reality as the it’s on. This has been verfified by both research and dorky-looking result ends up compromising your
next big thing will begin in earnest. common sense. Think: If there’s a great argument credibility. (Remember the early days of desktop
going on in the next room, you will press your ear publishing? Nuff said.)
firehead.net to the wall and strain to pick out interesting words,
ignoring the 52” LCD screen and 5-way speakers in My bet is that sometime in the latter half of next
front of you. year, viewers won’t accept mediocrity anymore.
We should start to see a small groundswell of
That’s a channel choice dictated by content. It’s how well-produced webinars from smart content
we all make our choices. Plus, there’s the fact that marketers out there, proving that ”webinar” isn’t a
Brian Massey any content worth our attention will find its way dirty word after all. Once that bar is raised, we’ll all
Twitter will begin to fade into the background as onto multiple channels and will become social as have to work harder to attract and engage an
the public embraces a new social application that is we share it with others. So the focus on channel audience.
built on Twitter. The largest social network on the preference, so popular today, will be discarded as
planet, email, will once again out-perform Face- not useful. Businesses that understand what’s at stake will
book and Twitter as an effective content marketing leave their competitors wondering why so many of
platform. postadvertising.com their webinar seats (and sales funnels) are growing
empty!
Google will purchase its first print publication,
probably a newspaper. A woman in Sheboygan, WI killerwebinars.com
will be the first person to be officially pronounced
dead due to “complications from use of Facebook.”

ConversionScientist.com


Dennis M. Powell Katie McCaskey Sally Falkow
The definition of brand will expand dramatically as Dispatches from the ”outposts” for 2011: Relevance is going to be the keyword for 2011.
advocacy organizations build brands around issues Marketers are realizing that simply creating and
and market them to build constituencies and 1) Outpost #1: Small is Big. distributing content is not enough - the content has
communities around specific issues using new Most content conversations pre-2011 focused to be based on real intelligence and must speak to
media strategies. on large companies and/or large city markets. I the interests and needs of the people they want to
predict 2011 will see significant adoption and use engage with.
masseypowell.com of content marketing by independent businesses
and organizations in smaller markets. Why? These Marketing in 2011 will be about how to listen, learn
people already understand they can outmaneuver and then respond, so that the content really adds
larger, less agile competitors with quality content. value and people will want to share it.
No one understands the cost advantages of content
marketing like a small business owner. Those living falkowinc.com
Leslie Lindeman and working in ”creative micropolitans” know they
ONE social media site will rise to the top and must create to compete.
everyone will use that. I predict that Facebook
will rule online marketing unless some unknown 2) Outpost #2: ”Green” Content Marketing.
provider comes in with something better we can’t I also predict we’ll see increased content adoption
yet even imagine. in unexpected organizations and industries,
specifically, those with environmental focus. Billy Mitchell
LeslieLindeman.com Organizations and non-profits understand content More content will be created for distribution via
is easily disseminated to various stakeholders to mobile and video will continue to grow as part of
create a cogent message. Likewise, consumer how a brand tells their stories, from positioning to
companies will move to leverage their ”green instructional, demos, testimonials, case-studies and
credentials” to the buying public. dynamic animations.
Patsi Krakoff So the big question: what prevents ”content And print will become part of most digital cam-
Video on sites, blogs, and email marketing will green-washing”? That is, creating content to give an paigns. QR codes and various tags will become
increasingly focus attention on consumers, their illusion of ”green credentials”? the norm on everything from print ads and sales
needs and global issues.
collateral to business cards, billboards, hang tags,
katiemccaskey.com window stickers, displays and yard signs.
writingontheweb.com

mltcreative.com


Natasha Vincent Chris Brown Lisa Petrilli
The continuation of the New Millennium Micro I predict that the use of blogs will continue to I think 2011 will be the year that brand marketers
Movement - micro sites, micro blogs, micro niches grow. But the use of new tools, such as the QR code – and C-Suites for that matter – will begin to finally
- will see more publishers leveraging microformats. reader for smart phones, the battery-operated “get,” and ultimately embrace, the idea that it is
mini-billboard pin as waitress flair that shows a much better for their customers to tell their stories
An increasing comfort with coding as well as an video, and all kinds of iPad/smart phone apps will and share their stories than for them to continue to
increasing need to compete will make more online be the tactic of choice to communicate the brand try to control the entire message.
entrepreneurs grab the HTML by the tags to get positioning and brand advantages to the target
better rankings for their reviews and/or more brand market. I saw the inability to truly grasp this hold a number
recognition for their own company. of companies back this year.

elearning.sitesell.com brandandmarket.com Relinquishing some of that control will be on the
agenda in 2011 as content will begin to finally
reflect, and respond to, the needs of the customer
and the enthusiasm of brand ambassadors rather
than a company’s “features and benefits.”

Beyond that, marketers will begin to budget for the
ability to explore mobile opportunities and to create
Mike Volpe Joe Kalinowski mobile websites – not mobile “optimized,” but real,
The trend of inbound marketing will continue, with I predict the renewal of dedication to print media. strategic mobile websites.
marketers dedicating more resources to With smaller publishers on the rise, they know to
creating content as well as optimizing and strategically refine and reform their subscription lisapetrilli.com
promoting that content to generate more traffic, lists so that the people receiving their publication
leads and customers. are actually reading it and taking action. Using
more traditional media once again in a content
In 2011 more advanced forms of content beyond strategy may become hip!
just text will gain additional prominence, such as
videos, ebooks, presentations, mobile apps, contentmarketinginstitute.com
interactive web apps, and infographics.

HubSpot.com


Christina Pappas Sarah Mitchell Andrew Hanelly
I don’t think things will change greatly in the As content marketing gains widespread acceptance, The novelty of social media will begin to melt away
opportunities available for how we go about I believe business is going to begin to expect a and with it the undue animosity hurled at it on a
distributing content but the quantity we use in each return on their investment. My prediction for 2011 daily basis. It will shift out of the spotlight and into
channel may. is pressure from business, both large corporations the trenches to get the real work done. It won’t be
and SMEs, will motivate brand marketers to lauded less as a “game-changer” and more as an
I think there will be a larger focus on mobile and consider how their content directly affects the obvious channel.
social or, even better, social mobile. Flipboard and revenue stream of a company. Marketers will need
apps like it may present better branding to measure results and focus on content which be- The amount of attention received will begin to more
opportunities to marketers and ‘app envy’ where comes an asset to the company, not just an expense closely align with the amount of budget it receives.
one app is on Droid and not on iPhone or iPad will line item on the budget. The great news is we’ve It will gain acceptance and lose glamor. It will walk
go away and it will be easier to distribute content to never been in a better position to prove the effec- off the main stage, away from the cheering and the
everyone. tiveness of original content or to distribute it more jeering of the crowd, and quietly get to work.
widely in so many different formats.
Maybe someone will figure how a benchmark The bandwagoners will jump off and head toward
formula for ROI on social media so that we can use globalcopywriting.com the next gold-rush. The flakes will flake out and
it more effectively and provie to ourselves and our what will be left are those who believe in doing
teams that our efforts paid off. I am also hoping that things right. And they will quietly continue their
brands that continue to remain skeptical about work.
producing content, especially vendor agnostic Nate Riggs
content, will join the conversation. Because of the rise of user generated content and engage.tmgcustommedia.com
the call for transparency in business, your company
Too much great content available would be like culture is what will drive your brand in 2011.
sales having too many leads - a good problem!
Smart marketers will leverage the teams of talented
Would be really cool to see the popularity of 3D and interesting people already inside their
effects hit the small screen. Maybe for 2012 organizations by giving them a voice on their
though... company platforms like blogs, Facebook Pages and
even the newest versions of Company LinkedIn
zmags.com profiles. Brand comes from all levels and depart-
ments in organizations - not just from the
marketing department...

nateriggs.com


Bernie Borges Michele Cuthbert Rick Liebling
Content as a strategic marketing weapon will Mobile marketing and various integrated touch I’m really excited by the opportunities with visual
become more widely understood. Brands that have points will be more prevalent in the next year. mobile search, i.e. Google Goggles. As Smartphones
tried and failed at social media marketing will Increased ways to navigate, engage and interact reach a critical mass, overtaking feature phones in
produce more content around the interests of their with audiences to enrich experiences will be more America, instant, immersive content will no longer
target customer. The focus will be on creating in demand. be limited to the desktop (or even the laptop).
quality content that addresses user’s interests.
baker-creative.com Now, for many in the marketing industry that won’t
Content marketing has arrived! seem like ”news,” but the fact is for the vast
majority of consumers, this is still very new
In 2011 brand marketers will increase their territory.
experimentation with mobile marketing. Retailers
and other B2C marketers have been the leaders in I think we’re going to see an increase in
mobile marketing. I believe we’ll start to see Matt marketers using limited ”real estate” such as print
expanded use of mobile to include educational I think we’ll see a growth in online content ads, post cards, event the product itself, as a gateway
institutions, government (at all levels) and some marketing in general, and branded entertainment, to a richer, more detailed content experience via
innovative B2B mobile marketing visionaries. specifically. smartphones.

The “Like” phenomenon, pioneered by Facebook, parthenonpub.com Now, I hope that we start to see these
will continue to grow. More marketers will come technologies used not just to highlight product
to understand the value of getting their content features, promotions and sales drivers, but real
liked as the Facebook social graph will continue to content that provides value and has an emotional
broaden its online footprint. appeal.

It has been said that Likes will become the new That might be especially interesting for
links in search marketing.
Keith Thacker movies/television properties.
VLogs are what we will focus on in 2011.
findandconvert.com rickliebling.com
Great way to connect and build rapor before events.

2 Megaevents & 12 virtual events.

PlumLife.com


Jason Falls Josh Gordon ScLoHo(Scott Howard)
Using existing models like ManOfTheHouse.com, I In 2011 brand marketers will confront the issue Value will be the true measuring stick in 2011.
think more brand marketers will seize the of content commoditization. As brand marketers
opportunity to become custom media publishers in embrace the benefits and of creating and Questions consumers are asking themselves, ”Is
2011. distributing their own content they will come to there a value to me if I follow you on Twitter or Like
It will likely only be the large bucket folks with grips with relatively new, but huge problem you on Facebook?”
budgets to spend, but the attentive communities professional publishers have been dealing with
they create are invaluable in today’s online more directly for the past three years: as content Business owners are asking themselves, ”Is mass
environment. creation and distribution volume increases discounting via Groupon (and similar sites)
dramatically worldwide, it becomes a commodity. providing me with customers that I value, or am I
socialmediaexplorer.com just offering loss leaders without any true long term
Proud of that great interview your brand website/ value to my business?”
newsletter/digital magazine just published?
Social Media skeptics will place little value on
Do a search and you will likely find similar content Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, etc because
elsewhere on the web. I predict shift in the dialogue they haven’t grasped the social interaction value of
on content creation will occur: It will no longer be the media.
enough to create content, or even create high
quality content. Social Media users and believers will continue to
Joe Chernov grow and increase their value to their friends and
The lines dividing content / social media marketing The goal will be to create content that stands out followers because they understand that despite the
from “demand gen” will blur. Most organizations and is unique. trackability of the web, relationships are not as
have moved beyond the “experimentation” phase, easily measured in simple R.O.I. terms.
and as resources increase so too do expectations. SellingWithContent.com
Awareness, engagement and even sentiment Every decision made in 2011 will be based on the
objectives will give way to the higher goals of value each of us as individuals assign to the choices.
customer acquisition and retention.
scloho.net
In next year’s case studies, articles and speaking
sessions, content marketing will begin to sound
much more like demand gen marketing. Though
less buzz-word friendly, this shift will be much
more career friendly for those who help drive it.

eloqua.com


Kristina Halvorson Marko Saric Drew Davis
In 2010, I think companies really started to Creating engaging and valuable content will just 2011 Will be the year of the authentic brand
understand that content isn’t ”just copy”: it’s become even more important as traditional relationship. Brands will quickly learn that there
complicated, it’s a commitment (not a campaign), methods of push advertising lose the effect. are tremendous opportunities to embrace existing
and it requires dedicated resources to get it right. content creators in the new media world and help
I see companies having content teams just there to elevate them using the brand’s power, reach and
And so, I think that 2011 will see brand marketers to create quality content, spread it out and attract goals.
begin to approach content planning much more customers that way.
strategically. They’ll recognize the need to work Bloggers and video producers will become
with experienced content strategists to create a Facebook pages, Youtube channels, blogs authentic and open brand advocates engaged in
viable plan to create/curate, share, and govern the featuring a wide range of multimedia content that long-term relationships that benefit both the brand
content. Marketers will also start asking for the people want to read, watch, interact with, and share advocate and the brand itself.
resources to invest in dedicated editorial staff to with their friends.
continually audit content, measure results, and tippingpointlabs.com
iteratively improve the customer’s content howtomakemyblog.com
experience.

In 2011, brand marketers are looking at an
*unprecedented* opportunity to invite SEO, social
media, user experience design, and content strategy Josh Healan Gini Dietrich
experts to sit at the same table and ask, ”Why are What is old will be new again, only better! Digital It’s hard to narrow it down to just one (I actually
we creating/curating this content? What will it do and social will continue to grow but “old school” have nine), but I think the one that will be most
for our business? How will it help our users? What formats such as print and even direct mail will prevalent is mobile. Mobile payments, mobile
is the best way we can put this content to work for make a come back. Marketers have realized, and shopping, mobile commerce, mobile apps,
everyone? What needs to happen for that to work?” will finally accept that, just because you can geo-location, websites for phones...everything
When those practitioners can begin to formally measure something more effectively, does not make across every phone platform.
collaborate within the framework of content it more effective. We will see marketers that in
strategy--with the endgame being valuable content recent years shifted entire budgets to online media, With AT&T introducing a basic phone with
for our end users (i.e. content marketing) begin to reallocate parts of their budgets to offline browsers, smartphones will be accessible to every
media. We will also see much smarter approaches to pay grade, including the homeless, which provides
--I think we’ll have...world peace!! Or, at least, integrated marketing, customer segmentation, and some people to skip right over the computer.
awesome content. the use of variable data.
spinsucks.com
braintraffic.com muttgroup.com


Charlotte Ulvros Trish Jones Robert Rose
Companies become their own Media If they have any sense, I think brand marketers will 2011 will be the year of ”curation”.
focus more on what can be done internally to
Here are two examples of companies that have engage their clients externally. In other words, It feels like 2010 was the year that content became
turned themselves into media houses. there will be less outsourcing of SEO and more truly important to brand marketing again.
quality data gathering internally that can be turned Content Strategy hit its stride, Content Marketing
Gatorade’s Social Media Mission Control into content and used to ease their clients pain. became a household (or at least cubicle-hold) word
Gatorade has the luxury of a seemingly unlimited Customer services and sales will communicate and the giant ”E” that seems to never go away from
budget. However, observing and taking inspiration and consolidate questions that both clients and digital marketing, this year stood for either ‘engage-
from their tactics could help you translate their prospects ask frequently and these questions will ment’ or ‘experience’.
efforts to a smaller scale. be answered in the form of published content and
distributed via the social media sites. The era of So, it feels now that if brand marketers can produce
Cisco’s Social Media Accounts “What can I sell you,” is going to be replaced with content with ease - then the real value will be in
With around 100 Twitter handles, 26 Facebook “seriously, what can I do to help you?” curation of content.
pages, 300 YouTube channels, 61 communities and
37 blogs, Cisco has really invested into the concept trishjones.com So, look for:
of Social Media. They based their social media * outsourced curation services to provide editorial,
strategy on the “Dandelion”, one of Jeremiah writing and ”filtering” services for brand marketers.
Owyang’s Frameworks for Social Business. * an explosion of online services that allow
Kimberly McCabe bundling, packaging and curation of content for
This model allows flexibility but sacrifices a bit of Brand marketers will see that different audiences marketing.
control. However, in this arena, control is fleeting consume media differently and try to fine tune their
and because technologies and people’s behavior distribution. They will stop trying to be all to every- Brands too will look for other engagement metrics
change rapidly, it is adaptability that counts. one and target platforms that are working for them. to associate loyalty and engagement. So, look for
loyalty programs for content consumption (e.g.
mynewsdesk.com If they’re smart they will find ways to leverage badges or status in exchange for engagement).
their Content Management Systems to help them
distribute content - that could mean some changes And, finally, watch for the function of governance
to what CMS delivers in functionality. Platforms in social content and conversation management to
like posterous are great - but I think marketers will finally get the attention at the management level.
try to take that kind of automated push to internal
systems that they can schedule. adaptivemarketer.com

oshyn.com


Arnie Kuenn Freddy J. Nager
Not only big brands, but businesses everywhere will begin to embrace content as a With all those e-book readers stuffing stockings (make that large, rectangular
key marketing strategy. This will occur as organizations begin to truly understand stockings), consumers will need content to fill them. Free content, that is, ‘cause
that providing the information their prospective customers need and seek actually free is good.
leads to business.
But not just digitized versions of classic books that they didn’t read when they
Currently, too many businesses fear they are giving away valuable information for were in school. Rather, smart marketers will provide branded reference books:
free. Marketers will learn to listen to their customers by watching what is cook books, car care manuals, fashion tips, bartending handbooks, etc., all spon-
happening online at sites like Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo Answers, Digg, etc., and sored by a relevant product or company. Since they’re reference books, consumers
through traditional market research. will turn to them again and again, creating more brand impressions and - ideally
- a positive feeling toward the brand.
They will then develop content that answers their customers questions. This
content will come in many forms, but I do believe we will see more and more Some of these e-books will come with supplementary digital media, such as
video content coming from organizations of all sizes. For example, we are already videos and music, for a complete experience.
seeing e-commerce sites including a video of each product offered.
The result: some consumers will devote e-readers to certain purposes alone: a
Brands will also work hard at developing user generated content as they begin to kitchen Kindle (or would that be a cook Nook?) filled with recipes from
see the benefits of UGC. User generated content provides fresh content and can various brands; an iPad for the bachelor pad filled with cocktail ideas and lounge
attract valuable inbound links. You will see more and more contests and even the music; a Corvette tablet containing guides on customization, repair and even
development of more brand forums or communities. performance driving, with tunes for the road.

In my opinion, distribution will not change a great deal. The major distribution Any interest or profession can be catered to by marketers through branded
points such as search, social and video sites are fairly well established and e-books, which can be updated readily (or even regularly, like e-magazines).
marketers will continue to target those.
I’m personally hoping that Meow Mix or Fancy Feast publishes a guide on how to
The big question mark is how will marketers leverage mobile. Will this be the herd cats -- the sooner the better.
year for large scale mobile marketing adoption or will it be 2012?
atomictango.com
verticalmeasures.com


Ahava Leibtag Paul Gillin Andrew Davies
There is no doubt that the future of content is In the B2B world, marketers are going to scramble Brand marketers will grow increasingly sophisti-
mobile delivery. Understanding what users want to give away as much useful information as cated in their adoption of content marketing tools
from traditional desktop delivered content vs. possible. Anecdotal evidence indicates that and techniques, and we are particularly expecting
mobile content will be the next frontier for UX and helpfulness translates into awareness which an uptick in the following elements:
content strategists to cross. generates leads and sales. If you keep too much in-
formation close to the vest, people just ignore you. Content Responsibilities:
Studies geared toward accessing that information Look for a lot of new white papers, ”how-to” guides, We expect to see brands to delineate roles and
will be further refined and organizations will have online courses and big info graphics. divisions that allow them to act more like media
to rethink content delivery in a whole new light. On the consumer side, it’ll be the year of the app. companies than brands, with editors/curators/mod-
Defining a strategy will have to move towards The Internet is going mobile in a big way and apps erators/journalists of various titles and descriptions.
understanding the different set of questions users are the means of consumption. Every consumer
come to mobile content with. brand is already thinking about how to create a Personalised Content Delivery:
mobile app that’s either useful or fun. Content that is personalised or customised based
onlineitallmatters.blogspot.com on known audience taste, geography, or previous
gillin.com buying behaviour. Monitoring user-content
interactions will be a method of insight reporting,
and will feed back into the content delivery.

Jonathan Kranz Dianna Huff CRM Integration:
I suspect mobile will sustain its momentum Facebook, Facebook, Facebook. Love it or hate it, Enterprise tools, particularly the brand CRM, will
throughout 2011 as handheld device and smart Facebook is becoming more important to brand be integrated into the content production and
phone sales continue to rise. marketers with regard to distributing content.From analytics process, with insight on an individual
posts announcing new products / services to those user level logged back to CRM to inform future
As usual, marketers under intense pressure will that link to new videos and other content, the Face- campaigns. This starts to close the feedback loop:
panic, rushing out applications without pausing to book ”Like” button and FB (Brand) Pages are now content authoring, monitoring and insight
think about strategy or relevance. ubiquitous. (In fact, I keep wanting to hit the ”Like” generation, and the creation of better content using
button when reading people’s Tweets.) that insight.
Expect lots of bizarre, “what were they thinking?” The danger, however, is using FB as simply another
apps next year. mass broadcast medium versus a very powerful and Curated Content Tools:
personal one-to-one marketing platform. Don’t like We are already seeing an increased adoption of
kranzcom.com a brand’s posts? Just hit the ”unlike” link on their tools that enable brands to quickly and easily curate
Page and no more messages. external content to provide value for their
customers.
dhcommunications.com
idioplatform.com


Corinne Schmid Heather Lloyd-Martin
Game Dynamics for Content. This will hit the 2011 should be a very exciting year for content marketing.
circuit mid year as a mild rumbling as most
companies aren’t close with social or collab yet. I see quite a few big-brand marketers embracing content marketing like never before. What’s interesting is
The digital/interactive/transmedia focused content that some of these big brand marketers ignored content marketing for the longest time - their Web copy was
creators will ramp quickly. horrible, they had no search engine presence, their blog (if they had one) was more marketing speak than
anything else.
Gamification - what does this mean for content?
It is the intersection of storytelling (creating the Now, these ”we’re going to do it old school” companies are asking about video marketing. They want to write
content narrative), leveraging the social really good, engaging Web content. They’re using (and succeeding) with Twitter. Sure, many of them are still
infrastructure (safe to say, it’s universally adopted) in DIY mode and doing what they can with the resources they have. But they’re doing it - and that’s the
and applying a game layer (dynamics & framework) important thing.
that provides the content consumer with an
immersive interaction where s/he can access, play, Of course, some brand marketers will continue to ignore the opportunity - or go about it so horribly that they
collaborate and interact with other content should back slowly away from their Twitter account and turn off their computer. Unless they have some other
consumers. tried-and-true marketing trick up their sleeve, this ”head in the sand” approach is going to cost them (even
more) market share.
twitter.com/itzCorinne
What’s really fun is the opportunity that content marketing provides to the small/medium size business. Since
these folks can implement on a dime, they can do some impressive things in a very short period of time. I
know of one local traveling food cart owner who uses Twitter as his exclusive marketing channel. A Pilates
studio drives new clients almost exclusively by maintaining a great blog. It’s great to see smaller businesses
implement content marketing ideas and realize the financial benefit.

seocopywriting.com


Brian Solis Richard Baker
In 2011 the social media landscape will undergo an interesting transformation as it ushers in a genre of Facebook will continue to exert its influence on
information commerce and the 3C’s of social content, creation, curation, and consumption. While blogging all things social but google will re-enter the game
typically resides in the upper echelons of the social media hierarchy, new services further democratize the with their new product but fail to make significant
ability to publish and propagate information. headway.

2011 is the year of information curation and the dawn of the curator. Curators introduce a new role into the Expect to see more social tie-in’s with tv as the two
pyramid of Information Commerce. The traditional definition of curator is someone who is the keep of a mu- begin to converge. The ‘two screen consumer’ is
seum or other collection. here and brands will be keen to leverage existing
customers through more product tie-ins. Common
In social media, a curator is the keeper of the interest graphs that are important to them. By discovering, in the US, but less so in Europe and the UK.
organizing, and sharing relevant and interesting content from around the Web through their social streams of
choice, curators invest in the integrity of their network as well as their relationships. Information becomes conversational.ly
currency and the ability to recognize something of interest as well as package it in a compelling, consumable
and also sharable format is an art.

Curators earn greater social capital for their role in qualifying, filtering, and refining the content introduced to
the streams that connect their interest graphs.

Tools, networks and services that cater to the role of the curator will emerge, with several already leading the Pam Kozelka
way. Storify, Curated.by, Pearltrees, and Paper.li are becoming the coveted services of choice amongst While I wholeheartedly agree that marketers are
curators as they not only enable the repackaging and dissemination of information, they do so in captivating becoming publishers for their company, I see too
and engaging formats. that they understand that they may not be able to
produce and distribute all the content necessary for
Like blog posts, curated content also represent social objects and curation services will spark conversations and positioning themselves as leaders. So in 2011 Iwe
reactions, while also breathing new life and extending the reach of existing content - wherever it may reside. will continue to see brands looking to the experts
Curators play an important role in the evolution of new media, the reach of for new ways to make their content stand out.
information, and the social nicheworks that unite as a result.
I hear a lot too that the marketers ‘get’ the need for
briansolis.com content, but they are having a hard time convincing
the upper management. So again, the marketers are
going to look to the experts for how to ‘sell’ this to
their boss.

junta42.com


Mark Robertson Dan Blank Adam Sherk
Brand marketers will continue to leverage social Content creation and distribution in 2011 will all be 1. In the publishing world the paid content trend
media marketing in distributing content about relationships, and establishing credibility and will increase in 2011, with more content moving
throughout 2011. BUT - Brands will turn more so trust within communities. behind paywalls, metered models, subscriber
to sight sound and motion in terms of creative archives, tablet and mobile apps, etc.
approach - with social video. Increasingly, brand marketers are working with Smart publishers will make sure this content is not
their audience to create content that offers the completely excluded from discovery and sharing
reelseo.com perspective and insight of those they serve. through search and social media.

When the cost of distribution is often free, 2. Content will continue to be produced in volume
marketers will find unique value in communities, on third-party (social) sites, but as a good
niches, and in building relationships with those percentage of it gets lost in the shuffle brand
they serve. These things cannot be purchased as marketers will circle back a little and make sure
Mark McClure a business may have done with advertising, and they’re also producing ample content on their own
Magalogs for tablet devices (iPads) start to appear... establishing these relationships can take time. What sites (giving it greater potential for longevity).
both paywalled and free. Laid off print media this means is that campaign-based marketing will
journalists and designers who cross the digital not always work - trust must be earned over time, adamsherk.com
divide begin to find their services in demand once and the needs of the community must always be
again. attended to.

samuraiwriter.com Many brands will establish formal partnerships
with willing members of their communities, some
will recruit brand advocates, and others will work
to become a trusted member of the community,
not a brand whose goal is to pitch everyone with a
marketing message.
Ari Herzog
Taking best practices from case studies in 2010 The sooner brands begin building this trust, the
around mobile computing and location-based sooner those relationships will form and begin
services, I think 2011 will reach new heights with showing them the world beyond ad spend and
cloud computing, virtualization, and open source marketing campaigns.
tools.
wegrowmedia.com
ariwriter.com


Geri Stengel Marcus Grimm Debbie Williams
Nonprofits are natural collaborators, by sharing More and more marketers will wish to bow before Many of last year’s industry-wide predictions still
tips and best practices, they move from dabblers to the altar of Apple, creating a slew of super-cool haven’t played out, so hopefully those will really
strategic users of social media in 2011, surpassing brand experiences in the way of Apps. That said, (finally) come to life!
their for-profit counterparts in the effective use of I’d actually expect that number to protract in 2012
social media. They do this by using measurement to when the marketers realize that ROI is still the I believe many businesses will merge their
improve their efforts. ultimate cool kid at school. marketing, PR and communications teams into
a cohesive content marketing group, integrating,
Nonprofits may begin by using use social media to Still, they’ll learn a lot and will be poised to create managing and distributing content more effectively
meet marketing objectives, but they will expand to cool creative that’s also cost-conscious in the and consistently. Content practices including
using them for essential mission and business coming years. governance and measurement will also become
functions, such as advocacy, raising money, standard and more tools for measuring and valuing
moblizing and coordinating people, and cause nxtbookmedia.com content will be established.
marketing.
More content-specific roles and companies will be
ventureneer.com developed as content expertise begins to grow and
be further recognized (and hopefully appreciated).
Brands will also value the importance of
storytelling and recognize that storytelling,
Wisey Keith Wiegold positioning, voice, and differentiation in content
New media moves quickly and anything ‘same’ gets Smart marketers will shift the focus of their really matters. Content will be seen as an asset and
stale fast. So fast that brand marketers are community building (through CRM efforts, Social necessity, not an expense or one-off.
going to have to find a new way to distribute Media, etc.) from transactional incentives to being
content. They’re going to have to think outside the centered around Engagement, lead by Content sproutcontent.com
grid and find ways to connect with their audience Marketing.
that both surprise and delight.
Imagine your CRM program segmented and led
But to be honest, content creation is starting to get by how engaged your customers and prospects are
stale in itself. If marketers don’t think beyond this with your brand, rather than how much they buy.
and look at new ways to find connections with their A great content marketing program will create the
audience, they will again get left behind. ”reason why” behind more enterprise programs,
building stronger brands and more valuable
twitter.com/wisey relationships.

nutlug.com


Gordon Plutsky Stephanie Tilton Marc Laplante
Developing content applications for the iPad and The reality is that many marketers have yet to fully Video will be the most significant development of
other tablets will become an important discipline embrace the tenets of content marketing -- or ex- 2011. More industries will rely on video and mobile
to master. Its’ unique properties make it ideal for ecute on them effectively. So I don’t think we’ll see video.
content distribution and creating action drivers for dramatic changes in content creation and
both online and offline retailers. More publishers distribution in 2011; rather, we’ll see a growing A lot of companies block YouTube and Facebook
will create content to be served locally via geo number of companies finally getting on board with so that their employees don’t “waste time” watching
location technology. best practices. video streams at work. But iPhone, iPad and Droid
technology will fix that as more people will view
The “experimental phase” of social media will That said, we will likely see an evolution in the video at work; just not from their company-issued
come to an end as CEOs and marketers will start tools that marketers use, namely convergence of computers.
to demand ROI payback for the expense and time marketing automation and CRM systems. While
effort. The results must tie back to sales objectives, marketing automation systems enable one-to-one assetperformancemanagement.com
just creating “engagement” is not enough. Original engagement with prospects, CRM systems help
content creation will be the key component to social manage prospects at the account level -- in other
media success. words, the committee of buyers that B2B organiza-
tions must engage to make a sale. With these two
Traditional media companies make a concerted systems merged, marketers will be empowered to
effort to get into the content marketing game to correlate how their initiatives and activities ulti-
stem the tide of lost advertising revenue. This will mately contribute to revenues. A growing number Heidi Cohen
blur the lines between what was once “hands-off ” of companies will create the role of Director of Content marketing will continue to become more
editorial content and custom content designed for Content Marketing or the like. pervasive across brand marketers in 2011 due to its
and by brand marketers. ability to convey useful information, engage
The person in this position will be charged with prospects, and answer customer questions
kingfishmedia.com devising and executing on a strategy that is in line without feeling like promotional marketing speak.
with the company’s overall business objectives.
At the same time, the systems used for marketing It will become more effective as it moves beyond the
automation, inbound marketing, and CRM will marketing, PR and social media spheres of
converge to a greater degree. As a result, marketers influence to be embraced throughout the
will be empowered to track content consumption organization. To this end, content marketing will
throughout the buying cycle -- and across buying require training, resources (human and budget) and
committees in a single account -- and ultimately senior management support.
correlate this to revenue contribution.
HeidiCohen.com
tentonmarketing.com


Howard J. Sewell Christine B. Whittemore
PR agencies will begin to lose their monopoly on Content marketing allows businesses to connect with potential customers, develop relationships with
social media strategy as companies realize the true them and identify for them solutions that often prequalify them for doing business with you.
potential for blogging beyond simply brand No surprise if you’ve been paying attention to the chaos in the marketplace, the diminishing success of
awareness and (so-called) thought leadership. traditional based advertising programs and appreciate how customers are increasingly time constrained,
marketing-skeptical and information overloaded. Savvy brand content marketers have noticed and taken
Corporate blogs will start to play a major role in action.
content marketing, customer communication,
demand generation, and lead nurturing, helping They have listened intensely to their markets and customers, uncovered critical issues for which they have
marketers: solutions, and successfully created content where fluff and false claims have been replaced with
meaningful, engaging and even entertaining material in the words customers use. They are convincing
* drive search-generated traffic and net new sales upper management that content marketing provides a direct connection to customers and that further
leads success is a function of corporate buy-in.
* use targeted, insightful content to attract and
engage with qualified prospects Despite the pressure to create meaningful content, the more content marketing is adopted throughout an
* expand the company’s leads database and organization, becoming part of its culture, the more content creation can be distributed, too.
community of followers Zappos comes to mind.
* educate, cultivate, and nurture existing customers
and prospects 2011 will see more and better integration of content marketing within organizations. As organizations
adopt the customer-focused attitude resulting from content marketing, they will expose the voice of the
spearmarketing.com customer to the entire organization. In so doing, more people in the organization will be drawn into
participating in the content creation process and the customer-feedback loop.

In fact, they will realize how it adds value and richness to their roles in the organization! Brand marketers
may curate this content, but they will no longer be solely responsible for its creation.

SimpleMarketingNow.com


Michael A Stelzner Danny Brown Scott Frangos
Prospects will demand more quality content in 2011 Businesses and brands will start to look at velvet The Content Marketing game will stretch to include
than ever before. It will be spurred by social media rope content, to make theirs stand out from the “authentic connections” in the Social Media space,
sites that allow social ranking and sharing of crowd by not being part of the crowd. plus factor in conversion rate optimizations to the
content. total tool set.
If RIM, for example, would only realize they have
The best information will be ‘commercial-free,’ and one of the best list and marketing platforms around Good content will continue to engage prospects
designed to educate and inform. with its BBM service, they could truly tap a big with your brand. But rather than just redistributing
market. content automatically, more savvy marketers will
Those businesses who stand apart with outstanding use the “greeter in the booth” tactic to make real
content will thrive. We’ll see less free sharing and more freemium connections in social media -- simply
content production, with episodic content to spread redistributing content would be like having a
SocialMediaExaminer.com the return further. Additionally, mobile content tradeshow booth with literature but no people in it.
will become far more ingrained and interactive as
tablets and smartphones finally overtake laptops People buy from those they feel they know. Then,
and WAP phones. when visitors arrive at your site, Content Marketers
will move beyond simply providing good content
dannybrown.me and focus more on what engaged visitors do leading
up to a desired business outcome like becoming a
Amanda Maksymiw sales lead.
In 2011, brand marketers will be focused on
improving customer engagement. It will be The new formula is: Content Marketing PLUS
important for marketers to create written, audio, Authentic Engagement in Social Media PLUS
and video content so that customers can Conversion Rate Optimization at your Sites.
consume and engage with the content on their
terms. webfadds.com

Marketers will continue to focus on utilizing social
media to identify and market to, through and with
influencers in order to effectively reach their
customers and potential customers.

blog.openviewpartners.com


Kevin “Nalts” Nalty Jeff Korhan Ambal S. Balakrishnan
I believe marketers are finally understanding that Social search will explode. This will help Title: What is the appetizer for your Content?
the “Viral Hail Mary” is less effective than smarter marketers to better understand the need to use
alternatives. social media less for broadcasting traditional Welcome to the era of content “snacking”.
business content, and more for encouraging
The Old Spice Isaiah Mustafa series proved that engagement and interaction that creates more Notice how we consume content as continuous
personalized videos for “online influencers” can contextual and meaningful social graphs. feeds - blog posts, twitter updates, short podcasts, 2
amplify an advertising campaign. In 2011 watch for minute videos etc?
more brands engaging existing audiences by As a result, content marketing in all of its forms will
partnering with “weblebrities” (for instance, become more relaxed and informal, with business Attention span is diminishing; as a result, content
popular YouTube creators). in general being profoundly social. consumption is changing.

Brands can and should continue to create jeffkorhan.com In order to alleviate information overload, we
entertaining and educating promotion, but marketers will pre-package content with a brief
recognize that Budtv’s death wasn’t an accident. summary . Example - Story Highlights (3-4 bullet
There will always be entertainers and advertisers, points) for Cnn.com articles. This will allow our
and it’s nearly impossible to do both well. target audience (blog reader, potential client or
customer) to get a flavor of the content before
Finally the savvy brand marketers will broaden the digging deeper to finding out more.
form of its content to provide a consistent “look and Kaila Strong
feel” but appropriate to various mediums -- from The online world is constantly growing and Respect your target audience’s time. Minimize your
websites and streaming video to short-form content expanding. In 2011 brand marketers will have to content. Provide an appetizer (catchy title, meaty
that’s appropriate to mobile marketing. step up their game. summary) before inviting your reader to the
full-course meal.
beyondviral.com Creating interesting and innovative content using
many mediums is just one piece of the puzzle. clickdocuments.com
Effective strategies to promote your content will
require not only social components, but also local
components.

2011 is shaping up to have a local focus unlike any
other year. Finding a way to integrate local into
your content marketing efforts will make or break
may brand marketers efforts in 2011.

verticalmeasures.com


Simon Kelly Chris Wilson Daniel Burstein
Some brands will realize owning is better then rent- The Mobile eBook Brand marketers will increasingly segment content
ing and start to create their own media Art directors are going to be keeping busy in 2011. based on device and location.
channels. Better to be the content than adjacent to Not only will they be designing for print and web,
it. but also for the iPad and other e-readers. People no longer access digital content exclusively
I’m forecasting a huge boost in mobile eBooks. via computers. Brand marketers will segment and
Some brands will realize that the future of This content format, when executed properly, offers determine how important audiences that use tablet
advertising is to outsource marketing to the companies the ability to creatively and affectively and mobile devices are to their sales, and for
audience & that they will gain a wider reach, with a deliver their content to potential customers via a companies with signifcant niches of buyers from
deeper engagement for less spend. multitude of vehicles. Customers’ expanded vehicle these audiences, expect an increased focus on
options will increase the number of eBook content customized for iPads, iPhones, Android
Some brands will realize they can save the media downloads. Oh... and I hear there are some pretty devices, and perhaps even Windows phones. So
business and start to rekindle expired, dormant or slick new design tools from Adobe that will make unless the Flash wars subside, programmers that
critically endangered titles by owning them (What this product even sweeter! know HTML5 will be in high demand.
am I to bid for Gourmet?)
custommedia.bnpmedia.com Hand in glove with the increased use of portable
Some brands will understand that they are nothing devices is an ever-growing focus on location-based
more than a story and brands that tell their story content. Marketers will customize their content so
will win. a potential customer in New York and a potential
Kevin Dugan customer in Florida are each presented with highly
Most brands will do none of the above, not just yet 2011 will be a year without silos. customized content. Heck, its likely that someone
anyway. Ask me again in 2012. Ho hum. As the line between paid, owned and earned media on New York Avenue in Washington, D.C. will see
continues to dissolve, we’ll see more roles changing. different content from someone standing on Florida
Postadvertising.com Chief Marketers and Chief Technology Officers will Avenue...at least from the savviest marketers.
start to overlap more. Marketers will be required to
understand technology more and how it impacts Mass communication will further wilt away in 2011,
marketing. Social media will still be messy -- it’s replaced by niche communication. A huge
not something you can map out using PowerPoint’s improvement for the average consumer, and a
Smart Art. In fact, we’ll see more examples in massive challenge filled with rich rewards for the
2011 that social media can be paid, owned and/or brand marketer.
earned. And the more marketers understand this
-- instead of focusing in their comfort zone -- the twitter.com/#!/DanielBurstein
more successful they’ll be in 2011.

prblog.typepad.com


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