As brands get even deeper into content marketing, further improvements and challenges emerge. Here were some of the more interesting themes around content at this year's SXSW: Timing, Design, Commerce, and Privacy.

1. CONTENT
CONVERSATIONS
March 2014
Alyssa Vitrano / Director of Content Marketing / Mindshare
@avitrano
at

2. As brands get even deeper into content marketing,
further improvements and challenges emerge.
Here are some of the more interesting themes around
content that took place at this year's SXSW.

3. TIMING
We now have a thinning attention span. It's not
smaller, it's just stretched out.
As Ben Huh, CEO of meme-king Cheezburger, said,
think deep dish pizza versus thin crust pizza.

4. There are so many more moments when we're
consuming media. Brands need to leverage these
moments with content created in the right format.
The Apple 1984 ad was designed to create a
collective moment - so it aired during the Super Bowl.

5. More recently, Ellen's Oscar selfie was a call to action
in front of a massive live audience in conjunction with
her 26 million Twitter followers.

6. Put content in the right
context, then leverage
the right moments that
will make people
engage with it.

7. DESIGN
Great content makes us feel something, and the
place where it lives should be designed to reflect it.

8. Jon Setzen used to design rock posters and now
redesigns websites at Media Temple. He spoke
about album covers.
You remember
the moment you
went to the
record store and
bought the
albums you loved.
The cover image
is probably
burned into your
memory.

9. You probably don't remember clicking to buy a title
on iTunes.
It's the same content, but presented differently.

10. Content should tell the right
story in the right way. It's
not just about why you're
creating content but how
you present it, so create a
content experience that
reflects the value of your
content.

11. COMMERCE
Turning content into commerce is a "digital cronut."
Storytelling can certainly create loyalty. Sites that
provide lifestyle content like Birchbox's The Magazine
shape the role brands can play via tips and advice
about products.

12. But how do you use content to get revenue? Thrillist's
founder and CEO Ben Lerer said their content, trusted
by their audience, is now driving readers to buy the
products that the content is about.
Thrillist bought JackThreads,
a flash sale site, and places
content around products
to give them quality
context and to connect
the dots to sales. This way,
they’re making the reader
into a buyer and a buyer
into a reader.

13. Imagine if other media companies owned their
shoppable advertisers.

14. It's not just about layering
commerce on top of content;
it's also about using commerce
to make content even better.
You want to maintain the trust
of your readers and consumers,
and you can do that with high
quality content and by using
data to track what your
audience is or isn't responding
positively to.

15. PRIVACY
Data permanence was the theme of multiple panels.
Google ideas director Jared Cohen said parents will
now probably be having the "online sharing" talk with
kids before the “birds and the bees” talk.

16. This social media generation will, at some point, tire of
sharing content that might potentially haunt them
down the line. People are already creating fake
online personas and teenagers are making Dark
Rooms so no one can capture photos or video of
them partying that could be posted online.

17. But the fact remains that most
of us are giving off much more
data about ourselves through
digital interactions than ever
before, and a lot of people
are tracking it all.

18. Brands are grappling with
the line between
collecting data and being
creepy. As time goes on,
what will people want to
share with a brand
knowing that their content
will live on forever
somewhere?

19. Think about what kind of
content you're asking
people to share online.
Ultimately, you want it to
be something that they
and you would be proud of
in the future, as well as
something that aligns with
your brand.

20. Alyssa Vitrano, Director of Content Marketing, Mindshare
@avitrano
additional contributions from
Kelsey Whitaker @khwhitaker
Laura Taubman @ltaubman
thank you