The Importance of Owning Your Content

by Mark Cijo

in Internet,Web Strategy

In today’s interconnected world of increasingly smaller size, businesses are no longer constrained to being traditionally brick and mortar based. Office space can be rented out by the hour, hardware and servers can be leased, cloud computing is a very real storage possibility, and a business can essentially function through the use of a cheap hosting account and domain name. That being said, owning the main pivot point for your online business has never been more paramount.

Case Study: LinkedIn

Take into consideration a more detailed look at the terms of use & conditions for popular social websites such as Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter. The following is an abbreviated excerpt from LinkedIn’s agreement that every user digitally signs before they sign up with the site.

“…Any user generated content that is submitted to LinkedIn (3rd party website) can be used without any further notice, compensation or consent to you (the user)…”

What this tiny little chunk of LinkedIn’s terms of use does is allow them to effectively use anything that you publish on their website. No consent requirement, no compensation, not even a notice of when they do use something of yours. They can basically commercialize and cash in on any content you publish onto their website.

This is just one small example of how other websites that you belong to or publish content onto can legally claim ownership and rights to that content. All because you signed some pesky terms of use and/or agreement that you barely read to begin with.

Make Use of Other Sites, But Control Your Own

It is of course recommended to fully utilize other websites to leverage the reach and marketing strategy of your business. Social media and networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc. are all extremely helpful if not vital in a digital marketing campaign. So then the question arises of whether or not owning your own website is even worth it at all.

Digital marketing and social marketing in particular has come to the forefront of the advertising business as of late. So does it make sense to have all of your content on third party websites, that don’t even grant you full ownership of that content in the first place?  The answer is obviously no. Allowing someone else to directly benefit from your work is something that most businesses are not usually open to, and the same should go for the online business world as well.

Now there are of course some benefits to allowing your content to be shared as well. Ever hear of licensing content under Creative Commons licenses? This basically allows other people to use or distribute that content (provided they give proper credit, and do not attempt to commercialize it). Done right it can be an extremely effective yet subtle marketing tool. This also has correlations to improved search engine rankings (which equals more visitors, more leads, more customers, etc.).

Concluding Thoughts

When it comes to your business, in order to fully reap all of the benefits that come with web content development, you must actually own that content in the first place. Avoid overusing social media for main business purposes, save that kind of activity for your real website, not somebody else’s. Focusing on content also means creating a more valued website, which in turn means a happier customer or client. If content development, digital marketing, or the ever lengthening world of web marketing is too much for you to handle on your own, consider bringing in a specialist to specifically help you out with these challenges. Remember that the motto “Content is king” is not such a well-known saying in the web development world for nothing. Although it should be tweaked to “Owned content is king.”

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Is Your Social Strategy Doomed From the Start?

by Mark Cijo

in Social Media,Web Strategy

When asked about the details of their social strategy, many small business and individual business owners simply respond with something along the lines of “Well, we have a Facebook page setup.” They then go onto list what accounts they have setup (Twitter, YouTube, etc.) and how they quantify those accounts (number of likes, plays, etc.). The problem with that is, is that is not really a strategy, only a list of mediocre half-fulfilled tactics. Facebook is not the end all be all, like all social media, it is simply a tool in one’s arsenal. What a person/business does with those tools in order to grow their customer base and reach their social goals is what truly makes the difference.

There is a lot of talk about what makes a social strategy successful. One of the main similarities from social successful businesses of all levels (from mini to small, all the way to corporate giants) is that as they grow, their social strategies evolve as well. It is important to note though, that many times as a company grows and becomes initially successful in regards to their social strategy, they lose focus on their social efforts and begin to lack a clear goal or end game. So the key to success in social media is really about evolving with your strategy and success; adaptation breeds victory.

Case Study: Why Constant Engagement Doesn’t Always Work

Let us consider a company whose social strategy primarily revolves around their Facebook page. Although the company rarely if ever directly engages with their fans and friends, they still have millions of people supporting them and engaging with them. Engaging (i.e. talking) just for the sake of doing so is not always recommended. This (hypothetical) company is clear about the actual purpose of their Facebook page, and that is to receive feedback from their customers and fans by asking about their products and services. Effectively showcasing their personality with their posts, and showing that they care about the opinions of their customers. The metric that they use to measure their level of social success in this case is reputation. The comments and suggestions they receive are tracked and then subsequently used in all aspects of their business.  By asking their customers each day for feedback, they can accurately yet simply measure what is working for them and what is not, direct from the mouth of those they are aiming to serve.

Some Simple Ways to Quantify the Success (Or Failure) of Your Strategy

So exactly how can one tell whether or not their social strategy is worthwhile? If it is essentially doomed from the start? One of the easiest ways to do so is by looking across all of the social channels that your business operates on (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google, etc.) and seeing if they all share similar goals. Ask yourself if you or your business truly has the required capabilities for the kind of strategy you want to implement. Taking on more work than you can handle is never a good thing. Is your business organized enough to handle your strategy? Or do you have too many disparate goals across multiple social channels? Making effective strategy difficult to craft and more importantly implementation messy to enact. Ask yourself the following questions and you should have an idea of what your social strategy really looks like and if it is valuable or not.

  • What shared goals and strategies does you social strategy (in regards to separate social channels) have in common?
  • How well organized is your business, is it ready to put a worthwhile social strategy into action?
  • Are you willing to pay to have someone strategize your social strategy? Or use a social service for your business? How much can your business afford?
  • Do you have any social policies in place? If you have employees, are they following those policies?

Remember that a social strategy is just that, a strategy. Strategizing takes time and careful planning. Do not simply skip over planning your social strategy because you think it is something that is easy to do. Businesses who enjoy a high level of success in social media are always evolving and adapting to the social climate of the internet. Remember that adaptation, planning, and action equal success.

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Internationally Focused Social Engagement and Marketing

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For any business or individual trying to reach a global audience, they usually turn to Facebook as their social network of choice. That in and of itself is not an inherently bad decision, but one must look at the overall picture when branching out to other locales. Even though Facebook has experienced a meteoric rise [...]

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