Is Your Content Living A Resume or Eulogy Life?
Resume vs. Eulogy
TV analyst and author David Brooks’ TED Talk on living Eulogy instead of Resume lives was so moving I wrote a post asking my friends on LinkedIn if they were living Eulogy lives. Today’s Curatti post asks a variation of David Brooks’ question, Is your CONTENT living a resume or Eulogy life?
Creating one more sale or writing yet another blog post about the death of SEO doesn’t feel heroic. Sometimes its hard to know ahead of time what content will be heroic. Why Marketers Should Stop Expecting Content To Go Viral is an excellent Michael Brito post reprinted on Curatti.
I agree with Michael’s key point – we create content marketing to help answer questions by sharing. If we combine David Brooks Eulogy Values with Michael’s ideas about content we see the need to create “Eulogy Content” too.
Eulogy Content
Viral marketing is a sucker’s game. The moment you sit down to create a “viral” post you won’t. Heroic is different than viral. Heroic content is risky, authentic and real. Heroic content answers questions while it prompts others. Heroic content marketing is about QUALITY not QUANTITY.
Every website needs hero or “Eulogy” worthy content on:
- About Page.
- Creation story.
- Movement Summary
- Testimonial Page.
- Ambassadors Program.
About Page
The most valuable and most taken for granted place for heroic content is the About Page. Many site’s create an about page out of duty instead of inspiration. About pages should be heroic, exciting and fun. About pages should map core company values as it shares the WHY of a company’s creation and reason to exist.
Creation Story
Some pull their creation story out of their About Page. I prefer to leave creation and about together since pulling the one away from the other has a dangerous tendency toward solipsism (talking to yourself about yourself).
Movement Summary
Every business is created to solve a Big Problem or to realize a Big Dream. Every company, website or brand should think “manifesto” even if we write less philosophical and more working man’s hero. Don’t shy away from sharing or thinking big. There is a Superman credo, Truth, Justice and the American way, for every company, brand and person. Speak to the movement and use our movement as a unifying force in your content marketing.
Testimonial Page
Social media is changing the idea of a static “Testimonial Page”. Having THEM talk about YOU is more critical than ever. Ideally you should curate conversations about your brand experience from social media. When OTHERS say positive things OUT THERE (i.e. off your site) it’s true. When you curate open, honest and spontaneous conversations with permission ad attribution truth is doubled.
Ambassadors Program
Creating an Ambassadors Program is a great way to increase your website’s, brand’s or company’s external conversations. Ambassadors should be willing to help for social kudos, collaboration and partnership. Paying Ambassadors defeats the purpose of having them JOIN your brand, company or site. Ambassadors should be the first place you go for feedback, to discuss new ideas and hear how they spin up and talk about your communication.
Ambassadors are the layer between you and your customers. Any Ambassador Program must be mutually beneficial. Ambassadors are willing to sacrifice, but your ASKS must be within “reasonable for volunteers” yardstick. You should look for ways to share more and share THEM (your Ambassadors) more too. Always keep the “quid pro quo” meter in your favor (hard to do at first, easier as your site scales).
Foundation For Eulogy Content
Risking as you create and share honest stories, warts and all, about your company, brand or website lays foundation. Without a solid foundation of Eulogy Content its hard to build great content. Without a solid foundation its hard to ASK for User Generated Content (UGC) too.
Don’t Stop. Once your Eulogy Content foundation is firm ask your Ambassadors to help create a scaled and sustainable community. Creating online community is complicated by the 1:9:90 Rule:
- 1% Contributors – will contribute content of value such as reviews or comments.
- 9% Supporters – wiling to support your content, especially when it’s from your 1%ers, with shares, likes and links.
- 90% Readers – the vast majority of a site’s visitors will read and not interact with its content.
The need to create online community is why we’re using Startup Factory funds to create Curagami. Curagami’s fist three tools are:
- Content Surfer – surfs crowdfunding and other trending content and asks for engagement to create site authority.
- Content Builder – asks Ambassadors and others to help define questions that need answering via content.
- Product Bullpen – asks Ambassadors and others to weigh in on if a product idea excites them enough to buy or advocate it.
Curagami helps content marketers tap “wisdom of crowds” to get better faster by identifying a site’s, brand’s or company’s 1%er Contributors & 9%er Supporters. Once you’ve written and shared a foundation of “Eulogy Content”, created and enrolled Ambassadors, shared external conversations to build authority, used wisdom of crowds to answer questions via content and tested product ideas before you buy Eulogy Content is what you create.
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