Pubvertisers and what do with with all that content?

February 12, 2007

Bill Wise wrote a couple weeks ago in Mediapost Search Insider about the rise of what he calls pubvertisers - meaning advertisers producing content. And this is not ad creative or catchphrases, this is real content including websites, whitepapers and a whole lot of online video.

For example, Ford recently created a microsite around the Detroit auto show with content about new cars, concept cars and general news from the show. Coca Cola is hosting a user generated video contest and has been offering music content for years. Big brand name companies are creating substantive content.

We've been seeing this phenomenon at Pheedo first hand for a while now. Companies, ranging from traditional publishers like CMP to e-commerce based companies like Expedia, are creating lots of content that for the most part just rests on their sites, and also, many times in RSS feeds - and they want to do more with it.

One of the main reasons for this pubvertiser content creation is that it improves search results. More content equals better SEO, and it is very well indexed by the engines.

Second, this content helps build relationships with potential customers outside of the "click here" and "buy now" environment found in most online marketing. Consumers can stay in touch with the company no matter what level of the buying process they are at, and hopefully will become future customers.

The latter reason requires this content to be made available to a mass of people though, and just having it reside on a company website - or even distributed via an email newsletter - does not accomplish that. The big question is how can 'pubvertisers' really put their content to work? Content needs to be spread around the web and consumers need to be provided the tools to spread it further and increase the viral and word of mouth potential of the content.

We've seen the demand, and have been working on a platform here at Pheedo to help this growing group of pubvertisers move their content away from the website, and broadcast it around the web It will enable consumers to interact with it in a variety of ways to extend the distribution of the content and reach more consumers at all levels of the buying process. And it's all based on RSS, of course.

Stay tuned...

Posted by Bill Flitter on February 12, 2007 7:35 AM
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