Excerpt from ExactTarget's Inspired Marketing Predictions for 2013
For years Seth Casteel photographed dogs leisurely floating in pools and playing in water features. It wasn't until one of these animals lunged for a toy and dove into a pool that he captured an entirely new and revealing perspective on an otherwise ordinary event.
It turns out, there's a whole lot of activity beneath the placid surface of a pool's water.
Following business trends, speaking with clients, publishing articles, and hearing stories at internet marketing conferences throughout the year, I've discovered a similar phenomena. It turns out, there's a whole lot of consumer activity happening beneath the surface of business, as well. For marketers, advances in social media are simultaneously forcing and enabling us to look beneath the surface of our businesses. What's happening with Casteel's canines is happening with our consumers, and good storytelling is what brings these remarkable experiences to surface.
One of my most extensively distributed and widely read articles I wrote this year was a story about Pinterest and a mom-and-pop company launched by the social media darling. What makes it so compelling is it's the power of social media paired with the power of a single voice. A lady pinned a photo, an enormous amount of interest ensued, and a company was launched.
It's been said that content is the currency of social. Good stories make up the higher value legal tender. In the content marketing world that means creativity, investigation, articulation, and ultimately, engagement. Many of these stories dwell beneath the surface of the obvious. My Pinterest story and others like it are the kind of remarkable content brands and business need to find, articulate, and share to drive their reach in the social sphere.
So dig deep in 2013, and pull all your good stuff to the surface.
>> Read my complete set of trends here: Beneath the Surface: 5 Social Media Predictions for 2013
Connect with SocialMktgFella at Blog | Twitter | LinkedIn | Google+
----
Image: Seth Casteel/Little, Brown and Company