Is content really king?

The general assertion of every marketing effort is that good content drives sales and increases engagement. The idea is that you need an excellent content to succeed in online marketing and maintain a long term business relationship with your customers.  The rise in technology and social media means a lot of people are getting online and therefore businesses have to make a conscious effort to  reach the increasing number of people online. This also generates the need to create great content to amaze prospective customers. 

However, there has been two conflicting schools of thought concerning the issue of quality of content and if it is really the game changer in marketing. According to an article by Ramsay Taplin, a blogger on blogtyrant.com, content is no more the "king" in marketing. Good content is no longer enough because everyone has a good content. It is the solid content strategies and experimentation that makes a marketing effort successful. As the web space continues to evolve, mixed and innovative strategies are important. 

There is also the belief that good content can do amazing things for your business.  Content Marketing Institute defines content marketing as "a marketing technique of creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience, with the objective of driving profitable customer action". Jon Gelberg, a content strategist, believes that a good content marketing strategy puts a human face in your business, bolster search engine optimisation, provides fodder for social media and creates greater customer loyalty.

Moreover, when Bill Gates, in 1996, wrote an essay titled, "Content is King", he predicted that if people are able to create content in whichever form, it can be published on the internet just as it is done in broadcasting. Nineteen years down the line, a lot has changed. 

Businesses are now leveraging on them to increase sales and get customers, but the competition is very high in these times. Everybody is producing good content. Therefore, this means innovation cannot be underestimated and diversity is equally essential. Can we still say content is king? Certainly, content still is king! The good thing is it has transformed with an empire state of mind. As the evolution of social media mixed with marketing innovation continues, content will become more powerful, solidifying its kingly status to imperial.