Lessons from Three Years of Content Marketing: What Works and Why

Christian Kugel (VP, Consumer Analytics & Research at AOL) wrapped up Tuesday with a powerful presentation on a hot topic ' Content Marketing. Similar to Social Media, Content Marketing is an area that some people are still looking for proof of its effectiveness. Kugel shared AOL's lessons in Content Marketing over the last three years ' specifically what works and why. Here's a quick recap of what he shared'

Do Content Marketing programs work to drive brand metrics? Definitively, yes. Their studies showed that Content Marketing increased affinity, consideration, and 'interest in learning more.'

Useful practical content was most effective'.

AOL looked at the effectiveness of content under different levels of brand presence. One way they tested this was by bookmarking content between two 15 second spots (Pre-roll and Post-roll). Ultimately, they found that more brand presence vs. less is generally a good thing. 78% of people that saw the scenario involving the bookmarked content felt like the level of inclusion of brand was 'just right.'

In order to meet these three key areas, Kugel recommended segmenting by 'moments.' He listed 8 types of content moments:

By analyzing content in a moments-based segmentation approach they were able to look at how each moment segment engaged with content across motives, topics, and formats. For example, 21% of people consumed an online article or blog post (content format) to 'be in the know' (moment segment). The most successful Content Marketing will match moments (motives, topics, and formats).

Isaiah Adams is the Manager of Social Media Development at Optimization Group, a marketing research and analytics firm that uses cutting edge technology to help clients make fact-based decisions. Follow Optimization Group on Twitter @optimizationgrp