Thought Through Content - Quality Vs Quantity In 2021

Rhea Patel Jul 31, 2021

With the onset of the pandemic, globally, I saw a huge digital transformation. Businesses of all scales and sizes wanted a digital presence. Whether it was an e-commerce presence, social media marketing or a website. Everyone wanted a piece of the digital cake but not everyone knew how to leverage it. This happened increasingly so in countries like India where awareness and education related to the offerings of the digital world were less. People knew they had to be out there but they didn’t know what to do once there. Hence they indulged in the promises made by their newly recruited “digital” teams or took up a journey with an agency they believed was promising without much know-how of how things really work. Now again, not everyone had the same experience, but most novices did. The idea of aggressively posting became more important than what was being posted. Presence started mattering more than connections.

But is important for one to remember that the quality of posts matters. That is not unheard of in the industry. The more you post the more you are able to keep in touch with your customer and enable them to build recall. As per industry norm, people often take to posting a minimum of three times a week up to 60 times a month depending on the ask of the brand. For example, Netflix may post five times a day whereas a confectionary brand may find it more valuable to post 5 times a week. It makes good sense too as you as a brand seem to come across as an identity that actively pursues its audience and attempts to engage and interact with them strategically. The aim is to make oneself a part of the customer’s routine. Something they would look forward to on their feed every day. However, posting alone does not unlock this relationship.

When I say quality matters, I mean that it's time to zoom in a little further in understanding why a consumer may look forward to your piece of content. Does it entertain them? Is it funny? Does it come to use? Do they relate to it? Once you are able to answer these questions, you are able to analyse what each post is doing for you and therefore keep up the momentum. We have seen brands get plenty of unfollows almost daily. Why does that happen? It’s all because marketers are unable to consistently think from the customer’s point of view. They are unable to sell while engaging. Ideally speaking, while strategizing content, one must think on a micro-level. While designing a post, marketers must think about what the post would make the audience feel or understand. Only with this, real relationship is built. That's why we say quality matters (over quantity). Now you can post only thrice a week but still make your audience wait for it and continue to stay a part of your community as your communication will matter.

The thought behind content which we call strategy on a more holistic level is super important. It’s “Why” a brand is doing something that matters the most. Why are colours being used, why the fonts are being animated the way they are or why are we choosing to discuss a topic in particular. While this sounds like a case of severe micromanagement, when consciously kept in mind up to a certain extent it just makes things more worth a brand's time and money. It means results are gained more efficiently and effectively. It doesn’t mean we don’t indulge in the occasional filler content or fixate on minor colour variations but it just means that content should be within a larger umbrella that works for a brand.

Speaking of quality and thought-through content, often when I speak of original content, people don’t understand what it means and its correlation with content quality. It is believed that original content can be created via a mix and match of multiple free and paid sources online however in my experience I have noticed that there is a lot more potential when content is created ‘from the scratch’. This would involve an overarching strategy backed by content that is produced exclusively via shoots, artworks, custom designs and much more for a brand. While this route is relatively expensive and something I don’t recommend a brand needs all the time, it is definitely good to indulge in such activities for your key campaigns. They become like assets for your brand. Something with much greater recall value and relevance for audiences. The quality amplifies and in turn, so does the engagement and reach.

To conclude every brand must attempt to find a balance between the quality and the quantity of content they push out. If brands don’t find it feasible to work with agencies long term with hefty bills it's good to at least collaborate with creative communities to help create lots of original content for your key seasons and campaigns. When brands do so, they will see the difference in numbers immediately. Only be mindful, that when you decide to invest wisely in an honest partner for your brand then back it with lots of homework of your own so that you aren’t easily fooled.

The author is Rhea Patel, CEO and Founder, CLIQ