It's time to shift conversation from content marketing to context marketing, says Virginia Sharma

Content marketing is such a vast subject that all have their own perception about using the space. It is time to change the conversation from content marketing to context marketing, says Virginia Sharma, Director Marketing Solutions, India, LinkedIn.

Explaining the insight behind shifting the focus to context marketing rather content marketing, Sharma said, “The reality is that there is so much content created out there by publishers, platforms and brands that we democratise content. The challenge of democratising is that sometimes the outcome and meaning of the content is not really the right conversation.”

The brand’s mission and vision should be aligned with the monetisation goals at a very early stage of the brand’s inception. The brand’s vision should not be compromised with the monetisation urge of the company. In order to generate conversation around the brand, one might end up diluting the philosophy of the company among the target audience.

Sharma said, “Many companies around the content space want to create beautiful content and monetise it and create conversations very fast. When you do that, you dilute your mission and vision among your target audience.”

Sharma emphasised the fact that people behave differently on different platforms. One would be very casual on Facebook, wherein in LinkedIn they will be more professional in terms of conversation.

“Brands must understand that time spent on personal network is ‘time spent’ and time spent on professional network is ‘time invested’,” added Sharma.

On the other hand, the platforms must be cautious of the kind of people coming to them so that they can become more productive and conserve their integrity, said Sharma.

Sharma pointed out the fact that brands must look beyond volumes and numbers that they get from various content marketing strategies in terms of engagement, but focus more on the impact of a particular content piece on the consumer.

Sharma said, “You can’t think about engagement in terms of volumes and numbers, but look beyond numbers. You have to think if the conversation that you are having is aspiring the audience or not.”