Advertising Is Dead. Long Live Advertising.

In the ad world, change is the only constant. And boy, things ARE changing. Traditional advertising certainly isn’t extinct, but there is simply too much noise out there, and people are sick of it. They’re shutting out the blast advertising that has crept into every aspect of their lives and centering in on the things they truly care about: friends, family, personal interests, and social connections. You need to take a step back and study this shift in order to take advantage of it.

If Friends Share It — It’s Probably Good

For brands, that doesn’t mean you can simply move your blast advertising campaigns into social channels. You actually have to make real conversation with real people and help them get what they want. That means knowing your prospects well enough to understand what they want. It also means creating content that’s helpful, entertaining, educational — or all of the above. Make content that helps your prospects make a decision. And here’s a good yardstick — make content they want to share with friends.

It’s Truer Now Than Ever — The Medium Is the Message

Smart brands have noticed that we’re moving to a “connection economy,” and they are producing ongoing content that meets the new search “relevancy” standards. They’ve studied their audiences, listened to their social conversations, and have developed plans to use that content in their social profiles to emotionally connect to their audiences and encourage conversation. When it resonates, it gets shared and receives comments and likes, which makes that brand more visible.

What it all boils down to is that in the new world of content marketing, the Content “IS” the Ad. Sharing, conversation, and emotionally connected content will be the ads of the future. Instead of thinking in terms of “Convince and Convert,” start thinking in terms of “Converse and Convert.” Helpful content gives your customers reasons to stay engaged — not just react — and it also increases brand advocacy.

So start thinking like a publisher because the more relevant, helpful content you create, the better you can drive engagement. And as my Return on Relationship (‪#‎RonR‬) formula illustrates…

Content drives Engagement, Engagement drives Advocacy, and Advocacy correlates directly to Increased Sales. #‎NoLetUp‬!

This article was modified for Social Media Explorer. It originally appeared on Tedrubin.com and was re-published here with permission of the author.