Creating successful digital content
Ian Betteridge, digital content strategist at Redwood, says when it comes to digital content, brands need to start with the customer…
Right now, the iPad is probably the hottest platform in media. Talk to a client about creating a branded content app for the iPad, and you will often find that you’re pushing at an open door. Clients want their content on the iPad – as fast as possible.
But if you really want to create content that’s effective for brand and customer alike, saying “we want an app” is the wrong place to start. In fact, the starting point should always be “What content can we create that’s useful for customers?”
What counts as “good content” depends on a range of factors: physical, emotional, and cognitive. These shape how the user interacts with content on a platform, and how these factors can be used to create content which works with the media, not against it.
For example, if you’re standing at a railway station, content that requires you to hold up a 600g tablet for five minutes of reading isn’t going to be a good fit. Something you can read in five seconds on a smartphone is better. Something that can be read in five seconds and tells you where the nearest place you can get a decent cup of coffee is better still.
This is the challenge of creating content that engages across a range of channels. The benefit is that if you get your multi-channel content strategy right, you’ll be providing content where customers want it, when they need it, and when it’s of most use to them.
As with most new platforms, publishers are experimenting to find an approach that works with the iPad. In some cases, publishers are creating a magazine-like experience while adding elements like video, as, for example, we have with our iPad app for Land Rover – effectively, an “enhanced magazine”. In other cases, brands are taking something that’s fundamentally transactional and adding content to bring products to life, as with Net-A-Porter’s iPad app.
The key to making successful content on the iPad is to always keep in mind those three factors: physical, emotional, and cognitive. The content that will be useful and entertaining to someone if they’re relaxed and reading on a couch will be different to what they want if they are hidden away, stressed or on a tube train.
In other words, start with the customer. Think about their needs, the context in which they will look for content to help, entertain or inform them, and what you can bring to fill those needs. Use this to work out the most important platforms – web, print, tablet or smartphone – and create content accordingly. Doing this will allow you to develop a genuine multiple channel content strategy which maximises your brand’s exposure in a way which works for your customers.