I watched Garfield's Halloween special over the weekend and since then I've had the phrase "Candy, candy, candy..." running through my mind.

The content marketing people are using social media to engage their customers; however, what they are selling is content, content, content.

There's nothing wrong with this, it works, and in fact I've written lots and lots of articles about using a good content strategy for marketing. After starting in the web industry in 1995 and having worked with lots of web agencies, I've experienced the pain of pleading for more content from clients. Social media has come as a relief to web agencies, customers no longer have to be pushed into action or understanding on the importance of content. Instead the whole industry is doing what it always should have done; giving client's the content they needed with writers, producers and sound engineers.

Yet, I think that when the reformation [of marketing] started in 1517...wait a minute I got my dates wrong, started in 1999 when the cluetrain manifesto was published the thesis was not about content, it was about two way conversation, engagement, and dialog. The reform was to put listening squarely back at the core of marketing.

If you use the concept of content marketing to solve problems and write content, but don't make any changes to your business based upon what you've heard, you probably will generate more sales. However, you are probably missing out on an important part of the reformation, engagement, engagement, engagement.

Dell's turnaround over 18 months was not a content marketing strategy it was an engagement strategy, by conducting outreach on blogs, twitter, ideaStorm and more. Though the overall turnaround was only effective because Dell listened to customers, changed management of customer service at Dell, and improved products.

Comcast's success with social media and @Comcastcares is not a content marketing strategy, but a customer service outreach strategy. Comcast still has problems with perception, and I suspect more content will not solve their problems, more listening and taking action on what is heard probably will.

Microsoft just released Windows7 and it looks like the operating system is already going to do better than vista, why because Microsoft took more steps to listen, engage customers and take action on what they heard.

The web is giving business people many opportunities, we can optimize promotions and follow a content marketing strategy, or we could reach out to customers and engage them. Content marketing as a strategy addresses the big changes that have happened because of the web, but without outreach and engagement as part of a company's business strategy a company can lose out on the biggest promise from the reformation. Tantalizingly the reform because of the web is really about listening to customers and taking action, action, action on what we've heard.
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