When It’s OK to Build Your Branded Content on Rented Land?

If you had the power to build a mall where would you position it? In an area close to the city or in the center of the city?

I think the majority would build the mall in the center of the city because it would have an easier access to the population, people wouldn’t have to get out of their comfort zone to come to the mall, and in the end, let’s be real, it’s right at the center of everything. But a shopping mall built in an area outside the city (let’s say somewhere like 40-50 miles away) will have great difficulties in attracting people and potential clients.

Starting from this I came to wonder if nowadays it’s better to have a blog and write just there (using the rest of the networks just for sharing the content) or to use other channels that give you the ability to create articles/posts?

Medium earned its leading place in the market as soon as the industry giants (journalists, editors, writers, influencers) started using this network. Then LinkedIn launched the ability to write posts and their influencers have embraced this opportunity to connect even better with their audiences. And now we have Facebook who is struggling with the Facebook Notes to make it happen.

I recommend you read this CrazyEgg article about Linkedin Publishing and Conversions.

I saw that some of us use the same content we have on our blogs and upload it on these networks (especially LinkedIn)- I still haven’t seen anyone doing this constantly, but without using LinkedIn to announce something specific (sort of like a news portal).

And I know that we are talking about how to stop building our branded content on “Rented Lands” and I’m trully aware on this situation. But I was wondering as a marketer, how can I extract more value on those platforms/community/audience? Why?

Because I’m a marketer and this is what I’m doing every day. I use other social media channels and marketing tactics to extract the benefit from it for my brand.

What about the influencers?

If we take a look at some public figures that are at the Jay Baer or Gary Vaynerchuk level, we can see that they are able to divide their platforms into different niches. For example Gary writes on Medium about entrepreneurship and leadership and on Linkedin about social media marketing. So it can be done, you just need resources!

Of course, there are advantages and disadvantages. For example, the content on your blog is yours alone and you can do whatever you want with it (it’s just harder to bring readers to it) and the content on these platforms is not yours alone (but you already have a number of potential readers).

Here are 2 guides on how to publish on Medium and Linkedin:

• The Marketer’s Guide To Medium
• How to Publish on LinkedIn Pulse: A Beginner’s Guide

And yet, at first glance it’s easier to make an account on these two networks and to publish the content there (New Post -> Write Title -> Write Post -> Upload Image -> Publish Post) than to start a blog and build it from scratch, isn’t it?

It’s OK to build on Rented Land

My recommendation is to make a blog, build it, invest resources BUT do not ignore the possibility of connecting and distributing it on LinkedIn or Medium (after all, that’s why Medium created the option of “Insert story” directly with a link and image).

Do not forget this: if you are a marketer, you should give a try and experiment on those platforms – even if we talk about writing on the publishing ones or using millennials channels such as Snapchat or Instagram.

You are a marketer, you should experiment every day!

So, when it’s OK to build your content house on rented land? When you want to experiment, to see how it works and how you can ruin it (if you don’t know what I’m saying about how marketer are ruined everything, you should check out this video).

Conclusion

But after all we shouldn’t forget something very important – it’s not quantity that matters, but quality.

So no matter how much content you have on all these platforms, if it’s not quality content, it’s in vain.

Quality beats quantity! (or at least it should)