Despite torrential rain and dreadful commutes, Mark Schaefer addressed an eager, if not slightly damp, crowd at his Vocus sponsored talk on the evening of Wednesday, April 30th. The event took place at Google headquarters in Washington, DC, a fact which charged the room with excitement right from the get go. Industry experts milled about taking photos, firing off tweets, and lining up to have their copies of Mark Schaefer’s book, Social Media Explained, signed.
Schaefer began the talk by highlighting that the amount of data online is projected to increase by a whopping 600% by the year 2020. The proverbial gold rush of content creation in the age of social media has lead to over-saturation, making it very difficult to stand out as a marketer today.
Schaefer pointed out that the average person is consuming 10 hours of content a day. He warned that there is a limit to content consumption. “What is the limit? 10 hours? 15 hours?”
He went on to explain that with each major technological breakthrough we see an increased rate of content consumption. Without another breakthrough, “content shock”, or the over-saturation of online content, will sweep the industry. “We’re getting to the end of this epoch, and things are going to get harder for marketers until the next big technology comes along.”
The question on everyone’s mind was, “Well, Mr. Schaefer, what is the next big technology?” His response: augmented reality technology that creates a completely immersive and interactive experience for the consumer.
In the meantime, Schaefer leaves marketers with a couple tips for keeping ahead in this culture of “content shock”:
1) Create content that shocks and awes.
2) Borrow bigger pipelines for your content ( i.e. native advertising).
3) Atomize, or condense, your content.
4) Create R.I.T.E. content (relevant, interesting, timely, and entertaining).
This Vocus sponsored event leads up to their Demand Success Conference on June 5th-6th at the Gaylord Convention Center in Washington, DC.
