So we have content that we really want to get out there, going to whereever the influencer is and engaging him there gives us the best change of letting it go viral? >> Exactly, when we take the approach of trying to solve this from the basis of media, paid media, owned media, and earned media, it doesn't work very well. But I'm here to share with you, frankly, I think we're giving the media way too much power anyway. Because as I shared back in MOOC One, media are nothing more than tools that engaged audiences use to connect with and to great content and then share that content. I would actually like to dissolve the paid, owned and earned media riddle and replace it with something more valuable. And that's a new formula that I would like to simplify as the who, plus what, equals where formula. >> That sounds interesting. What does that mean? >> It's a heck of a lot easier than paid, owned and earned. Quite simply, let's start off with the who, which is something that we've been reinforcing throughout this entire MOOC and something that we at Northwestern University believe in strongly as the core of our IMC program. When you think about identifying and valuing your customers, from a media perspective, you have to look at them from the lens of are they a new customer, are they a current customer, or are they truly a brand loyal or a fan? Because depending upon their degree of affinity with you will help you to determine where they are on your platforms, if they're on your platforms at all. Once you understand the who, you would think I would then say, then figure out where they hang out but actually there's an interim step and that is figure out what you need to say. Throughout the MOOC, you've been talking about giving the get and the fifth global truth of content economics says, content is the fuel that drives media anyway. >> Yeah, I like that. That sounds great. >> So stopping at the stop and recognizing that we need to make sure that we have compelling content that serves the wants, needs and interests of our customer segment is a critical step. Now we have to acknowledge that content comes in different formats. Sometimes what we need to say is very easy to say in an ad, and ad-like formats still work. But sometimes what we need to say can't be said from the marketer at all, they need to be said by someone else. And then there are grades in-between, there's content such as blogs and videos and newsletters. But then there's also something that's called advertorial content or native content, and that's when marketing content is endemic to the editorial experience that the audience is seeking from the media platform itself. This is a very interesting, and burgeoning use of paid media that we're keeping an eye on. >> In magazines, I sometimes see it, it says an advertisement but it's actually more of a story or relating something about the product. Is that what you're talking about? >> Exactly, and in digital, we call it native, and this ability to be contextual can happen in more real time around real time content choices. So it's a very exciting time and it's in a way a blend between what was paid media and what was a marketer's content strategy. Once you solve for the who and the what, frankly, the where solves itself. >> Yeah, it would. >> Because it becomes obvious whether you're going to use paid media, owned media, and earned media. Now, when you put this all together, what you notice is you're dealing with, frankly, a new content approach. I'd like to share three tips for our audience in terms of how to leverage this who, what, and where formula. >> That'd be great, let's hear them. >> The first one is, you have to move from good content to great content because good content won't activate circuits. Remember that third macro force that we shared in MOOC One, we still need to rely on audience as accelerants and good content isn't good enough. Now the great news is when you have great content, great content is very, very hard to contain. Although we may obsess over, do we start in paid, do we start in owned, or do we start in earned? We have increasing bodies of evidence that regardless of where you start, great content has a way of leaking onto and across all these different platforms because remember, it's consumers who act as accelerants and will move that content along for you. >> Let me just make sure I get this right. What you're saying is deeply understand your market, understand what they're talking about and the people who want to develop it, then put together the message. >> If that's great then they will become the accelerant to move it across the all the media and essentially, go viral with it. >> Exactly, and because your audiences act as accelerants, you no longer can control the cadence with which people are going to see messages. So that leads to my second point. You need to think about content in a non-linear fashion. We're used to telling stories with a beginning, a middle, and an end. We have to be willing to accept, almost like a video game, where you come into different narratives from different entry points. We have to understand that some of our audiences will be experiencing our messaging for the first time one way, while other audiences will be experiencing it another way. It's a very different form of narrative developmentm which leads me to my last point, which is I encourage everyone to become students of transmedia storytelling. It gives you the possibility of moving from a single platform message to a much more interesting and rewarding narrative that leverages the symbiosis across media platforms and rewards audiences for engaging with you on a more deep level. >> I really wanna thank you because in MOOC One, you put us into chaos, and now you've taken us from chaos into clarity, and that really helps. This has been great. >> Thanks so much for having me back, Randy. It was my pleasure. >> Thank you. >> [MUSIC]
