Is Branded Content Worthy Content?

Carly Graman

Cg105511@ohio.edu

The New Wave of "Advertising"

 

The way companies advertise is constantly changing. Company’s need to stay on top of their game with their marketing and find savvy ways to reach customers. Majority of customers can be reached the easiest online, so it makes sense that companies spend most of their advertising dollars in this area. Thus companies have come up with branded content. Branded content gets information out to people but blurs the lines between advertising content and editorial content.

http://smackdab.com/branded-content/

Posting just an old fashioned one time news stories does not cut it for readers now a days. Companies must use their web space to the fullest and constantly keep it up to date. To fill their space and make money they put out branded content. Branded content brings up several ethical questions. In some ways people consider branded content to be propaganda. When putting branded content out on your site you need to clarify it as such to your readers. Disclosing that is branded content is crucial to keep readers coming back. If readers feel like you are just selling them marketing content through an editorial, they likely will not come back and read from your site again. Companies only have about five seconds to grasp your attention and keep it, so your branded content has to be worth taking time to look at. People need to be entertained 24/7 by the news. They are always looking for funny material and intriguing information to keep them entertained on the web, so it’s only smart for companies to play into that and grasp their attention on the web through branded content and editorial content.  

Obligation to Our Readers

When posting branded content, you should allow your webpage to be an open forum for commenting when putting up branded content. Let people post their opinions to the page. After all it may give your website more interaction amongst readers. However, don’t let your branded content become your page. You should use branded content sparingly and allow your editorial content to make a name for itself. If all you have is branded content, readers won’t want to keep coming back to read propaganda marketing content. They want real stories that are current and constantly updated. Don’t let your pages public relations fall to the way side because of branded content. Don’t get caught up in all, keep true to your profession and allow your real work to shine through. People want dynamic, useful information and an entertaining website to visit. Be the company that is innovative with their material and not just feeding there readers “fluff” they aren’t interested in. Keep them engaged with information that is relevant to them and current events. Don’t leave space blank, develop your stories in depth so readers can see your hard work behind the scenes playing out in your stories. It is so easy to fall into the branded content trap, but do you want to be another website that gets left in the dust? Be the website that stands out because of your material.