Reflections and snapshots from #INBOUND2016

Attending the INBOUND2016 event in Boston is like entering a world of online progress. Thousands and thousands of attendees are breathing optimism and all share the eagerness to develop communication. Here are countless sessions conveying the latest ideas on technology and content from an inbound perspective. And that’s what the event is very much about—content. Content from the most different perspectives and aspects; all the way from global content strategies down to hands-on tips on how to improve your existing content. Here are a couple of snapshots for you. Have a bite!

Global content strategy—pitfalls and learnings

I attended an interesting session with the insightful analyst Rebecca Lieb. For those of you who need to localise inbound content, one issue is becoming more and more obvious in many bigger companies going inbound: There is mostly no Chief Content Officer who has the authority, the resources and the tools to make inbound content production a smooth journey all the way from the headquarters down to local markets. Since local markets often differ considerably according to their ability to produce relevant inbound content, the content operation as a whole may be halting.

It all comes down to people, process and technology.

Rebecca Lieb has identified the mighty ‘PPT’ as key to success when implementing a global content strategy:

• People—There must be the right people involved
• Process—They must follow the right process
• Technology—And they must have access to the proper tools

Does it sound pure logic? Yes, in theory, but the challenge is to make all this work in practice. I believe there is reason to come back on this matter later!

Now, from global strategy down to details...

Content upcycling is a strategy for cost-effective content production

We all know that content doesn’t have to be produced from scratch all the time to add value to its audience. Accordingly, it could be a very effective strategy to re-use, tweak and re-pack existing content for alternative purposes. In that way the initial investment could add new value again and again. It sounds like recycling, doesn’t it? So then, what is upcycling?

Upcycling is the idea of taking something old and create something new that is equally or more valuable. Also content could be upcycled by re-working and distributing it in new formats, adapted to new audiences.

Upcycling is the idea of taking something old and create something new that is equally or more valuable.

An example of content upcycling is when you take something from your existing content and make a YouTube video out of it. This increases the value since the video format (in this example) is more valuable to the audience. In the next cycle you edit this video into a shorter version, tailored e.g. for Facebook, which once again increases the value. This idea can be applied to many different kinds of content.

To have an even bigger bite of what actually took place at the #INBOUND16 event, you can visit the Inbound Content Library. Bon appétit!