Surely you’ve heard in some other occasion that content is king; Well, his reign has a price. In its fourth dynasty, users have surrendered at their feet, the content has been known to be valued, to the point that now users are willing to pay for it to enjoy their benefits. Here are the beginnings and evolution of the fourth saga of this monarchy.
During the first stage, that of Content 1.0, the generation of pure and hard content prevailed, the handwriting of unique and original content, aimed at obtaining the favor of the user; a treatment of you to you.
We went to generation 2.0, where the policy to follow was based on the transmission of content by a single issuer, master and master of the word, to a crowd. Here the content is made public, it stops being personal, it seeks universality, it reaches a great mass.
Later we reached the 3.0 era, the one where any person or group can generate content and become an issuer. It is the moment of information democracy, where everyone has a voice and vote, can broadcast information, express their interests and influence the audience.
At last we reached the time that we have lived, the era 4.0; in which the content happens to be valued as such. Here it possesses unique qualities that lead users to want to appropriate it, and therefore, to assume its economic cost. These qualities that drive recipients to invest in content are the following:
Relevance. The content must provide something that really interests the user; an added value that is related to their interests. If you meet your expectations, the user will not hesitate to invest their financial resources in order to obtain it.
Visually attractive The irresistible power of the image is today indisputable; It increases the desire on the part of users to obtain what they have in front of them.
It has to have an emotional component that reaches the heart, making the user want to appropriate it, get it in property, for its exclusive use and enjoyment.
It should be comfortable and easy to obtain. Those things that make life easier, are always well received, such was the case in 2003 of the birth of ITunes Store, which reached one million weekly downloads, or the latest launch of Netflix, the platform it offers the possibility of consuming audiovisual content in streaming, which already has 23 million customers.
Other content formulas that succeed are those whose conomic cost is very small, almost symbolic. These are the so-called micro-purchases, which allow the customer to get a fun game on their mobile, or enjoy a useful app for just a few euros. Here lies also the success of freemium products, based on a business model that offers very basic services free of charge, while on the other hand it has an extended version of them that is paid.
The tendency is to evolve, on the one hand, in the direction of personalized content, personalized and exclusive for each client; and, on the other, to empower users, the new kings of content generation, whose actions and opinions are already the most important for other users. What applications does this new reality have in your content strategy? Who holds the power?