Content marketing versus copywriting: aren’t we talking about the same thing?

It’s easy to think that content marketing is the same as copywriting. In fact, this is a common misconception. The two do work hand-in-hand, but are distinctly different. We’re going to address this difference with the help of an illustration: 

Copywriting is to Content Marketing What Eggs Are to Cake

Who doesn’t like cake? Okay, so I actually know someone who doesn’t, but they always have one for their birthday. The reason I’m talking about cake is because everyone can relate to it. Everyone knows what a cake looks like, how awesome it tastes and that the most scrumptious fluffy cakes always have a common ingredient: eggs.

To say that content marketing and copywriting are the same would be like saying the cake and the eggs are the same. It’s easy to confuse terms like “content marketing” and “copywriting.” It’s a lot harder for us to confuse a baked cake with an egg. So even though copywriting and content marketing sound similar and work together as a team, they are different; just as a cake and an egg are two completely different things.

Content Marketing – Think of It as a Cake

Before we get too technical about content marketing, take a moment to think of your favorite kind of cake. Once you have it, keep it in mind. We’re going to come back to it.

According to the Content Marketing Institute, content marketing is defined as “a marketing technique of creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience.” The end goal or objective is to drive the profitable customer to positive action.

Michael Sippey, Twitter's vice president of product, announced Friday that he will be moving into a temporary advisory role before ultimately leaving the company.

Sippey, who joined the company two years ago from SAY Media, said he made the decision after consulting with Twitter CEO Dick Costolo and COO Ali Rowghani.

"I’ve spent most of my career working at startups, helping them scale and having a direct hand on the product," Sippey wrote in an email to Twitter employees, which he later posted on his personal blog. "Over the past few weeks I’ve talked with Dick and Ali about what I want next in my career, and what Twitter needs at this stage of its life. And I’ve decided that it’s time for me to move on."

There are over a billion active users of social media network worldwide, many of whom are frequently active and can be connected by means of their smartphones and tablets. Social media indeed has become a main communication network in the daily lives of people around the world. Did you know that any activity in social media is generating insurmountable data? These big data are just waiting to be explored. In fact, social media now embodies the leading and biggest source of consumer data. Just imagine the hundreds of thousands of posts about a company’s products or services that have been published every day!

For her article "How Does Twitter Use Twitter to Recruit?", Erin Osterhaus went straight to the source: Anitra Collins,Twitter’s Recruiting Programs Officer.

Thanks to Holly Aker for authorizing me to quote from the SoftwareAdvice article.

Before sharing what Twitter's Ms. Collins had to say, here findings from SoftwareAdvice's Social Recruiting Survey:

"Twitter’s Twitter Strategy

First of all, if you’re going to use Twitter to recruit, you should create a clear and executable strategy. Twitter should be used for more than just blasting out job postings. Sure, creating awareness about new positions is one part of the strategy.

But there’s another side to the coin that Twitter capitalizes on: you can create a real-time view into your company’s culture, making people want to work for you.

How are we using the leading social networks in 2014? We’ve been poring through Pew Internet’s latest research findings and have picked out ten key findings (to save you the bother).

 

 

1. Pinterest (21%) is now more popular than Twitter (18%) among Internet users.
2. Women are four times more likely to be Pinterest users than men.
3. Facebook is ageing. 45% of Internet users aged 65+ use Facebook.
4. Pinterest attracts older people. Twitter and Instagram are still youth dominated networks, but 23% of Internet users aged 50+ use Pinterest.
5. Contrary to popular belief, most people aren’t using multiple social networks. Over 50% of Internet users either don’t use any social networks, or use just one (i.e. Facebook).
6. Facebook and Instagram users are the most engaged. Around 60% of their users sign in every day (compared to 46% of Twitter users)
7. Almost all social networkers use Facebook. In fact, over 80% of ‘other’ social network users also use Facebook.
8. Instagrammers also use Twitter. There is a 50% crossover between the networks.
9. Pinterest and LinkedIn are stand-alone networks. There is much less crossover usage with other networks (except Facebook).
10. Pinterest and LinkedIn users are wealthier than the other networks with a high percentage earning over $75000 PA.

You can read the full report from Pew Internet here and the TechCrunch review here.

 

(Article and body image via Our Social Times)