Why You Create Bad Content

Posted on February 14, 2014 by Danielle Faber

Content creation is a huge part of digital marketing. We are constantly aiming to create compelling, informative content that people want to read while remaining relevant to the brands we represent. Great content is the cornerstone of a successful digital marketing strategy. It steers campaigns and creates a brand voice, and can even launch a brand into thought-leader status – the ultimate goal. But why do we see so much crappy content out there?

Lists upon lists of useless rankings, and the holy grail of poor content: relationship advice. Make it stop! Sites like Huffington Post (yeah, I said it) and Elite Daily are making it easy to disseminate bad content, and it’s being consumed and discarded at record pace. But why?

Deadlines
Many people claim they do their best work when faced with a deadline. But for professional content creators, deadlines may be very short, sometimes with multiple pieces due on the same day or even in the same hour. Not only does this make it hard to focus, but the pressure of deadlines creates a scenario where bad content becomes passable and passable content becomes outstanding.

Benchmarks
Benchmarks are put in place to guarantee that content creators are producing output at a steady pace and keeping websites and blogs from going stale. But pumping out post after post just to put something out there is not productive. They say content is king, but in reality, GOOD content is king and that’s what each article you write should strive to be.

Lack of resources (laziness)
To blame bad content on a lack of resources is just plain lazy. Not only do we have the entire internet at our fingertips, but we have also a world of content ideas just waiting to be explored (yes, I’m actually suggesting that you leave your desk and go outside).

Despite our access to a multitude of resources, there is one that is not infinite: time (see deadlines and benchmarks above). High benchmarks and short deadlines will make it harder to put in the effort necessary to produce great content for your readers.

Standards
Taking into account short deadlines, high benchmarks, and a potential lack of resources (time), we see a lot of bad content out there. The more bad content there is, the lower the standards get, and that’s when we get articles like, “ Will Physical Sex Go Extinct? ” or “ #HungryGirlProblems: 24 Hilarious Ways Girls Struggle With Food Every Day ”.

Yes, these are real headlines that accompany real articles that are out there on some of the most-clicked publications on the internet.

As content creators, let’s make it our duty to produce useful, relevant, topical posts that have value for our readers. We can’t banish bad content, but remember that every good post means one less “ 41 Things You Need To Know Right Now, For No Reason In Particular “.

Danielle is a Social Media Coordinator at 88 Creative. Follow her on Twitter at @DFabes .