Digital Syndication Served on a Platter
The idea of being faced with “too many options” can cause an overwhelming stir of disappointment or indecisiveness for the consumer. How do we as brand ambassadors reduce the risk of shoving too much information onto the hard drives of the consumer within the digital space? How does the consumer then filter through the droves of information that dominates their everyday life in this vastly growing digital age? With a plethora of social networking, social bookmarking and blog sites, pop-ups, banner ads, products and celebrities requesting that we “like” or “follow” them in some form, it’s going to become increasingly challenging for companies and brands to avoid making consumers feel barraged by all of these messaging tools.
Within the landscape of digital innovation, NewsCred, a New York-based startup, thinks they’ve finally got it right when it comes to redefining the method traditional newswires have used to find the right audience. This “third-time” re-launch of the digital space now uses licensing fees from a roster of 700+ highly credible media brands in exchange for distributing content to the appropriate audience. Syndicating content in this manner could create an incremental stream of revenue for content creators as well. Bigwigs like Forbes, Bloomberg and even Billboard are just a few of the sources that recently bought into this new monetized opportunity.
Despite the perception that newswires are synonymous with public relations and journalistic strategies, this type of content-driven tactic doesn’t necessarily have to live in that realm. I think advertisers could get pretty creative in generating exposure and revenue within the advertising space through this platform as well. Marketers could position themselves as content providers for this digital medium by pushing videos (whether commercial spots, viral campaigns or a web series for a product or brand) out onto this newswire for any interested user to pick up and distribute in turn to their interested viewer.
Another possibility could be to utilize advertorials when advertising a certain product, campaign or brand. This type of advertisement is typically presented in the form of a third party’s point of view and highlights the features of a product or brand, all woven together in an article format. Pushing advertorials out onto the wire can create exposure and generate revenue. In measuring the audience’s reach and its overall efficiency, NewsCred offers pretty in-depth analytics that go beyond webpage hits. They also examine who’s viewing the content and what type of device it’s being viewed on.
What separates this wire from others, aside from algorithms, is the bonus of having human curators. Yes, they have a full house of editors who help in deciphering which content will be relevant to a particular user before distribution based on the user’s customized profile.
The sky’s the limit in this digital universe, filled with millions of shiny and somewhat blaring messages that we sometimes have to tirelessly sift through. What if this type of forward-thinking technology sieves through the wilderness for you by placing your messages directly in the hands of an interested consumer?
