Reputation Management Tips: The Different Uses of Content

There has been a great deal of debate, in recent months, about the role of content creation within a reputation management campaign. Some reputation management pros are clinging to the view that Google’s Penguin update changed everything—that the face of content creation, and of reputation management in general, has been forever altered. Others say that nothing has changed at all, and that we should all just go about content creation as usual.

So who’s right, and who’s wrong? More to the point, what should a good content development strategy look like in the post-Penguin Age? Read on for a bit of historical perspective, and for some tips on how reputation management pros can create future-proof content for their campaigns.

Content Then and Now

The bottom line is that content has always been important—since long before Penguin was a thing. Some say that, back in the Wild West days of SEO, keyword-stuffing and shady link-building tactics worked a lot better than they do now, and that’s true enough. For reputation management professionals, though, the need to create compelling content has always been there. That’s just how this industry works—period.

What has changed, and what is likely to continue changing, is the way in which content is used. Because content use is ever in flux, some reputation management pros feel like developing a good content strategy is a little bit futile. Knowing the basic categories of content use can help you write content that is built to stand the test of time, however.

What is Content Used For?

Content serves three basic purposes:

1. First of all, good content is inherently useful, on the most basic level. It’s really a matter of simple mathematics: The more different pages you have, the more traffic you will have, the more opportunities you’ll have to rank for keywords, and the more traffic you’ll get. Content has an implicit usefulness, simply as content for the sake of content.
2. Content is good for amassing links. While Penguin may have changed the way people think about links, there are still two kinds of links that the search engine will probably always love: Internal links, and links from people who genuinely love your content. In both cases, high volumes of compelling content will prove very helpful.
3. As any reputation management authority knows, social media is essential. There is really no way to have social media success without having content, however. Good content is what propels a social media campaign.

The Moral of the Story

What all of this means is that content creation has a few very basic, foundational purposes—and for reputation management professionals, content creation is something that simply cannot be neglected. What’s more, these three uses of online content feed into one another—if you’re writing content for your visitors, you’re likely also getting some links from it, as well.

Google may change on a nearly daily basis, but content creation is not going anywhere. Keep these three uses for content in mind, and let it encourage you to keep plugging away at your content development, no matter what kind of algorithmic updates Google unveils.