When it comes to content marketing we are - of course - keen for shares. We hope our contacts will share our content widening our circle of influence and we know it is a good idea to share our colleagues' content - it helps our firm and makes us look good.
We can leverage their authority and knowledge. Indeed we are often encouraged by our marketing team to share, share, share with competitions and prizes. Here at Passle, we do exactly that.
BUT we need to be careful. We need to be sure to know exactly what we are sharing, why we are sharing it and to whom we are targeting.
Sometimes we get caught having obviously not read what we are sharing. We are shotguns rather than snipers. I am guilty of this and so I thought I would share a great example of an article I almost shared without reading by author Prof Mark Ritson (Aussie professor of Marketing).
Below is a link to Mark's tongue in cheek piece which takes the mickey out of all of us a little bit. He loves to debunk the 'latest and greatest' buzzwords and trends in marketing. In this Marketing Week article, it appears he is giving us a list of top trends to look out for in marketing in 2018. Mark takes aim at Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, marketing at 'millennials', the need for a Chief Content Officer amongst other areas of marketing he sees as fads and red herrings. If you simply read the Headline and subhead you see:
Mark Ritson: Buckle up for marketing’s ‘Big Seven’ in 2018
What are you doing wasting your time on segmentation, targeting and positioning when 2018 is about AI, millennials and Blockchain? Here are seven marketing bandwagons you need to jump on before it’s too late.
What becomes obvious from looking at the shares on LinkedIn and Twitter is that those sharing this article did not realise he was taking the mickey (despite the image of a badge with BS in 2018 on it).
If you share on Twitter - this is what will appear:
This does not represent the article at all and lots of people have been caught out (I am sure that this was quite deliberate by Mark). It reminded me to make sure I only share what I read first and think about why I am sharing.