Content vs. Conversation: Is There A Clear Winner?

There is an ongoing debate, in this social media driven world ours, about the importance of content vs. conversation. People feel strongly about the topic and emotions run high when they defend their own personal stances. The debate is regarding the importance of content and conversation and which one is “king.” Ironically, both arguments admit the critical importance of the opposing view. 

Those who feel that content is king, argue that without good content, there is nothing to talk about. Those who feel that conversation is most important, acknowledge that it takes good content to spark conversation. So which one is king? Can there even be a "king" between these two disciplines? 

Content is King; it will bring conversation.

This side of the argument feels that content is what matters most; the rest will follow as long as the content is good enough. 

Michael Greenberg explains: “First, social marketing efforts need to be driven by content, not vice versa. Without content, there is not a whole lot to talk about. Developing content is not for the faint of heart. You have to constantly develop new ideas and think of new ways to keep your readers or viewers engaged. But think about the benefits. 

Most e-commerce marketers already know how to distribute information. Whether it is through Twitter, Facebook, e-mail, YouTube, press releases, your PR firm, or one of a dozen other channels, there are plenty of ways to get the message out. By making this minor change, thinking of social as purely another mechanism for distribution and taking one step back and viewing yourself as a content publisher, you can really take the best advantage of social marketing.”

Conversation is King; content is just something to talk about.

The Importance of Unique Visitors to your Website

Anyone with a website should use metrics to gauge the effectiveness of their layout, content, offers etc if they plan to be successful. Without knowing where the users have come from, what pages they visit, how long they spend on each page or what calls to action they engage in, then a site owner is significantly reduced in their ability to make effective changes.

Think of a brick and mortar retail store where they have different sections within the store. If they place certain items in one corner of the store and quickly realize that nobody is interested in those items, are they going to leave products there that don’t sell? I doubt it. They should, and would move the merchandise around and try new methods to attract the most attention.

Let's say your website received 10,000 hits in one month. Simple enough, right?  But wait; just in navigating a website a person is likely to visit the same page more than once. Maybe a single person visited your homepage several times in the course of their visit. Okay, so 10,000 hits isn't quite accurate enough. You need to know how many people came to your site, not just how many visits were recorded.

So it's several thousand people. But wait, how often did a person visit? It's one thing if they came back to the homepage multiple times in the span of an hour, but another matter entirely if they went to the homepage the next day. How long can a "duration of a visit," or a session, be defined? 

For that matter, how much time have people been spending on your site? Seconds? Minutes? Milliseconds? If it's the latter, then you're being visited by search engine spiders and bots, not people.