An ode to the heroes of the long tail in content publishing.
It’s time to recognize the small businesses and independent marketers who publish unique and interesting content every day. The kind of content that doesn’t always make the trending lists and first-page of Google. The kind of content that serves up a unique viewpoint amid the onslaught of high-brow “me-too” publishers taking up all of the spotlight.
You make the web a better place.
Watch the trending topics on LinkedIn, and you’ll see a lot of the same names: Forbes, Inc, Business Week, and so on. What do many of the articles have in common? Why are they all trending?
The popularity of this content is not always driven by visionary insight, superhuman copywriting skills, or mere marketing prowess. It’s often driven just by the authority and brand-power of the publisher.
Do you honestly think that articles like “10 Things You’re Doing Wrong on Social Media” would be trending on LinkedIn if it wasn’t attached to a goliath brand like Forbes, Mashable or Inc Magazine?
I’m willing to bet they wouldn’t.
Do a Google search for social media advice. Hundreds, if not thousands, of independent marketers, bloggers and PR mavens have published on this subject. And quite frankly, many of their articles were much more unique, insightful, and interesting to read.
Clearly, the playing field is not even.
Much of the content that makes it into the apex of the popularity curve isn’t out-of-this-world-OMG-I-have-to-read-that-or-I-will-die. It’s often a high-level gloss-over of something we’ve heard a million times. So, we smile and nod, while a few marketers jump up and down shouting to their clients, “SEE!?! I was RIGHT!”… and the article is promptly forgotten to make room for the next.
That’s why I believe the juicy stuff is in the long tail of content publishing. The unique content published by small businesses, consultants, and thought leaders every day. The content that deserves far more attention than it gets.
To those late-night writers dreaming of the spotlight, I salute you.
