In the virtual world of the Internet, an often used parlance is that content is
king. This is essentially true because the very definition of the Internet is
the transfer of information (content) via a protocol. So, if content is king,
why is it that for many web entrepreneurs, the kingly rewards that come with
great content do not come so easy, even with great content? The answer lies in
the rarely understood domain of context.
In the distant past, when there were just a few thousand
websites on the Internet, any content domain was broadly or loosely defined
within other super domains. For example, if you created content about a
construction company, this content would always appear whenever someone searched
for anything remotely associated to construction.
Ergo, your content did not need much context to be relevant.
Fast forward to the very near now and the Internet has over 150 billion web
pages, and growing, with all manner of content. If the notion of content being
king is examined within this new context, then what you find is a very diffused
and spatial matrix of content that has an increasingly complex consistency or
pattern. What this means is that when you create content, the chances that your
content may be confused with other similar content, albeit with a different
context, is higher than before. To use the same example, you may write about a
construction company but there now arises another question, “What kind of
construction company is it?”
As may be already adduced from these few points, the idea of content being king
is simply but half of the equation with the other half hidden in the idiomatic
axiom that states that context is indeed queen. Context loosely defined refers
to a certain set of circumstances or extrinsic factors that give meaning and
sometimes an identity to an entity. In the realm of content, context simply
means that the how, why, what, when and where details you use in your content
will decide what that content means and to different people.
To demonstrate this, for example, if you add to the construction company website
we are building details about what sort of construction the company is involved
in, it begins to create greater context or relevance to the content. Drilling
down further into issues such as the location of the company, what brands the
company deals with, do they have business insurance in addition to
other more detailed information about the company derives the much-needed
context that makes the content relevant.
To summarize this, creating content for the sake of creating content has simply
become meaningless in this world that is awash with content created for the sake
of doing so. If you must create compelling, relevant and engaging content, then
the context must be built to a point of excellent personal recognition and
identification for the consumer. Consider one last example: If you were to
rewrite the Cinderella story and leave out all the details about the ball, the
prince, the two sisters and just write about Cinderella, would you really have a
story to tell?
Author: Daniel Mbure is a serial technology entrepreneur,
venture capitalist and writer by passion who follows closely the convergence of
technology and entrepreneurship. He regularly contributes content to a number of
top technology sites and has written dozens of in-depth articles published
across the web.
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