Authentic Marketing Or Spam - What Makes The Difference

No one can be online for any length of time without experiencing spam. It comes into our email boxes, gives us eyestrain with flashing banners or may come in the form of general tackiness on Facebook. With all of this online spam, it can be difficult to see what's genuine online.

The internet has revolutionized our lives. If we have a message to get out, it is now possible for an the average person to do so in a bigger way than ever before. One of the problems with this is that it only takes a few missteps for someone new to marketing to miss the mark and end up cranking out spam. One problem with all of this spam is that it makes it easier for the general public to see all online marketing as spam.

That's the reason for this article. I wanted to take a good look at spam and use knowledge of what makes it spam to help marketers make their already good marketing better.

This is the definition that I use for spam:

Marketing content that has an agenda behind it where there is no value in it.

There is no depth to this type of marketing. The only way it will have any effect on someone is if they buy or do whatever is being offered. The content itself is lacking, you guessed it, content.

Now, what makes marketing that is authentic?

It must provide value with no strings attached. The piece of content should impart some knowledge, solve a problem or be entertaining. It's popular now to promote a business through content marketing combined with social media. The content that is shared upfront is free and if it is of high quality, it will encourage readers to go back to their site. Another side benefit to high quality content is that it encourages sharing and syndication through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. This sharing aspect of social media facilitates what normally happens when a person experiences a great piece of content, be it a book, movie or song...they tell someone about it.

I feel that the reason why people who produce low quality content resort to spamming everyone with it is that they are the only ones who will. No one else would ever want to spread it.

Because of this, spamming is just a way for those who create low quality content co try and imitate great content.

Here's how I look at great marketing. It's all about depth and span. The more depth or better the piece of content, the more potential it has to be spread by those who are impacted by it. If there is no depth, however, the person responsible for producing it must broadcast it in any way they know how.

That's not to say that quality alone will make something catch on. It's important to study the means by which content is spreading as well as continuing to produce great stuff regularly. I love Seth Godin's books as well as his blog. He says that marketing is nothing other than the spreading of ideas. If you have an idea to spread, that makes you a marketer. He says that there are lots of worthy messages and causes that never catch on because of bad marketing.

So what is a simple principle to keep in mind to get our content seen initially and shared?

It's all about span and depth. Great content as we mentioned earlier has depth and quality. This will help it to be shared by others which will naturally create span.

"The greatest depth over the greatest span."

If this is maintained as a focus it can help you to keep three key areas of content marketing balanced.

1. Make high quality content that has depth

2. Put it in front of a good number of people

3. Make sure that it's easy for them to share your content with others like adding syndication plugins on your blog

Balance is important in many different areas of life. In marketing online, it's important to balance depth and span to have great results.

To read more about authentic marketing, then visit Paul Reimers' site that focuses on Network Marketing Online.