Blogger insights this week: The death of content marketing, email and the webpage

Introducing Webb Sightings, a roundup of digital marketing commentary from around the Web

Welcome to the first installment of Webb Sightings, a weekly roundup of blogger commentary on digital marketing topics edited by Oliver D. Webb. Check in every Friday to see his favorite posts on marketing insights, analysis, practice tips and commentary from the past week. Let’s get started!

Spotlight on the future of content marketing

This week the blogosphere erupted with some lively discussion on the sustainability of content marketing. Mark Schaefer lit the fuse with a post provocatively titled Content shock: Why content marketing is not a sustainable strategy. His thesis is that the sheer volume of content flooding the Web makes the current economic model for content marketing unsustainable. We are reaching a point where creating content will no longer be cost effective except for publishers with the deepest pockets, he theorized.

Mark’s post sparked nearly 300 comments including opinions from top content marketers like Brian Clark, Joe Pulizzi and Robert Rose and a few blog post responses. Here are two:

How to succeed at content marketing when everybody in the world is doing content marketing via Convince and Convert

Jay Baer wrote that the “content shock” theory is not a reason to abandon content marketing. His answer? “There are only three ways to succeed when faced with increasing competition: differentiation, excellence, or scale.”

Surviving “content shock” and the impending content marketing collapse via CopyBlogger

Sonia Simone over at Copyblogger had a similar response. The path to salvation is to produce Rainmaker Content, which is different than advertising or brand-building content. “Rainmaker content is real-world content,” she said. “It has to be interesting. It needs to creatively differentiate itself from what’s come before. And it has to solve a real audience problem. (Other than the problem of ‘I’m bored at work.’)”

“Great content will always have a way of surfacing to the top. You don’t care how deep the ocean is as long as you know how to swim. Great content wins. End of story.” – Robert Rose

Other blogger highlights from the Web

Social Media Marketing

How to get the full impact of social media on your SEO via SteamFeed

How memes spread on Facebook via Fast Company

Did Google just kill email? via Twist Company

6 Facebook marketing tips for a successful Facebook page via Social Media Examiner

How essential is Google+ for PR and marketing? via SHIFT Communications

Why you should use ‘actiontags’ in your social media marketing via MarketingProfs

Content Marketing

Editing tips for business Web content via Smashing Magazine

How to repurpose webinar content via Hubspot

How to find your target market so content sticks via Crazy Egg

Viral content on social media: Headline tips from Upworthy via Social Times

It’s 2014, is your content mobile ready? via Marketing Land

Response Marketing

Use content to generate on-page conversions via Koozai

How to tastefully use GIFs to bring your marketing emails to life via The Next Web

Web copy: 100 artful ways to convert online prospects to online customers via GO Digital

10 tips for a powerful email marketing strategy via Exact Target

Why you can’t resist persuasive techniques (even when you spot them) via Copyblogger

Branding

How to turn Instagram fans into brand advocates via The Next Web

Brands are built on intensity, not volume via Branding Strategy Insider

Yelp: Court ruling on anonymous customer reviews could have chilling effect on free speech via Search Engine Watch

The award for the best brand Golden Globe tweets goes to … via Digiday

Integrated Marketing

What is multichannel marketing? via Hubspot

Error 404: The Webpage is dying via Digiday

How to get more social media fans to opt in to your emails via Digital Sherpa

Overcoming skepticism on social campaigns and Vine via Social Media Explorer

Newswire

Digital Marketing Weekly via JGO Digital

Weekly news digest of business, industry, technology, regulatory trends and market studies. Top news stories this week: Google integrates Gmail with Google+ to enable direct emailing to social connections; Facebook to kill sponsored stories in April, and gets slapped with class action claim for false endorsements; CBS tests Twitter rules by placing tweet in ad; Plus news on LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pinterest and more.

Visual Marketing

Credit: Marketoonist.com