The blockchain market is on the fast track to hitting the magic number of $20 billion somewhere around the year 2024. The technology is so popular, in fact, that around 69% of banks are already trying out permissioned blockchain networks.
While these numbers are impressive, the main thing we are concerned about is whether blockchain will have an impact on the content marketing world, and if so, to what extent.
How We Approach Changes in the Content Marketing Industry
We prefer to focus on what could be called holistic content marketing, where each piece of the marketing puzzle is made to fit with other pieces to create a comprehensive grand strategy.
This way it’s easier to focus on the big picture and see whether a new tool or way of doing things really offers big enough benefits to warrant major changes to the strategy.
How Does Blockchain Fit in With This Holistic Content Marketing Approach?
I won’t go into great detail explaining what blockchain is, as I assume that most of the people reading this understand the basics. Let’s just say that having any online transaction encoded within a number of blocks, which allows you to clearly track its history, does have some interesting implications when it comes to content.
Proof of Origin
Aside from the obvious fact that cryptocurrencies based on blockchain can be used to pay for creative content writing services, this technology offers a solid way for creators to protect their content from would-be thieves.
Well, inasmuch as it allows you to prove that you were the first one to come up with it, making it easier, at least on paper, for you to defend your intellectual property.
That being said, there will always be plagiarists, and any kind of legal measures you take against them will be a grueling and somewhat costly process. It’s not enough to just show you were the first one to write something, you still have to chase down copycats and get them to delete the stolen content.
A Tool for Accurate Market Research
Now here’s something truly promising – using blockchain to get highly precise feedback from your target audience. What if you could get the kind of precise audience feedback that micro-influencers get from comments on social media?
The Clear Poll platform promises such insights through blockchain-based polls. It’s a simple concept, but one that works flawlessly – as people vote, their decisions become part of the blockchain, so they are protected and can’t be tampered with.
This allows for incredibly precise feedback, making the job of anyone involved in creative content writing or marketing a lot easier. This is actually a great use of blockchain technology, and definitely some game-changing stuff.
Re-Kindling Consumer Trust
People are being bombarded with all kinds of content as soon as they go online, and they’ve become distrustful. Fake news and alternative facts were last year’s favorite buzzwords, and online viewers won’t give branded content the time of day unless it’s been vetted by someone they trust.
This is where micro-influencers come into play, giving marketers access to a laser-targeted audience that trusts their favorite online personality and expects transparency.
Blockchain can allow marketers and influencers to collaborate with no middleman in the way, making the whole process much more efficient and less expensive.
You also have platforms like Mavin, where you have a chance to develop custom-tailored reward systems for your social media influencers based on how often they share your content, mention your brand, like the things you put out on your pages and so on. This way you can give your content that much-needed initial boost with very little hassle.
All this can lead to more clicks and shares, especially if combined with the kind of precise market research mentioned in the previous paragraph.
A Potential Way to Track the Engagement of Your Content
Marketers who reach out to influencers for unique content don’t really have a bulletproof strategy for keeping track of audience engagement. It’s a bit of an abstract concept, where a number of factors come into play, most of which are hard to measure accurately.
Likes and clicks on YouTube videos and Instagram pics are all well and good, but how does that translate into leads and sales?
Well, using blockchain to secure the contract, i.e. with a platform like Maven, will give marketers a certain level of insight into the progress their chosen influencer has made at each step of the project. Now, it won’t provide the most precise results, but it still gives you something to show your boss and justify your marketing budget.
This is an interesting use for blockchain, but it seems to offer only marginal benefits. No one can really tell if the effect it will have on the content marketing world will be all that significant.
What’s the verdict?
To tell you the truth, I was a bit skeptical about the whole thing at first, as I’ve grown weary of clickbait titles like “5 Reasons Why Blockchain is the Future of Everything”, but there might just be something to it.
As you can see, blockchain offers multiple unique benefits, from improved influencer collaboration to more precise market research. This makes it appealing even for someone with a more holistic content marketing approach, someone looking at the big picture if you will.
However, the important thing to note is that the technologies mentioned in this article are all still in their infancy, and the benefits they offer won’t magically change the way we do content marketing overnight.
There are some merits to using blockchain within this industry, but the benefits are still far from earth-shattering. The final verdict is that you shouldn’t be seduced by all the hype, but you should definitely keep on eye out for new uses of blockchain technology.
There might be something truly useful down the line, but there’s no reason to get too excited or start panicking just yet.