Neil Patel on the Web Summit platform in Doha announcing his document entitled “Content is not King” (Al Jazeera)

At the Web Summit in Doha, Neil Patel presented his document entitled “Content is Not King,” which presents a comprehensive approach to content marketing, challenging traditional ideas and providing strategic insights for creating impactful content in the digital age.

Who is Neil Patel?

Neil Patel is a prominent figure in the world of digital marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), and online entrepreneurship.

He is known for creating valuable content about marketing strategies, SEO techniques, and entrepreneurship.

He is also the co-founder of several companies, including Crazy Egg and KISSmetrics.

He also writes regularly on his blog and produces online courses and videos to help businesses and individuals improve their online presence.

Bill Gates and his phrase “Content is king”

At the beginning of the session presented by Neil Patel on the stage of the Web Summit held in Doha, he pointed out that the document of the famous declaration made by Bill Gates in 1996 that “content is king” is a thing of the past, proposing a major shift in the current point of view that he sees as fit for the year 2024. .

While Patel stresses the importance of consistent blogging, he backs up statistics displaying the significant benefits of maintaining a blog, such as increased organic search traffic, repeat visitors, backlinks, and organic traffic.

However, he believes that the content marketing landscape in 2023 has become different from before, but unfortunately, Patel says that the outlook of content creators and digital marketers is still the same.

He identified fallacies that are still common among many content producers about the best mechanism for attracting an audience, such as increasing content, focusing only on clicks and views, and prioritizing production quantity over quality.

Patel sees Gates' famous phrase, "Content is king," has become a thing of the past (social networking sites)

The effect of TikTokfication on written content

Patel believes that there is a new trend that he calls the “Tik Tok effect,” which is very short content that is displayed in the form of slides on Instagram or Tik Tok. Patel attributes the reason for the spread of this content to be that it fits with the algorithms of these platforms.

These platforms prioritize interactivity, so the more a user consumes written content to the end, the more chances the algorithm has to rank it higher or disseminate it to more users, even if they are not followers of the content producer’s channel.

Therefore, Patel recommends using these platforms as part of the long-form content development process, which he explained in his document, which is considered a content production strategy.

The new approach...and artificial intelligence

The document proposes a new approach to content marketing that includes a careful understanding of audience targeting, the importance of creating personalized content tests, and the need for a strategic focus on quality and engagement rather than just quantity of content.

It introduces the concept of Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) and emphasizes the importance of valuable stories, data-driven decisions, and interactive content experiences.

Neil Patel emphasized that algorithms no longer give importance to long or short content, nor to the number and quality of followers. Rather, attention has now focused on interactions and quality of content, and this must change several concepts for those who still cling to the old methods of producing and marketing content.

Patel criticized the over-reliance on artificial intelligence to create content, explaining in numbers that this type of content may attract the audience when it is published, but it lacks the real value of human experience and authenticity, which cannot be replaced in the content that we - as content producers - want audiences to interact with.

A clear and simple plan

During the session, Patel provided clear steps for content producers on how they can analyze and produce content in a simple way through several steps:

  • Start with the X platform to test what your audience is asking for

Patel says X's algorithm isn't as stringent as other platforms that can measure engagement on your posts and advance or delay them.

The developer can write posts on the platform and observe the audience’s interaction with them, then choose the appropriate ones to begin the second step.

  • Make it as short as possible 

Not all topics need elaboration, which is why Neil Patel believes that you should start with a summary. You can make a video or write a simple text of one or two paragraphs and publish it on platforms that are interested in interaction, such as Instagram and TikTok. This will give your materials greater momentum and make you able to generate more ideas.

  • When you are sure of the topic, elaborate

After you have a clear picture of what attracts the audience to interact, you can start creating long-form material, provided that the information is useful, new, and not repetitive. In this way, the user can interact with your material to a greater extent, and thus the algorithms give it great importance, whether in search engines or through social media.

Patel concluded his session at the web conference by calling on content producers to think deeply about their content strategies and adopt a data-driven approach focused on creating interactive and engaging content experiences.

This trend serves as a compass for companies seeking excellence in the field of content marketing by focusing on quality, relevance, and deep interaction with the audience.

Source: Al Jazeera