Earlier today, the folks at JESS3 and the marketing automation company Eloqua released a brand new infographic that they hoped would be an influential source for businesses and marketers in how to understand content marketing. We might know that we need to be in social media, but do we really know what purpose these social networks serve in the grand scheme of how we produce content?

JESS3 and Eloqua have both found a way to help solve this dilemma. Together they created what’s known as The Content Grid infographic that can be used by businesses to understand and build out a content marketing strategy. Don’t think of this strategy as like creating an editorial calendar, but rather as a map for how you as a member of a team should understand the nuances of social media and philosophy behind social networking. To this end, The Content Grid is meant to solve a few things:

1. Which platform works best for what we are trying to achieve?
2. Where does social media figure in the purchase funnel / sales cycle?
3. Who should “own” social media?
4. How can we utilize social channels outside of just Facebook and Twitter?

Social media doesn’t work for all things. You can’t just simply use Twitter in the entire business cycle. Instead, you’re going to have to look at the different tools to see which one is more effective. Would you use a hammer to screw in a nut or a drill to hammer in a nail? Of course not! It’s the exact same way with social media. To this end, The Content Grid looks at four main parts when it comes to content marketing:

The first involves how much control is given to  both the consumer and the company. This is the top and bottom part of The Content Grid. As you can see, it’s a matter of centralized control versus decentralization – if you want to maintain as much control as possible, then you’ll want to have tools that reflect that such as widgets and interactive demos – things only you as a company can maintain. But on the other hand, the decentralized control is the lawless frontier of the Internet. This is where most of the crowd and consumers are talking freely and won’t accept any control or censorship by any company. But it is here in the decentralized zone where you must enter and make your pitch to influence their decisions.

The second part deals with at which stage of the sales cycle the consumer is a part of…are they still unsure about your brand, in which case you need to build on awareness OR are they at that point where the consumer might be ready to make a purchase – this being the consideration phase. Again, different social media tools are more useful in different parts of the process.

If you also look more closely at The Content Grid, you can see that the social networks that are displayed correspond to a specific part of the grid. These placements are quite strategic because they correlate to the portion of the sales cycle AND relate to how much control a company would have. For the most part, what businesses will always need to be concerned about is in the areas from the middle of the grid down towards the most extreme part of the decentralized zone. It is here throughout the span of the sales cycle where businesses must empower their employees and team to use social media to help interact with consumers. It is quite telling that throughout the sales cycle, there are many departments involved in closing the deal, so why should it be any different with social media? There is NO SINGLE owner of social media – everyone in the company, from the receptionist to the chief executive are responsible for engaging.

You can read more about The Content Grid on Eloqua’s blog.

JESS3′s design work can also be seen on Brian Solis’ Conversation Prism and the Social Marketing Compass in his latest book Engage.

words and pictures by Brian Solis

The Conversation Prism by Brian Solis and Jesse Thomas

The Conversation Prism debuted in August 2008 to provide a visual representation of the true expansiveness of the Social Web and the conversations that define it. In this short time span, over one million people have crossed its path.

When Jesse Thomas of JESS3 and I initially mapped “the conversation,” we recognized that the act of categorizing social networks within a visually rich graphic would be momentary at best, demanding endless iterations in order to accurately document evolving and shifting online conversations as well as the communities that promote them.

My goal was to observe, analyze, dissect, and present the dynamics of conversations, how and where they transpired.

We’re proud to introduce version 2.0 of The Conversation Prism. We’re also excited to release a version that traverses the online realm into the real world with the release of a full color 18” x 24” poster to prominently display in the workplace, classroom, home office, or at events. Please visit www.theconversationprism.com for details, embed codes, and additional insights.

Please read the full post at PR 2.0.

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