The Content Code: A Book Review

Here are a few of the articles that have appeared in my newsfeed in recent weeks:

• 25 podcasts that will make you a better marketer
• The top 200 content marketing brands and influencers
• 11 blogs every marketer should subscribe to
• 20 books every marketer should read in 2016

Do you have time to read and follow all of this? Heck, I barely manage to read the compendium articles listing the things I should be spending time on.

Marketers have embraced the content marketing trend in a big way, particularly when promoting the practice of marketing itself. We’ve reached the point at which there is more content about marketing available than one could possibly read, watch, or listen to. As Mark Schaefer puts it, “We’re approaching a physiological limit to content consumption.” He calls it content shock, and we’ve got it, big time.

Yet there are podcasts, blogs, and books that I make time for, because I trust and respect the authors. I will recommend books, blog posts, and podcasts to others – sometimes on social media, but often in conversation.

And that, in a nutshell, is the background for Mark Schaefer’s wonderful book The Content Code. In an era of content density, it’s not enough to put well-constructed content out in the world. You have to find people who treasure what you have to say, and help them share it.

The book is a survival guide to content marketing in a world with ever-more content. Success boils down to cultivating human relationships.

Why do people share content? Here’s a quote I love from the book: “Sharing content is a meaningful act, a very personal, intimate, and important gesture.”

Beyond the fact that it is well written and fun to read, here are three things I love about The Content Code.

1. A focus on human connections. Creating content isn’t enough; people have to share it for it to ignite and take hold in crowded content markets. The book focuses on human motivations and connections. People share content because it fills a human need; you must figure out how to fill genuine needs.

2. Actionable strategies. The book offers a number of ways to “ignite” your content, outlining practices that every content marketer can put in place today.

3. The idea of the alpha audience. The book encourages us to find and cultivate the audience that matters for us. “It’s so much easier to aim for the smallest possible audience, not the largest, to build long-term value among a trusted, delighted tribe, to create work that matters and stands the test of time.”

Work that matters. Thank you, Mark Schaefer. Count me among your alpha audience.