Content Marketing, while not a new word, has yet to be completely accepted in today’s local digital and offline marketing and PR. Many use it to directly promote products, services and brands, ignoring the main tenants of content marketing; to create content consumers will enjoy and search for.
The best examples on how content marketing is done right are content machines for for non-traditional news such as Buzzfeed, Mashable, Upworthy and other lifestyle websites/blogs. However, work-oriented or business-related content websites continue to be scarce.
Local PR agency, Influence Communications, has recently opened up a new lifestyle portal focused on content for work topics. Named 925, this content machine was built to be a “hub where both CEOs and interns alike at early-age startups can share and engage with fresh ideas… 925 acts as an inside look to a never-before-seen aspect of the business sector.”
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Digital Content + PR = Digital PR
Content and PR have always been good friends, which is why the pairing makes sense. PR can easily use content marketing to their advantage, simply because PR contains many of the same principles. PR and content’s job is to build up a brand through interesting and “unbiased” content/events, improve the image of something in the long term and create things that would encourage people (such as media) to share with others.
PR agencies can reap a lot of benefits from content machines such as 925. This includes inbound traffic to their agency website. Although 925’s website is separate from Influence Communications, there are some back links that lead back to the agency’s website.
The content will also provide great organic results, as the more content you have, the stronger your website’s SEO. Although the website is currently not visible in the top 3 pages of “925 Egypt,” this could change in a few months. The website has only been live for around 2 months, so there is room for improvement.
You can explore 925.com guidelines on here.
Webvertorials and paid content are also another way to entice clients to jump into partnerships with you, as this extra channel can give agencies a head start above others. A content portal provides another opportunity for consumers to engage with brands and branded content, an important benefit for agencies.
More PR agencies to invest in digital platforms?
It seems like the digital content scene in Egypt is growing by joining more players. More casual content portals also facilitate discussions on many different topics. For example, brands can look at the discussions on the content website’s social media, using it as a form of indirect feedback to improve their services/product or brand.
Either way, both PR and marketing agencies do have a lot to gain from creating their own specific-content portals and we are happy to see the enrichment of the digital content scene in Egypt and how it keep growing and quickly becoming a challenge to raise the bar for quality content.
From Think Marketing team as a fellow content portal, we wish 925 team all the best as they navigate the content platforms arena in the MENA region. Keep growing and stay successful!
