Age of abundance: How brands large and small can take advantage of the content explosion.

Advertising makes the brand the hero, whereas branding makes your customer the hero. 

You no longer need to own a recording studio, TV station, or publishing house to share your story. Large brands like Red Bull, GoPro and Starbucks are producing their own content and letting their fans (the Influencer Curators) distribute that content. What the content explosion means for large media companies is explored in this fascinating article from Redef: Age of Abundance: how the content explosion will invert the media industry.

What it means for small business:

Your business is now a media company. While platforms like Facebook, Instagram and YouTube make distributing content easy, telling an interesting story that your customers will care about is difficult. But it is worth the effort to get it right.

Here’s a suggestion: Rather than talk all about yourself, tell your customers' stories and make them the heroes. Find an influencer who is also a regular customer and ask him or her five questions. Post the answers along with a photo on your website and let the sharing begin. That’s what GoPro does. They even reward their best fans with awards and prizes for the best videos that their customers have taken. 

It has been said that the difference between advertising and branding is that advertising makes the brand the hero, whereas branding makes your customers the hero. It may seem like a subtle shift, but if done right it will turn your casual customers into cheering fans.