The ship has sailed on the discussion about whether or not brands should embrace content marketing and start owning their own channels to connect directly with their audience.

It’s clear that the brands that create valuable content are positioned to succeed and those that continue to use interruptive marketing techniques will be ignored, fast-forwarded, and clicked out of existence.

At SXSW, a panel of marketers and journalists took the discussion one step further. Entitled Brave New World: Debating Brands’ Role as Publishers, noted journalist and NPR host Tom Ashbrook moderated what became a spirited and educational debate.

The session challenged the panelists to answer questions like:

• Is it good for the consumer for brands to become publishers?
• Will markets punish brand publishers who cheat?

Are We Providing Value?

These questions force brands to take a long, hard look at the content they’re publishing and determine whether it’s truly valuable or if it is simply contributing to the info-pollution that’s resulted from an explosion of un-policed branded content. “Information pollution is a real concern in branded content marketing,” said panelist Lora Kolodny, journalist for TechCrunch.

To ensure that your brand isn’t an info-polluter, I’ve written a guest post on the Social Fresh blog outlining four lessons learned from this discussion that will help your brand produce quality, trustworthy content that supports your brand’s story.

Head over to Social Fresh to read more!

Image Source: Ogilvy Notes