That does sound a little strange doesn’t it? You might be wondering what the heck I’m talking about, but hear me out. I believe that one day every company might have 2 CEO’s — one in the traditional sense (Chief Executive Officer) and a newer breed that I’ve daftly labeled the Chief Editorial Officer, who will be responsible for overseeing their company’s content creation or publishing efforts.
Now, I don’t claim to be much of a writer (if you’ve read this far you have probably come up with that same opinion on your own) or to have an editorial mindset, but I have worked in the online media business for a while now and I have followed the “death of newspapers” meme pretty closely. So, I do understand what is happening in this industry. For a long time I felt bad for all of the journalists losing their jobs and having the industry change right in front of their eyes, but lately I have been thinking differently. I think these folks have a really unique opportunity in front of them.
Why? Because content creation is becoming an increasingly important way for businesses to drive traffic to their websites and to generate leads. Today publishing and getting content in front of an audience is literally only a few mouse clicks away. Traditional media companies are becoming less and less effective ways to reach these audiences (think TV or newspaper ads) and it’s becoming very easy for businesses to reach their customers directly (think RSS equipped blogs or product focused webinars). There are some companies out there (HubSpot, for example) leading the way in educating the B2B marketplace on the importance of content creation, but I believe we still have a long way to go before most businesses start to take this seriously. Before they start to craft jobs geared towards writers/editors and map out a high level strategy for their content generation efforts.
So, if I were a journalist I would be excited about the forthcoming boom in content creation that will come from companies themselves rather than media properties. I would define my niche and make sure I understood the way the web worked in order to be ready for the opportunities that will eventually be out there in the job market. If I were a company looking to generate targeted web traffic and qualified leads (are there any that aren’t?) through more effective and cost efficient methods then I would be looking to scoop up these folks before my competitors did.
Maybe it would be a little silly for companies to one day have 2 CEO’s though, so I’m open to title suggestions for this new breed. How about CPO’s (Chief Publishing Officers)?
Dave, great post. Really interesting idea of a chief content officer. Perhaps that’s what the marketing officer will turn into.
One thing that struck me as you discussed journalists turning moving to companies to create content: They really have to stop being journalists when they make this transition. While there are a lot of skills that overlap between the two jobs, the basic motives are different. Journalists create content for content’s sake; marketers and businesses create content because they want to make money or build a business. In order to transition job roles, you have to transition your motives.
Thanks for the comment, Rick. I appreciate your feedback. My two CEO’s idea was a little tongue-in-cheek, but I think you are right in stating that these types of responsibilities might fall under the Marketing Officer.
Very good point though about journalists also having to transition motives. I tend to overlook this because I do not come from an editorial background. Maybe it will even be too much for many journalists to do and these new corporate content creators will have to come from another talent pool (copywriting, PR, etc.) all together?
I think some will make the transition, others won’t.
The actual, more accurate, title would be: “Chief political officer” in charge of spinning the facts in the companies favor wouldn’t it? Toyota “…has found no evidence of problems…”
Yeah, sure, you betcha!
Tom
Haha, that is a good point Tom. I guess it just depends on the ethics of the company. Using content creation is just another way (channel) to reach customers or, better yet, have them find you. That same fact spinning can and does take place in PR, marketing, advertising, etc.
- Dave
[...] 20, 2010 by davec004 In a previous post I wrote about content creation becoming an increasingly important way for businesses to drive traffic to their websites and [...]
As I read this, I wondered to myself, “Don’t they have those already?” Of course, I am not busy in the corporate world, so don’t really know, but if (especially) big companies don’t have someone as their Chief Publishing Officer, they are sorely behind the power-curve!
Anyway, an interesting blog post – thanks for your thoughts!
How about CCO, Chief Content Officer?
Dave, I don’t know how I wound up on your blog this morning but it has important, timely and interesting stuff.
Regards,
Gus G. Widmayer
Margaret/Gus – thanks for stopping by and leaving your comments!
Gus – I don’t know how you wound up here either, but I’m glad that you did and find my ideas interesting. Although it’s a challenging time to be doing business on the Web, I also think it’s a very exciting time full of opportunity for businesses that are able to adapt. And, CCO has a nice ring to it
- Dave
I don’t think there is a big leap from journalism to writing content for a company. All we have to do is look at what passes for journalism in some of today’s media. I think it would be more honest if they truly represented a company interest than to attempt to present the views of their corporate masters as if it were real journalism.