Look back twenty years and you’ll find that marketing materials had a slightly longer shelf life.
A company could have a brochure written and reasonable expect that brochure to be as relevant in a six months as it was the day it was printed.
Companies came to the web with similar expectations.
Oops.
The thing about the web, particularly today, is that companies are no longer the sole authors of their messages. In fact, their very brands are being formed and changed not by their marketing departments, but by their customers, fans and detractors.
For every 100 words a company writes online about its products and services online, their customers will write 1,000 words.
In fact, a smart company will carefully follow what people write about its products on Facebook, Twitter and elsewhere. And just sometimes, they’ll find that it makes sense to make corresponding adjustments to the way they write about those products on their own web sites.
Therein lies a great opportunity for online writers and copywriters. Why? Because web pages now have very short shelf lives. They need rewriting over and over. Sometimes a small adjustment is all it takes. Sometimes pages need to be rewritten from top to bottom.
Either way, online writers who get the social web now have an opportunity tap into a source of work that is ongoing.
I’ll be talking about this, and many other opportunities for online writers and copywriters, during a teleconference call this Thursday, April 19th. The call is free, but you do need to register.
About the author: Nick Usborne is an online writer, copywriter, author and coach. Read more…