On October 30, 2024, our SEO experts Vincent and Antoine attended the Spotlight conference. This day was all about organic findability. Not only SEO was discussed, but also topics like organic social and community were covered. With (former) employees from Gymshark, Innocent, TikTok, and Snapchat, as well as renowned SEO expert Mike King, there was plenty of knowledge to learn from. Below are the key takeaways they brought back from Amsterdam.
Authenticity is more important than ever
The most mentioned term we heard during the conference was authenticity. Especially now that we have been able to use LLM for about two years and the amount of data being created is larger than ever. Internet users are overwhelmed with information, but one's concentration is only selective. The result is banner blindness, where a user consciously or unconsciously ignores banners. So how do you as a marketer ensure that your content resonates with the target audience? The key here is authenticity. Especially with Gen Z, your message will resonate much better when the user feels that the content is genuine and supported by the company communicating it. The slickness and perfection can therefore be toned down. You must truly mean what you post and convey this both offline and online. Ensure close contact with your audience so you genuinely know what they are engaged with daily and communicate with them on the same level. As Elfried Samba stated: “As a brand, you are part of a community and not creating a community yourself.” So be part of the lives of existing people as a brand instead of determining everything from behind a screen.
Choose quality over quantity
Be critical of the content you write or have ever written. Do you have a page that always performed well, but the visitors are slowly declining? Then be critical of the content that is there. Does your concentration slowly fade while reading the content yourself? Prune this content and keep only the content that truly helps users or has entertainment value. The type of content also plays a role in this. Are you writing about replacing a Fiat 500 oldtimer headlight? If you only have text as content, you will lose in the long run. Video and a step-by-step plan with images will help a user much better here. Therefore, critically examine new and existing pages and do not take the easiest path, but the path that best helps the user in the end. Do this also with your social posts. Create only content that you would like to see on your timeline. Color outside the lines of your organization and dare to take risks. Chances are this will trigger users of the various platforms much more than the third post this week about how great your company is. Are you still afraid of higher management? Test it out on Instagram Stories, for example. This content is removed after 24 hours anyway, but it is a good measure of how many reactions certain types of content generate.
Don't forget to be unique
The average marketer knows that a brand and uniqueness go hand in hand and are even a requirement for a strong brand. Even though we probably all know it, with AI it is tempting to take the easiest path and let AI do most of our work. The only risk is that the other competitor doing the same gets the same answers, and things like content start to look too similar. Therefore, always be critical and creative in how you use AI.
Conclusion: AI is there to help you, not to do your work
AI is one of the biggest developments of recent years. Despite the enormous impact of AI on the digital world, AI was not the central topic in any of the lectures. This is the most important conclusion from the takeaways: AI is a great tool, but it can never do all the previous takeaways as perfectly as you can. It is like a tool, but on steroids. Therefore, integrate AI into your workflow to speed up your tasks, but always remain in control of the quality and output. When you want to create authentic, high-quality, and unique content, you won't get far with the current AI models. Therefore, be critical of the output and time savings that AI provides when integrating it into your field. Does AI not hinder the authenticity, uniqueness, and quality of the final output? Then integrate AI as much as possible. If this is not the case, then stay in control and bring the human element to your expressions.
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