CBS’s first attempt at providing its content online met with less than enthusiastic results. The reception has been so bad that CBS’s new internet strategist recently told the Wall Street Journal that the URL for its online media service should be called “CBS.com/nobodycomeshere.”
So CBS is changing gears. They’re making deals left and right to make their content available for free in at least ten different web-based venues. I was particularly excited to read that they’re in talks with Facebook to allow users to share CBS video on their profiles.
To succeed, media companies will need to get used to the idea that the natural habitat of content is no longer restricted to one format or one viewing platform. By opening their content up to a number of different channels, CBS is embracing this concept wholeheartedly.
There are takeaways here for businesses that are not traditional media companies. Remember what John Battelle said about all companies being publishers? It’s still true. And since all businesses are publishers, they need to make sure that their content is just as available to the people they want to reach as CBS does.
Here are some general things to think about:
- How do(es) your company blog(s) look on mobile phone browsers?
- Are your podcasts buried on your company website, or can people find them in podcast directories?
- Is your content being repurposed anywhere? How can you add additional value for people who view your content in that format?
- How many different ways are you enabling people to share your content? How does it display on Facebook’s shared links service? Do you have links that let them share it on Digg?
- Are you getting click through from people’s Google Reader link blogs? Find out who is sharing your content and thank them.
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