The Gatekeepers Are Gone: What That Means for Content Marketing
Social media dismantled traditional gatekeepers. Now we face a new challenge: navigating the digital platforms that simultaneously enable and restrict our reach. A few thoughts on gate-crashing.
There are no more gatekeepers. Though, I think, there are roadside bandits.
Let me explain.
Back in 2000ish, when Andrew McAfee wrote Enterprise 2.0, the promise of social media as a breaker of hierarchies was in full swing. While a good bit of the sheen of the early days of social media has worn off, when it comes to publishing content, getting the word out about yourself or your company by going directly to your audience, THAT remains 100% true.
I've been the gatekeeper. It's a weird feeling. As editor of a print magazine when blogs, wikis, and email were all new; I was quickly aware that there were hundreds of companies who wanted access to my readers.
It's one of the reasons I hated marketing and PR for so long - a lot of it was/is blatantly selfish.
Anyway, while gatekeepers still exist for various publications (and they should!), there's no reason for anyone - including you - not to be talking directly to their customers and potential customers.
Watch Out for Traffic Bandits!
Now, there are "the roadside bandits" who both enable you to reach an audience and also try to put up a filter between you and them. I'm looking at Google's continued focus on keep folks on the SERP rather than sending traffic - that is, people and potential customers - to everyone's website. There's also the ongoing drive of the various platforms (like this one) to keep everyone here - which is why there's been an uptick in longer posts here because LinkedIn will choke out the reach of anything with a link.
So while these bandits can rob you of some reach, they can't stop you - they need all of us to sell those ads after all!
You Are Your Own Gatekeeper
So, I lied a little in the beginning. There is one gatekeeper left.
You.
Your fear. Your procrastination. Your hesitation. Your [insert any one of a hundred BS reasons here from "I don't have time" to "But who wants to listen to meeeeee?!?"].
Want to grow? Want to create a direct line of communication to your customers? You've gotta create that direct line to them. Writing on social platforms is one way. Moving everyone to an email list is the best way.
I think a newsletter is the last 100% owned way.
What’s This Mean for Content Marketing?
The collapse of gatekeepers in content marketing is a massive game-changer.
You control the narrative of your own story. Back in the “old days,” your message was filtered through media channels, editors, and PR folks who decided whether your story was worth telling.
It was like trying to break into a locked room with someone else holding the key. Now? While those doors still exist, other doors have opened wide. With social media platforms, blogging tools, and email marketing (ESPECIALLY email marketing), you’ve got direct access to your audience — no middleman, no waiting for someone else’s approval. You have the power to publish whenever and wherever you want, and that’s huge.
But, cue Spider Man, “with great power comes great responsibility.” It’s not just about throwing content out there and hoping something sticks (though, if you injected every marketing pro with truth serum, they’d all say there’s an element of this in all content marketing).
There are a lot of voices out there, many of them just shouting into the void (that’s the folks who only have a spaghetti/wall plan). You have to figure out how to cut through that noise. Make people care. The keys: know your audience and show up consistently with content that they find valuable.
Create stuff that solves problems, answers questions, and/or entertains. The freedom to bypass the gatekeepers is an opportunity, but only if you build trust and a real connection with the people you want to reach.
Last Thoughts
I'll wrap with a few quick points on "no gatekeepers":
Watch out for the bandits!
There are some gates still worth crashing - maybe there's a podcast with an audience you'd like to reach. Make yourself useful to whoever has those keys and they might open that gate for you.
You can go directly to your people. Do so.
You are a publisher.
There are no guarantees, but if you have something to say, and keep saying it in a way that makes people care, you'll create/grow and audience.
The power is yours.
The first step is to understand that. Then get going.
And if you're feeling overwhelmed by the process, let me know—my Newsletter-in-a-Box service could be just the thing to get you started.
I like the idea of being my own gatekeeper, opening and closing gates at will 😀