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Content Warfare: How to find your audience, tell your story and win the battle for attention online.
There is a battle taking place online every day. It's not a fight for the fate of the world... just the future of your business.
A battle fought with content.
A battle far too many businesses are losing. This is Content Warfare. We're here to win the battle for attention.
Content Warfare is a work in defiance of mediocre content marketing. For too long, I've watched successful offline companies step into the digital world and implement traditional interruption marketing strategies with boring content and gimmicky sales funnel techniques.
These techniques may have worked in 1999, but this 2015. The digital world and the consumers in it have evolved. The online and offline worlds are converging.
We can no longer be one thing in the physical world and another online. Connected Generation consumers want to know who the human is behind the corporate logo. Content, in the form of media such as blog posts, video, podcasts and images, allows us to tell our story and connect with our customers in ways that were impossible 15 years ago.
We must be authentic, transparent and honest. Abstract concepts, but when harnessed with quality content creation, yield incredible results (as you'll see).
A battle fought with content.
A battle far too many businesses are losing. This is Content Warfare. We're here to win the battle for attention.
Content Warfare is a work in defiance of mediocre content marketing. For too long, I've watched successful offline companies step into the digital world and implement traditional interruption marketing strategies with boring content and gimmicky sales funnel techniques.
These techniques may have worked in 1999, but this 2015. The digital world and the consumers in it have evolved. The online and offline worlds are converging.
We can no longer be one thing in the physical world and another online. Connected Generation consumers want to know who the human is behind the corporate logo. Content, in the form of media such as blog posts, video, podcasts and images, allows us to tell our story and connect with our customers in ways that were impossible 15 years ago.
We must be authentic, transparent and honest. Abstract concepts, but when harnessed with quality content creation, yield incredible results (as you'll see).
- GenresBusiness
250 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 16, 2015
4 people are currently reading
31 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 22, 2015
A few years back, I finally figured out Google Plus courtesy Ryan's videos so when I decided to read Content Warfare, I had certain expectations and I am pleased to say that this book is a collector's item, especially for a person whose head has started to hurt from content marketing and all sorts or gobbledygook. The book is written in a simple language that keeps the reader's attention till the end and is filled with nuggets of information which compel one to return and read again. My favorite section was the Basic SEO. When Ryan tells the reader to Educate, Entertain and Inspire, he leads by example. Off to find my True Fans!
March 31, 2015
So, I like to think of myself as advanced content marketer, however, Ryan's book quickly humbled me. I would absolutely recommend reading his book...especially if you are new to online marketing or looking to get into it. Heck, even as an advanced person, if you look at my soft copy, it is CHOCK FULL of yellow and pink highlighter markings (something I rarely do).
All in all, this book was well worth the price and the time and I am now a big fan of Ryan's Podcast "Content WarFare." I would highly recommend both.
All in all, this book was well worth the price and the time and I am now a big fan of Ryan's Podcast "Content WarFare." I would highly recommend both.
August 1, 2015
Just love this book. A beautiful work of art. I mean, if you want to be successful as a business online, part of your path *has* to be to READ THIS BOOK. Ryan makes it refreshingly personal and so full of amazing insights that you've got to read it TWICE or even three times. I made lots of notes the first time through and refer to them often. Getting ready to read it again.
February 7, 2017
*deep inhale* Ok, I'm going to remain calm throughout this review *exhales*
I have never heard of Ryan Hanley. This book was "required" reading at my job.
You know you're in for it when, in the Foreword, there is a typo in the 4th paragraph of the first page. It gets so, so much worse.
"Content Warfare" tries to present itself as a motivator for content marketers new to the game. Spoiler: it's very, very poorly written. In 196 pages, I spotted no fewer than 30-40 typos—I lost count (that's approximately one typo for every six pages for those keeping score, but honestly the frequency is probably higher.)
Funny, Hanley instructs readers that writing like Shakespeare is a non-essential trait for content marketers, however dude goes ahead and makes up his own phrase. Seriously, Ryan, what are "frigidity fingers"? (page 73)
I took photos of each mistake I found and eventually had to stop. I actually put down the book to Google Ryan, thinking maybe he was born and raised in Russia and speaks English secondarily but really had some ideas worth sharing and couldn't afford an editor. New York, as it turns out. Life-long resident.
While we're on the subject of Google, Ryan tells us that this is where people come to find answers. Except of course, Ryan.
Actually, before we get to that, let's discuss research a bit.
On page 40 of this crap-show, Ryan explains to us how younger generations still have attention spans. To build upon this conclusion, he offers some front-page wordcounts from the NY Times over the past few years. They are (according to this "book") as follows: 2009: 23, 2010: 21, 2011: 16, 2012: 33. So that's 2009-2010= -2, 2010-2011= -5, 2011-2012= +17. The very next sentence reads "Why would the NY Times be willing to continually increase the amount of long-form content if their readers weren't interested?" On what planet is this a continual increase? It is not. It is a fabricated statement built upon a poor premise. Two points stripped from Hufflepuff.
After researching his findings, I found an article from a 2012 Time's piece that has these words, verbatim, as they appear on page 40 of Content Warfare: "In 2012, 33 articles of more than 4,000 words originated on the front page. That’s up – a lot – from 16 the previous year; 21 in 2010; and 23 in 2009." There is no citation other than "according to the New York Times" in Content Warfare, which stands to reflect the statistics presented (and mindbogglingly interpreted) and not the words used to present them. There are no quotations; no citation in the notes/references section. This is flagrant plagiarism.
Here's a link to the Time's article: https://publiceditor.blogs.nytimes.co...
I will be reaching out to the editor and rightful author of these words regarding your book.
Sorry for the aside. Let's get back to Google now. Dude, use it. It's funny (in the most tragic way) that the names this dude botches in the book are predominantly people of color. Beyoncé is not spelled 'Beyonce'. Jay Z is not Jay-Z hyphenated (he made formal announcements about his name change, Google tells me, in 2012 - three years before your published your on-fire trashcan). But Ryan can't be bothered with that.
"Oh, that's petty." You might be waving off, "It's an honest mistake. You're just being a jerk." Actually, it's super disrespectful. But that doesn't take first prize. Drum roll please: THIS DUDE MISSPELLED BARACK OBAMA. HE COULD NOT BE BOTHERED TO GOOGLE THE NAME OF THE PRESIDENT. "Barrack", oh my good God.
Rean, are you reading this, Rean? This is your name now. You no longer deserve to be called "Ryan", Rean. I hope this is ok with you, since you don't mind botching names left and right (PoCs in particular, suspiciously). Well, I don't care either way. This book has left me devoid of hope. It is an affront to the reader's intelligence, Rean.
Rean, later on, tells us to "read the content you create out loud." Rean doesn't. If he had, he would have at least caught 15-20 of the typos I found. They are EVERYWHERE.
Rean tells us to get a decent editor. He didn't, that's obvious.
Rean tells us that to battle writer's block, either write or don't. Groundbreaking stuff there, Copernicus.
Rean tells us that we have to find our audience first. I hope none of them are black people, because dude very obviously won't do an inch of research into them.
And so it goes...
In content marketing, there's this saying that goes "in order for people to buy from you, they need to know, like, and trust you."
-I do not know Rean, and I will never seek out anything else of his.
-I do not like Rean, because he claims expertise in a subject area he has extremely little command over and is ill-equipped to speak to.
-I do not trust Rean, because it is obvious he does not use the tactics he tells his readership to pursue.
This book was created to make money. It was not written to help. It was not written to make you a better writer. It was written to stroke one ego and line one pocket. Which explains why, on the very first page of Rean's opus, you'll find "Volume orders are available upon request. Email ryan@ryanhanley.com for details." Without a single typo!
"Content Warfare" is a magnificent display of everything a budding writer should not do when submitting a manuscript for publication. If I decided to read a second time (ha!), I'm sure I could easily hit the 50 errors mark.
So what did I learn?
-Rean really likes the Buffalo Bills.
-Rean really likes the Buffalo Bills.
-Rean really likes the Buffalo Bills. (it comes up a few times)
-Rean likes sports!
-Rean likes using stale car metaphors!
-Rean, in an effort to pad out this garbage heap, restates the same thing many, many times (there are loads of examples within the book, I don't care to re-open this mess again) And, get this: dude admits to doing this in the book. Couldn't be bothered to edit down though. Lazy. So, so lazy.
-Rean uses a 5-objective strategy method where each piece of content created needs to fulfill at least one objective (holy crap! Actually useful! Don't expect him to offer his own 5 objectives as example or reference, that's simply asking too much. But still, useful.)
That's pretty much it.
Run away from this book. Run as far and as fast as you can. Never, ever look into its pages. This man should never be allowed near a word processor again.
Seriously. Very seriously. This is one of the worst books I have ever had the displeasure of reading.
I have never heard of Ryan Hanley. This book was "required" reading at my job.
You know you're in for it when, in the Foreword, there is a typo in the 4th paragraph of the first page. It gets so, so much worse.
"Content Warfare" tries to present itself as a motivator for content marketers new to the game. Spoiler: it's very, very poorly written. In 196 pages, I spotted no fewer than 30-40 typos—I lost count (that's approximately one typo for every six pages for those keeping score, but honestly the frequency is probably higher.)
Funny, Hanley instructs readers that writing like Shakespeare is a non-essential trait for content marketers, however dude goes ahead and makes up his own phrase. Seriously, Ryan, what are "frigidity fingers"? (page 73)
I took photos of each mistake I found and eventually had to stop. I actually put down the book to Google Ryan, thinking maybe he was born and raised in Russia and speaks English secondarily but really had some ideas worth sharing and couldn't afford an editor. New York, as it turns out. Life-long resident.
While we're on the subject of Google, Ryan tells us that this is where people come to find answers. Except of course, Ryan.
Actually, before we get to that, let's discuss research a bit.
On page 40 of this crap-show, Ryan explains to us how younger generations still have attention spans. To build upon this conclusion, he offers some front-page wordcounts from the NY Times over the past few years. They are (according to this "book") as follows: 2009: 23, 2010: 21, 2011: 16, 2012: 33. So that's 2009-2010= -2, 2010-2011= -5, 2011-2012= +17. The very next sentence reads "Why would the NY Times be willing to continually increase the amount of long-form content if their readers weren't interested?" On what planet is this a continual increase? It is not. It is a fabricated statement built upon a poor premise. Two points stripped from Hufflepuff.
After researching his findings, I found an article from a 2012 Time's piece that has these words, verbatim, as they appear on page 40 of Content Warfare: "In 2012, 33 articles of more than 4,000 words originated on the front page. That’s up – a lot – from 16 the previous year; 21 in 2010; and 23 in 2009." There is no citation other than "according to the New York Times" in Content Warfare, which stands to reflect the statistics presented (and mindbogglingly interpreted) and not the words used to present them. There are no quotations; no citation in the notes/references section. This is flagrant plagiarism.
Here's a link to the Time's article: https://publiceditor.blogs.nytimes.co...
I will be reaching out to the editor and rightful author of these words regarding your book.
Sorry for the aside. Let's get back to Google now. Dude, use it. It's funny (in the most tragic way) that the names this dude botches in the book are predominantly people of color. Beyoncé is not spelled 'Beyonce'. Jay Z is not Jay-Z hyphenated (he made formal announcements about his name change, Google tells me, in 2012 - three years before your published your on-fire trashcan). But Ryan can't be bothered with that.
"Oh, that's petty." You might be waving off, "It's an honest mistake. You're just being a jerk." Actually, it's super disrespectful. But that doesn't take first prize. Drum roll please: THIS DUDE MISSPELLED BARACK OBAMA. HE COULD NOT BE BOTHERED TO GOOGLE THE NAME OF THE PRESIDENT. "Barrack", oh my good God.
Rean, are you reading this, Rean? This is your name now. You no longer deserve to be called "Ryan", Rean. I hope this is ok with you, since you don't mind botching names left and right (PoCs in particular, suspiciously). Well, I don't care either way. This book has left me devoid of hope. It is an affront to the reader's intelligence, Rean.
Rean, later on, tells us to "read the content you create out loud." Rean doesn't. If he had, he would have at least caught 15-20 of the typos I found. They are EVERYWHERE.
Rean tells us to get a decent editor. He didn't, that's obvious.
Rean tells us that to battle writer's block, either write or don't. Groundbreaking stuff there, Copernicus.
Rean tells us that we have to find our audience first. I hope none of them are black people, because dude very obviously won't do an inch of research into them.
And so it goes...
In content marketing, there's this saying that goes "in order for people to buy from you, they need to know, like, and trust you."
-I do not know Rean, and I will never seek out anything else of his.
-I do not like Rean, because he claims expertise in a subject area he has extremely little command over and is ill-equipped to speak to.
-I do not trust Rean, because it is obvious he does not use the tactics he tells his readership to pursue.
This book was created to make money. It was not written to help. It was not written to make you a better writer. It was written to stroke one ego and line one pocket. Which explains why, on the very first page of Rean's opus, you'll find "Volume orders are available upon request. Email ryan@ryanhanley.com for details." Without a single typo!
"Content Warfare" is a magnificent display of everything a budding writer should not do when submitting a manuscript for publication. If I decided to read a second time (ha!), I'm sure I could easily hit the 50 errors mark.
So what did I learn?
-Rean really likes the Buffalo Bills.
-Rean really likes the Buffalo Bills.
-Rean really likes the Buffalo Bills. (it comes up a few times)
-Rean likes sports!
-Rean likes using stale car metaphors!
-Rean, in an effort to pad out this garbage heap, restates the same thing many, many times (there are loads of examples within the book, I don't care to re-open this mess again) And, get this: dude admits to doing this in the book. Couldn't be bothered to edit down though. Lazy. So, so lazy.
-Rean uses a 5-objective strategy method where each piece of content created needs to fulfill at least one objective (holy crap! Actually useful! Don't expect him to offer his own 5 objectives as example or reference, that's simply asking too much. But still, useful.)
That's pretty much it.
Run away from this book. Run as far and as fast as you can. Never, ever look into its pages. This man should never be allowed near a word processor again.
Seriously. Very seriously. This is one of the worst books I have ever had the displeasure of reading.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews