In the early days of modern content marketing (2008/2009), the content approach to marketing found fertile soil. The old content marketing was found in loyalty magazines, employee engagement magazines, and content on how to use innovative products, such as Jell-O's recipe book. In the early 2000s, content marketing became a continued strategic business function. The trigger was the expansion of Web 1.0 technology - web search.

Content marketing history

Blockchain technology enables these new decentralized capabilities for new customer experiences and supports direct peer-to-peer transactions without a centralized service provider. Decentralized content, marketing, and advertising will change the digital relationship between customers and businesses. This is called tokenized customer experience or tokenized CX.

How blockchain fits into content marketing

The early days of Web 1.0 were all about FINDING pages, blog posts, and downloads of documents, meaning marketers needed to focus on publishing content.  Web 2.0 pushed marketers to create responsive (and contextual) approaches so that customers could EXPERIENCE something better. But along the way, the focus shifted from creating findable content to finding intent signals that marketers used. As data becomes more precious, things will change again. If it continues to develop as expected, the promise of marketing in Web3.0 is to help customers CREATE something better.

Tomorrow’s content marketing and Web 3.0

Marketers may soon be able to issue "tokens" (or smart contracts) powered by blockchain technology to enable more automated, secure, and trusted customer experiences. These tokens can enable any transaction involving digital artefacts (including ads, downloadable assets, subscriptions, or access to communities) and empower consumers to help shape their experience. They also enable marketers to develop more creative content and marketing experiences, meaning the scope is largely a content marketing approach.

Tokenized CX is just content marketing evolved

Early concepts of the metaverse date back to the early 2000s. The marketing hype around virtual currencies goes back to 1999 with Beenz and Flooz. <ul><li>Beenz positioned itself as "the web's currency". The site paid people in Beenz for viewing ads or signing up for a service.</li><li>Flooz, a virtual currency startup, used its internet currency as a loyalty program to internet merchants.</li></ul> Web 3.0 concepts in the early 2020s are like content marketing concepts in the early 2000s. These concepts aren't new, but they may transform into solid business strategies.

Web 3.0 isn’t new - it's just time

Web 3.0 technologies will impact the way consumers experience, consume, transact, and behave. But it is very early days. Web 3.0's first iterations are about how people gain and share content, join virtual communities and create customer experiences. In marketing, we may see the introduction of immersive participation and intelligent peer-to-peer transactions with a shift in allowing consumers to control their personal data. This means content-driven marketing experiences might evolve to where consumers control the connection. Retaining the relationship would require delivering great value.

Web 3.0 opportunities for content marketers

Web3 and content marketing as a business strategy.

What you need to know about the impact of Web 3.0 concepts like NFTs, blockchain, and metaverse on the future of content marketing – Content Marketing Institute