Like me, I’m gathering you’re in a fair number of meetings talking about content. Does much of what you come across in this area pique your interest but ultimately leave you underwhelmed?

If you answered yes, you might suffer from what I’m calling “content discontent.”

With endless streams of content filling our timelines, inboxes and news feeds, too much is simply clickbait. Attention-grabbing images or headlines suck you in until you eventually ask yourself, “How did I end up here?”

How did WE end up here? More importantly, what do we do about it? (And will Mrs. Crenshaw, my old English teacher, cringe because I ended a sentence with “it”?)

We are in control of our digital experiences. We’re also in control of the content we put out. As brand leaders, we can worry less about going viral and more about being vital. I applaud examples like Pandora (the jewelry company) with the blindfolded children identifying their moms; New Belgium Beer’s blog (their Fat Tire beer cans for summer beat Budweiser’s shift to “America”); and I remain inspired by the artistic creations using a Sharpie on Sharpie’s Instagram.

One shameless plug: the work our client the Detroit Red Wings is doing on Snapchat. It will start your engines.

Smart. Emotional. Dare I say, beautiful. Less listicle and more listenable.

I’ve been studying articles that detail what content earns the most shares. They talk about “whys” and “whats” and even the strength of odd numbers. Which, actually, are the same inputs that yield a funny joke.

I’m going to offer up an approach with a data point of one. Create for yourself. If you like the content, others might too.

Jamie Michelson, President/CEO