Whether you’re a CMO, a freelance writer, or a marketing strategist, there are a few content-related organizations you should always keep an eye on.
BCMA
The Branded Content Marketing Association operates in the United States as BCMA USA, a chapter of the international organization. The BCMA focuses on information-sharing among brands with content-marketing strategies, identifying best practices, effective approaches and innovation. BCMA not only analyzes content creation, but also examines brands as publishers.
CMA
The Content Marketing Association is another global professional organization for content marketers. Headquartered in England, the nonprofit CMA was originally founded as the Association of Publishing Agencies and now offers advice, education and information for brands and media agencies.
MPA
The Magazine Publishers of America has shared best practices and set ethics standards for magazine content creation for decades, including setting rules and standards for tricky topics such as advertorials, paying sources, disclosure and accepting gifts.
TCC
Brand content has been around long before the Internet, including print custom publishing. In 1999, MPA members launched The Custom Publishing Council to help set standards for this type of content. The organization went independent from the MPA shortly after and, changing with the times, it evolved into The Custom Content Council. Today, it’s the nonprofit The Content Council. Its mission is to represent content marketers and provide thought leadership. TCC offers meetings, awards and Content magazine.
AMA
The American Marketing Association is a membership trade association for marketing professionals, offering a variety of education and information via publications, workshops and its website. The AMA conducts research on and provides information specific to content marketing.
CMI
The Content Marketing Institute, a privately owned, commercial organization, provides information, education and training to brands to help them better manage content-marketing strategies. It publishes Chief Content Officer magazine and holds two major annual conferences, Content Marketing World and Intelligent Content Conference.
ASJA
The American Society of Journalists and Authors is a 1,000-member professional association for non-fiction writers and editors. The organization isn’t for content marketers, but content writers can benefit from membership.
FCC
The Federal Communications Commission isn’t just a large, government umbrella organization that regulates marcomm in the United States. After native advertising debuted, the FCC created guidelines (still fluid) for publishers of brand content to avoid penalties for non-disclosure and other advertising ethics violations regarding this new form of content. The FCC offers training workshops and written guidelines at its website.
