Marketing-driven content will figure prominently in AOL's plans to re-establish itself as a premier online channel after Time Warner spins it off next month.

The company's chief executive, Tim Armstrong, said that content is the one area on the web that hasn't seen its full potential. He therefore plans to significantly increase the amount of content AOL produces. The company currently employs 3,000 journalists, and that number is growing, writes MediaBuyerPlanner.

Many of these new writers and editors, however, will have roles that look a bit different from those they may have held in traditional media.  Rather than true investigative journalism, they will instead be tasked with helping marketers create content that the marketers will be affiliated with, but will be unable to directly control, according to the Wall Street Journal.

A new content-management system is at the heart of these plans. While Armstrong hasn’t been willing to share many details about the system, he said it is based on new technology that will make it easier to produce and publish web content across AOL’s sites.

Mass Content Models

Such a set up would mimic the mass content creation models established by such companies as Demand Media’s Demand Studios and Associated Content, a search-driven content creation company, of which Armstrong is an investor.

At least one major media buyer likes the new approach by AOL. Nick Brien, CEO of Interpublic’s Media Brands, says AOL's model is a fresh approach, and that "clients like that way of thinking." He adds that it will be of utmost importance for AOL to point out when a marketer has paid for content, which AOL said it plans to do.

Unfolding Strategy

Slowly, in what seems like dribs and drabs, AOL is teasing the market with its plans for life after Time Warner. Earlier this month, the company unveiled a new set of interchangeable logos that are meant to more effectively convey the breadth of the company's content and digital assets.