Less Filters, More Authenticity
Ever since the pandemic, we have witnessed a rising trend in unfiltered and authentic content creation – a monumental shift away from what was traditionally viewed as ‘quality content’. During a period where large-scale production was simply inviable due to business closures and budget constraints, brands evolved by replacing these in favour of more authentic and easy-to-produce content.
L’Oréal was one of these brands to incorporate self-produced content into their marketing campaign for its Excellence Crème hair dye – the entire video was shot by ambassador Eva Longoria in her bathroom, which featured her colouring her hair. While inferior in production quality, it does not lack engagement as such content brings about a certain freshness and authenticity that cannot be replicated in a corporate advertisement. Being raw, genuine, and super relatable are reasons why it has become such a big hit among consumers.
Video Content is King
The undisputed king of social media content – do you know that Facebook users spend around 100 million hours on videos everyday? No points for guessing that Youtube users load up almost TEN TIMES of that amount daily (Netbase Quid). See where this is going?
The modern-day marketer simply cannot afford to be missing out on such a valuable opportunity for target audience outreach. Videos help in SEO and therefore increases web traffic because it has a higher retention rate (95%) as compared to written text (10%). People are typically more inclined to continue watching a video instead of persevering through a boring paragraph. This translates to greater time spent engaging with your content, allowing search engines to recognize your content as credible and trustworthy. With a better bounce rate, your content will have a greater chance of appearing higher up the search engine results page. According to Marketing Sherpa, video content can attract up to a 157% increase in organic traffic from search engines as compared to plain text.
Live Streaming is Here to Stay
As video continues to dominate the social media content space, its twin – live steaming, is also on the upward trajectory since the pandemic. Many brands turn to Facebook, Instagram, and even Twitch as a platform to recapture lost revenue since live streaming is capable of compensating the lack of retail experience that consumers are crying out for at the back of brick-and-mortar stores becoming less available. Also, the fact that everyone is spending so much time on social media these days mean live streams are super accessible for audiences to tune into.
Live streams appear more authentic and personable with the absence of edits and scripts, hence allowing consumers to better connect with the brand and feel as though they are treated to a wholesome shopping experience. As livestream viewership increases, following and trust in the brand will too. Live streaming is set to dominate alongside video content in the years to come as its market is expected to break the $150 billion mark by 2026.
The Rise of Social Commerce
Social media and eCommerce are often inseparable since businesses leverage the former to convert leads into sales. Therefore, it is no surprise that social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram have wasted no time in expanding their online business marketing solutions. Traditionally an exclusive platform for marketing, social platforms are now capable of hosting transactions – Shops on Facebook and Instagram grants consumers a seamless shopping experience, allowing them to purchase without even leaving the app.
From the business’ point of view, social commerce enhances the effectiveness of their ads through ‘Custom Audiences’, which allows brands to target consumers who have previously shown an interest in its products – either by viewing, adding to cart, or even making a purchase(s). With such analytics, brands can create the most effective ads to persuade consumers at various stages in the purchase flow to convert into sales.
Social commerce also diversifies the number of sales channels for shoppers and facilitates communication between the business and its consumers – through the various in-built messaging platforms such as Facebook Messenger, Instagram Direct and even WhatsApp. It is no doubt a huge advantage for businesses looking to magnify audience outreach.
Reddit – The Ultimate Market Research Tool
Often overlooked because it is not typically categorized under the same ‘social media umbrella’ together with household names Facebook and Instagram. Reddit is not about outreach; it is about building the contents FOR that outreach, where few can rival it in this regard.
Reddit is the goldmine for market researchers because of its popularity among consumers as a platform for brand and product discussions. Consumers often seek opinions and reviews of others before making their final purchase decision, which makes Reddit part of their purchase journey. Being able to identify this crucial touch point will allow marketers to capture invaluable voice of the consumer (VoC) intel from the catalogue of candid reviews by consumers on the platform. This places brands in a superior position to craft future marketing campaigns, product specifications and after-sales services according to the needs and wants of their consumers.
Not to mention that Reddit has a HUGE following with over 430 million active users – a whopping 5.5 times that of Twitter!