Social Media has become the norm when we talk of starting a business, service or a brand. Even established brands are taking it seriously over other forms of communication. The value of social media lies in it’s low cost of entry, building a brand and promoting your product / service.
Targeted audience, various forms of content and a constant evolution of technology have proved to be the greatest strengths that makes Social Media the go-to choice over other traditional forms of communication (Print, Tv, OOH)
It’s been more than a decade since the attention has moved on to these platforms. But still when it comes to brands – there are many grey areas that make it a difficult proposition for a business.
What are some of the Challenges
- The ever changing formats
- The flux in Tech
- The changing role of social media –
What started off as a medium to connect with friends, families, share your hobbies, interests has moved on to literally become the core communication vehicle used by many … Business is all about attention and Social Media is where all the attention is.
The end game is Attention! Who gets the right to communicate their mission to the audience – you ask? The one who plays the ever-changing game of communication as per the ever-changing rules.
- Will the rules change? – Yes
- Will the game change? – Yes – Once a few years
- Will I win if i play the game? NO – only if you are at it and not bogged down by the results.
As Gary Vaynerchuk puts it – “The Market is The Market.”
We have moved on from the newspapers ( to get our bite of daily updates ) to the Internet (as our prime way of receiving and giving information.)
How to grab attention?
2 Words!
GOOD CONTENT.
The answer is easy. The execution is difficult. Why?
Here’s Why – How many pages, personalities, brands are you following on Instagram / Facebook. – 300 / 400
How much of their content do you consume daily? – Not Many
Here’s an interesting excerpt –
Broken down, time spent on social media differs across each platform. YouTube comes in first, consuming over 40 minutes of a person’s day (i.e. 1 year and 10 months in a lifetime). Facebook users will spend an average of 35 minutes a day, totalling 1 year and 7 months in a lifetime (some statistics include Facebook, Facebook-owned Instagram, and Facebook Messenger for total time spent on Facebook). Snapchat and Instagram come in next with 25 minutes and 15 minutes spent per day, respectively. (credit – https://www.socialmediatoday.com)
Making content has become easier today than ever before. Just imagine the power of the mobile phone (that you are reading this article on). It is more powerful than the computer used for computer animation just a decade ago. I can literally shoot a 4k video, edit, add music and distribute it across social media – right now. We all live in a world where cat videos that have the lowest cost of production have become a rage, along with duck-faced selfies.
This leads to the question – what is quality?
Quality is an illusion that basically stops one from posting. It’s basically a kind of block, paralysis and a machine for procrastination. I am not saying post anything. Post simple, well taken videos (Read – the best that you can do in the given situation), stills or even text based posts. Twitter was literally founded on text based messages (140 characters – now updated to 280).
Coming back to the mix – Create content. If creation is stopping you – then start Curation. Pinterest is a curation platform that is all the rage among women and artists alike.
Think of the articles that you must be reading –
- 10 things i learnt from
- Top 5 DIY tricks
- List of the 5 best photographers
The above are reasonably good curated article types that you can use to share with your community.
Community – Gone are the days when 1 person claimed authority over a particular domain. The rise of tech and internet has enabled each and every one of us to give our 2 cents over any subject that interests us. Bloggers, Educators, Hobbyists, People who love to surf, stitch, sew, plant, cut things in half, put bunch of stuff in the mixer (like phones, devices, screws)… You are doing something weird, new-age – WE WANT TO SEE.
This ‘WE’ is anyone from anywhere around the world. This version of Space Oddity has been phreaking performed in space – I F*****G WANNA SEE IT.
to be contd…
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