THE YEAR OF CONTENT

2014- -

DIFFERENT SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS REQUIRE DIFFERENT

TACTICS AND CONTENT.

“How do we sell something to people they don’t even know they need?”

“What if we create something that educates, enter tains, informs and gets people talking about us? We could give it away for free and if it works we could even star t to charge for it!”

Believe it or not, this was no strategy session at Nike or Red Bull, but a conversation that (might have) happened 114 years ago in Paris about how to sell more tyres. The result was the world-famous Michelin Guide, which now sells 14 editions in 90 countries.

Fast forward to Chicago in 1930 and the radio series ‘Painted Dreams’ debuted on WGN Radio. Billed as a radio show for female audiences, it was actually

conceived as an initiative to get adver tisers to sponsor shows. Procter & Gamble's Oxydol soap powder took the first slot and the term ‘soap opera’ was born.

These two events have one thing in common: they were the first forays by brands into what we now call content marketing. Bill Gates summed it up perfectly in 1999. “Content is where I expect much of the real money will be made on the internet… Those who succeed will propel the internet forward as a market-place of ideas, experiences, and products – a market-place of content.”

According to The Custom Content Council this marketplace now accounts for 39 per cent of all marketing budgets, is used by 88 per cent of all brands and has a spend over £43bn – content is indeed king.

DIFFERENT SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS REQUIRE DIFFERENT

TACTICS AND CONTENT.

But if content marketing has been around for over a century, why is it only now on everybody’s lips? Jay Baer puts it best ‘If content is fire, social media is gasoline’. We have reached a perfect storm where storytelling meets advertising meets technology.

The distributive nature of social means that not only can people participate in the conceptualization, the production, and the development of content but they can also share both on and offline and ultimately create the holy grail of brand advocacy.

However as Econsultancy recently found whilst 90% of marketers believe that content marketing is very impor-tant only 38% have a strategy in place. Worse, many brands have the wrong strategy. You only have to look at the thousands of likes on the ‘Condescending Brand Page’ on Facebook to see evidence of this.

Given the huge rise in number of channels, as well as the

explosion in content, it is vitally important to consider your strategy carefully:

· Understand your audience to ensure rele-vance via entertainment, utility and education.

· Consider the brand story that you want to tell – ensuring quality, authenticity and trans-parency.

· Balance your coverage in channel selection.

· Establish metrics by which to judge results.

Highly visual content, catchy headlines and consumer incentives can only take you so far. Success in social media is predicated on understanding the different platforms and the context in which content is delivered. As Jon Steinberg of Buzzfeed said, "Content is king but distribution is queen and she wears the pants." Choose your platforms wisely.

So what are the opportunities for each social platform? And who is winning? Let’s take a look.

FACEBOOKThe social behemoth is now the go-to social channel for every brand but careful consideration must be given to the channel and the typical user’s mindset. According to Facebook the average user checks in 14 times a day with nearly half doing this either whilst shopping, at the gym, cooking or at the movies – even on the toilet, and only half of that time is spent browsing the News Feed.

With the rest of the time being divided between Facebook messaging and posting updates, this means getting attention is key and content is central to this.

At Social Media Week, Asda's Head of Social, Dominic Burch, admitted Asda “delete updates if they do not get 100 'Likes' within one minute." Their use of ‘thumbs up’, ‘true or false’, ‘pick A, B or C’, and ‘yes or no’ resonates with its audience as they post three times a day and get an average of 500 'Likes' per post. The strategy is bold but it works.

There’s no one-size-fits-all strategy. You have to find one that works for you – and engages your target audience. Facebook posting depends on your objective, whether that's engagement, acquisition or reach. But broadly speaking light, shareable, highly visual content that connects to real-time events works best. Also, don’t forget that consumers are more likely to share things that enhance their own ‘personal brand’. So provide content that helps them get ‘brand me’ across.

TWITTERWith a billion Tweets posted every five days by more than 115 million active users, Twitter is a cultural phenomenon. But it can be hit and miss - for every funny or informative tweet, there are 20 taking up time you'll never get back and the ‘half life’ of a tweet is between just 18 minutes and three hours. It’s a platform that’s focused on ‘the now’.

Retweets are the currency of Twitter; observations on your journey to work or the weather are all very well, but Twitter content should be useful, clever, funny and unpredictable. In short, it should add value and this should drive your strategy. Don’t post what you want. Post what your audience wants to hear. Entertain them. Inform them. Give them a reason to retweet.

This is why we love @BetfairPoker. From the refreshingly unexpected to the downright unintelligible, Betfair Poker blatantly avoids anything poker-related. What it does provide is a wonderful persona that reels in its target audience by offering them content they actually want to connect with. With nearly 30k followers actively retweeting Betfair’s posts, achieving great reach, this account is generating great word-of-mouth response.

YOUTUBEYouTube is fast becoming the most influential social channel. Not only is it the second largest search engine but video is one of the most shareable types of content on social media. A study by Pixability showed that brands doing YouTube well “averaged over 10,000 per cent more Tweets and 5,000 per cent more Facebook activity” than those who weren’t. Unlike Twitter, where posts have a short half-life, a third of YouTube views coming 12 weeks after publishing.

Most importantly, YouTube isn’t a one way street. Passionate fans are interacting directly with brands: 92 per cent of Oreo’s views and 99 percent of Revlon’s views come from fan content.

Red Bull are the kings of content and YouTube is their kingdom. With nearly three million subscribers, they blow number two PlayStation (with two million) out of the sky. Red Bull Stratos activity alone drove average subscribers from 2,000 per day to 87,801 in a single day.

Their channel is a case study in the power of visual branded content. Over 100 of their videos have at least a million views. The channel integrates seamlessly alongside a magazine, a record label and two film studios. Cisco believes that video usage will outperform Twitter and Facebook by 2017. If Red Bull’s channel is anything to go by, we think it will be sooner.

PINTERESTThis three-year-old is now an integral social media channel with over 70 million users (two million from the UK.) And it packs a punch. According to Shareaholic, Pinterest is now the second biggest referrer after Facebook. Like many youngsters, this newcomer is one of the most misunderstood social networks, with a huge untapped potential not just in terms of brand awareness and equity-building but in its potential for ecommerce.

Brands used to view Facebook as a broadcast channel. Unfortunately many of them are stuck in the same mindset when it comes to Pinterest. It’s not enough to create a few boards, upload some images and leave it, especially when you consider a study by Vision Critical highlighting the concept of ‘reverse showrooming’ where consumers use Pinterest to browse and then visit the actual store to purchase.

One of the best examples of a great use for Pinterest is the current ‘Dear Top Shop’ activity asking customers to create boards highlighting the ultimate Christmas gift guide covering everything from decorations, a dream dress, their ultimate festive tree, and hopefully even a few Topshop products. The campaign is integrated with Topshop’s other digital and social channels, with top pinned products being featured each day – giving consumers, literally, what they want.

SNAPCHATPerhaps most famous for turning down a $3 billion offer from Facebook, Snapchat is an increasingly popular app among Millennials, allowing users to send photos and videos that disappear within 10 seconds. Millennials love it because their parents aren’t on it and for that reason it’s a great place to engage with them. The platform is growing. In September, Snapchat announced that its 8 million users were sending 350 million 'snaps' daily (up from 200 million in June).

But how do you reach this audience? The intimacy of private messaging makes brand involvement more awkward, which is probably the reason brands have yet to fully take advantage of Snapchat. That doesn’t mean it isn’t possible. It just requires the right strategy.

MTV used the platform to engage its audience in visual dialogue about 'Geordie Shore' by sending snaps to friends of exclusive images and video clips, reminding people to tune in. Taco Bell took advantage of the new feature, 'Stories', which stitches snaps together to show a series of photos and videos telling the story of a group of friends’ journey to Taco Bell.

The mobile nature of the platform, the trend towards erasable media as a backlash against the permanent records of other platforms, and the fact that it has been adopted by a key demographic means Snapchat is not going to disappear anytime soon.

VINEThis new kid on the block was only launched in January 2013 and quickly became a brand darling.

It’s easy to see why. Vine’s six-second-loop video format makes it easy to film, upload and share videos to social. The beauty of Vine is that it allows you to unleash your inner creative using only your smartphone.

According to 7th Chamber, five Tweets a second contain a Vine link, and studies show that a branded Vine is four times more likely to be seen than a branded video – any brand not using Vine risks losing out on some serious social media exposure.

The opportunities for innovation are endless – just look at Samsung, Oreo and VW for how the platform can share content in an engaging, endear-ing and ultimately entertaining manner.

Sadly there are also some disasters out there – stand in the corner American Apparel and Channel 4 Racing. To avoid them, remember it’s only six seconds so don’t try to cram too much in. Make use of stop-motion and don’t forget to use hashtags so others can find your video. Vines are designed for sharing.

INSTAGRAMAccording to a report from social media analytics company Simply Measured, Instagram is fast becoming one of the hottest networks around for major brands to engage with customers with 71 of the top 100 brands using Instagram.

Whilst Instagram adoption among top brands is still the lowest among the 5 major social networks, it is the fastest growing platform for marketers Worldwide increasing by 55% since last October. Also the majority of brands aren’t just on Instagram, but they are using it frequently. 57% of the top 100 brands are posting at least once a week, over a third of now have over 10,000 followers and 19% have a huge 100,000 followers or more.

Because of this blitz, user engagement is also on the rise with a 350% increase in total engagement (likes and comments) year on year - so whilst it may be a struggle for sectors such as B2B and financial services as well as some FMCG companies with less visually stunning offerings, who in their right mind isn’t using Instagram?

Mercedes-Benz has found a wonderful way to make Instagram photos stand out by making them the centerpiece of a unique social media installation called #Untamed, which premiered in Paris. The company, guided by the unconventional, unusual and untamed elements of the new CLA asked fans to contribute to this experience by submitting their interpretations of the word ‘Untamed’ and displayed this to an internation-al audience of art enthusiasts in a redesigned urban loft space where the vibrant, colourful and unique Instagram images became backdrops for fully designed living spaces.

VIMEOThe video-sharing site Vimeo was founded nearly a decade ago as a platform for film makers to share their work in a clean and beautiful space and it quickly earned a reputation for high-quality content. The fact Vimeo videos don’t have the pre-roll or banner ads that annoy so much on You Tube means the focal point is the video itself and this, in association with some dedicated curating, makes it a channel that is worth investing in.

Vimeo appeals to a niche but highly engaged community of 120 million unique visitors each month, who are ready to offer feedback, engage in conversation and even watch full-length films. According to comScore, users spend an average of 28 minutes on the site during each session which is testimony to the great content that lures you in. Car makers in particular have embraced Vimeo with Honda using the platform to its best effect with their stunning ‘making of ’Let it Shine’ ad And BMW have used it in their film ‘Man and Machine’ to support their sponsor-ship of the 2012 Paralympic Games to show how David Weir’s seamless connection with his chair is a core principle it delivers to drivers of their cars.

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Content has come a long way in the last century to deliver on the ‘marketplace of ideas, experiences, and products’ that Bill predicted. The opportunities for brands to take advantage of the huge number of different platforms are as exciting as they are complex.

Looking forward the continued demands of real time marketing will place new pressures on brand teams and agencies alike – as Jonathan Mildenhall at Coke recently commented at the CMA "We have started to recruit conversation managers, coders, creators, photographers and film makers… so that we can develop content that is both agile and excellent”

The growth in multi channel access points as dual screen becomes the norm in many households brings with it the challenges of transmedia communication – in this instance social media becomes the glue that binds these experi-ences and content is core to this.

In short the same principles that applied to the Michelin Brothers in 1900 apply today – be relevant, consider context and focus on the objective – the big challenge is that the landscape has changed a little since then but only for the better - bring on 2014 !

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