Graham Rous
Graham is the owner and Creative Director of Nection.
The New Way
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Boy things have changed. The old methods we once used to advertise our business or product no longer work. Consumers are not playing by the rules. Instead of passively consuming our content in front of the TV, they’re online, actively participating in its creation. It’s outrageous! Media sources are no longer simply channels for entertainment, they are vehicles for connection, participation, and shaping the message itself. There’s been a coup and the consumer is in charge!
Fortunately, you still have a good product or service to sell and access to social media is easy: with just a few clicks you can have an awesome ad to motivate millions into a frenzy of viral shares. Your product will be posted, tweeted, and influenced up the wahzoo. It works amazingly well.
Until it doesn’t.
It doesn’t work because consumers have also changed. They are bombarded by a huge number of promotional images per day and have become tired of unwanted ads that fill their media timelines. This change of heart has happened in part because of a lack of trust in social networks but also because of what we’ve been doing for millions of years. We have adapted.
Thanks to our ancestors we have a finely tuned system of instinct and intuition that we rely on every day. For example, according to a 2014 research paper from NYU, it takes only milliseconds for someone to decide if the face of another person is trustworthy. It’s so fast it’s unconscious.
The ability to judge trustworthiness keeps us safe. It is just part of the self-preservation system that is deep-rooted and ever-present. That’s handy for a first date but not so much for a business. 69% of people distrust advertising so we cannot hope for instant attraction. Instead we have to earn the trust of those we want to engage with. And that takes commitment.
Social media is not a strategy in and of itself...
So how do you get your savvy consumers to go nuts about your product or service on social media? You must embrace the notion of selflessness. If you use social media as a product-pushing platform then you will not get the engagement you seek. The opposite will happen. So explore your human side by being open and honest with your message and give people what they want. Give them content that interests them. Make it something they will value, that will spark their curiosity, and that they’ll gladly share with those they trust.
Social media lets you talk to, and build trust with, new and existing customers like never before. But like our ancestors before us, we need to adapt from a strategy of maximising reach to nurturing that trust with those who use it. Social media is not a strategy in and of itself, it’s only a new way to talk. Having the right approach will lead to longer and more rewarding relationships, more loyalty from your customers, and more profit for you.
