2. SEYMOUR SLOAN
IDEAS THAT MATTER
HERE’S WHAT WE LEARNED DURING 2014
Beyond the hype of social media
and its evolution across apps,
channels and devices, one
underlying theme holds true:
at its core, social media
is and always has been
a natural human behaviour
and not just a medium.
These five trends can help marketers create
and evaluate social media content:
EVERYONE IS A CONTENT CREATOR
AND THAT’S A GOOD THING
RELEVANCE AND RESPONSIVENESS
ARE THE NEW GOLD STANDARD
STORYTELLING WILL NEVER GO AWAY
NO ONE IS READING ANYMORE
INNOVATION IS AT THE HEART OF
CONTENT CREATION
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4. SEYMOUR SLOAN
IDEAS THAT MATTER
EVERYONE IS A CONTENT CREATOR: IF YOU CAN’T BEAT
‘EM, JOIN ‘EM
At one time, marketers and publishers were
the sole proprietors of media messages.
Today, thanks to platforms like Vine and
YouTube, everyone is a (viral) content-
creator.
And this democratization of social content
brings with it both challenges and
opportunities for brands. Consumers have
become increasingly jaded toward
marketing messages, especially online
where they head for the close button as
soon as a banner pops up.
The rise in mobile-based social media
consumption has made this even more
challenging.
5. SEYMOUR SLOAN
IDEAS THAT MATTER
EVERYONE IS A CONTENT CREATOR: IF YOU CAN’T BEAT
‘EM, JOIN ‘EM
TIPS FOR MARKETERS
Armed with the “four C’s”—collaboration, co-creation, curation
and crowdsourcing marketers can empower consumers to
talk about their brand:
In business and in content marketing,
COLLABORATION IS THE NEW COMPETITION
aiding brands in content discovery.
Investing in relationships with bloggers and influencers is the
new celebrity endorsement. Not that David Beckham’s H&M-
brief-sporting-days are numbered, but marketers might be
better served CO-CREATING WITH BLOGGERS to drive
deeper engagement
with fans.
What better way to involve users, than to have them
help CROWDSOURCE YOUR CREATIVITY? For example,
Airbnb’s “Hollywood and Vines” short "lm invited users from
around the world to submit their six-second videos and each
of the Vine directors whose content was selected received
$100 Airbnb coupons.
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7. SEYMOUR SLOAN
IDEAS THAT MATTER
BE RELEVANT. BE RESPONSIVE.
THE AVERAGE CONSUMER CHECKS
HIS OR HER PHONE 150 TIMES A DAY.
This new cultural attachment to mobile
devices even sparked the genesis of the
word
Nomophobia, or the fear of losing one’s
phone.
In this new reality of the “always on
consumer” and the tremendous data mining
fuelled by smartphones, it’s all about
context. And with location-based technology,
marketers can
target contextual messaging to a consumer
whether he or she
is in line at the grocery store, watching TV,
or even watching
TV on an iPad while eating dinner.
8. SEYMOUR SLOAN
IDEAS THAT MATTER
EVERYONE IS A CONTENT CREATOR: IF YOU CAN’T BEAT
‘EM, JOIN ‘EM
TIPS FOR MARKETERS
Armed with the “four C’s”—collaboration, co-creation, curation and
crowdsourcing marketers can empower consumers to talk about their
brand:
KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE. Brands that understand and respond to the
micro-cultures of their target audiences get the most out of their media
spend. Take Visa’s NFL sponsorship campaign on Facebook; by glorifying
the NFL Steelers culture using its symbol, “the terrible towel”, the NFL
forged an authentic connection with fans.
BE RESPONSIVE. By now, you’re probably familiar with Oreo’s real-time
lightning in a bottle epitomized by its Super Bowl “Dunk in the Dark” tweet.
But beyond the real-time war room, effective marketing responsiveness is
more about an always-on ethos that’s committed to customer experience
(think moments of surprise and delight) and quality service.
HARNESS THE POWER OF NOW. In our instant gratification world,
consumer priorities are shifting from where products are from, to when they
can be delivered. Popular new apps are driving Amazon Prime’s two-day
delivery into extinction with premium one-hour delivery options. Brands that
can bank on this growing appetite for urgency in content and service will
get ahead.
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10. SEYMOUR SLOAN
IDEAS THAT MATTER
LESS SELF-PROMOTION. MORE STORYTELLING.
With content generation on the rise and attention
spans on the decline, social engagement has
never been more challenging. But regardless of
the medium, the common denominator across
successful content marketing will always be great
storytelling.
A truly great story captures emotion and
transforms a brand from a simple transactional
machine into a multi dimensional living, breathing
thing—from something people buy into, to
something consumers join and even befriend.
Brands that have mastered this have taken a truly
transmedia approach—recognizing the increasing
possibilities of a seamless, online and offline world
and the multiple canvases it provides. In its ideal
state, this kind of storytelling unfolds new
experiences across different devices while
harnessing the unique functionality of each
medium.
11. SEYMOUR SLOAN
IDEAS THAT MATTER
LESS SELF-PROMOTION. MORE STORYTELLING.
TIPS FOR MARKETERS
Armed with the “four C’s”—collaboration, co-creation, curation and
crowdsourcing marketers can empower consumers to talk about their
brand:
CULTIVATE PURPOSEFUL STORYTELLING. This requires an
experiential approach to set stories in motion. Stories that entice
consumers to celebrate moments of discovery and claim bragging rights by
sharing that personalized excitement online.
REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE. To maximize the impact of content
marketing, often a cost- and labour-intensive production, marketers should
ask themselves how they can “atomize” a story across media channels to
engage diverse audiences.
BRAND-TERTAINMENT. As brands follow a more purpose-led storytelling
approach, we’ll see the rise of more media like Chipotle’s critically
acclaimed “Scarecrow” "lm. A piece that associates the brand with social
consciousness around food sustainability, versus a self-promotional cry for
more burrito-buys, giving consumers a reason to share.
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13. SEYMOUR SLOAN
IDEAS THAT MATTER
LET’S GET VISUAL
The phrase “A picture is worth a thousand words”
may actually be an understatement. The average
person processes an image 60,000 times faster
than text and at the rate that we consume and
share media it’s no wonder that people are reading
less.
70% OF SOCIAL MEDIA IS COMPRISED OF
IMAGES, and with the rise of so many visually-led
channels consumers have become both creator
and curator in our increasingly visual culture.
14. SEYMOUR SLOAN
IDEAS THAT MATTER
LET’S GET VISUAL
TIPS FOR MARKETERS
Armed with the “four C’s”—collaboration, co-creation, curation and
crowdsourcing marketers can empower consumers to talk about their
brand:
THE NEW VISUAL VOCABULARY. Memes are spontaneous, relatable
pictures and their short captions are entertaining glimpses into recent
cultural shifts. Look up “Bad Luck Brian” for an example of a really popular
meme.
VIDEO TAKES OVER. If you want attention for your brand these days,
research shows you’ll get far more eyes and ears on it with moving images
than with static ones. In fact, the average user spends 88% more time on a
website with video.
SPEAK AND LISTEN VISUALLY. Brands should be judicious about
images they use and prioritize being visually literate, versus just pushing
content; things like using emojis for customer reviews.
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16. SEYMOUR SLOAN
IDEAS THAT MATTER
WHEN BRANDS INNOVATE
The stamp of successful content marketing will
always be its quality, but as social media
undergoes enormous shifts, marketers must
always keep their eye on the next frontier.
Whether that means optimizing content
consumption for wearables, or creating apps that
go beyond promoting a brand and its products to
actually provide content that engages their core
target. Smirnoff’s "Mixhibit" app allows users to
pull photos from their social networks, arrange
them artfully, add a custom track and then share
their creation with their friends.
17. SEYMOUR SLOAN
IDEAS THAT MATTER
LET’S GET VISUAL
TIPS FOR MARKETERS
INNOVATION CAN COME FROM ANYONE AND ANYWHERE. The world of
e-commerce has been socialized with face-to-face selling experiences
powered by products like Google’s “Shop the Hangout.”
WELCOME TO THE SHARED, COLLABORATIVE ECONOMY. An economy
where consumers want to share products and content. Airbnb does a good job
of embracing this new model by enabling peer-to-peer communication,
increasing the transparency and reliability of customer reviews.
MIND THE CULTURAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL SHIFTS. We’re moving to
the “internet of things” with complete interconnectedness of products and the
omnipresence of smart technology. This will enable far greater collaboration
and a whole new consciousness about consumption. For example, the
popularity of Zady.com reinventing conscious consumerism for the digital age.
GOODBYE “MATCHING LUGGAGE.” There’s an easy, not altogether
surprising tendency to translate one form of media into its matching luggage in
another medium. But it’s an unsustainable tendency because every medium
carries its own functionality. Case in point, the mobile enabled social
movement comes with its own constraints; brands must replace abstract
functions like “clicks” for the tap and swipe gestures
that to a degree define the mobile ecosystem.
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18. SEYMOUR SLOAN
IDEAS THAT MATTER
CONCLUSION
• Content is king
• Mobile has changed everything
• Democratization of content has
changed everything, again
• It’s not quantity but quality—where
you are and what you’re saying
• It’s about creating an experience that
people want to share; from rich
storytelling to innovative new
content-consumption experiences
19. SEYMOUR SLOAN
IDEAS THAT MATTER
TALK
TO US
CONTACT:
Terry Chapendama - Director
terry.chapendama@seymoursloan.com
Read our blog at:
www.seymourthinks.wordpress.com
Follow us on twitter
@seymoursloanuk
Visit us online www.seymoursloan.com
ABOUT Seymour Sloan
We formed the company in order to do
special things for our clients through the
creative use of new technologies and
techniques.
We help companies understand a
complex and ever-changing technology
landscape, along with changing
customer behaviours, developing
strategies and solutions to maximise the
opportunities available. We operate at
the intersection of digital, strategy and
customer, building a track record of
driving customer growth across our
three core industries.