No, Not The Movie

We’re not going to be talking about Rules Of Engagement, the thriller starring Samuel L. Jackson. This is on the topic of the changes and challenges faced when engaging with an audience on ever-changing social platforms.

The harsh truth about engaging with existing or potential customers is that it’s getting harder and harder to connect and maintain interest. Multiple factors can be contributors to this new challenge facing businesses and marketers. Here we will zero in on some of the main factors.

24/7 365

The first is the sheer volume of ads people see all day, every day. From the drive to work, waiting at the bus stop, scrolling through Instagram, Googling a question – people see upwards of 5,000 ads per day. Yep, that’s right – per day!

Another aspect is the shift of Facebooks’ algorithm to a focus on friends and family. This is potentially throttling the reach of your businesses organic posting efforts. This is a great move to get back to the core designs of social media platforms – to connect you with your friends and family. But where does this leave businesses trying to connect with their audience?

Additionally, as digital natives become a larger portion of the market, and as those who are recent adopters of technology become more accustomed to it, people are now taking less and less time to glean the important information from posts as they scroll through their feeds.

Now people are deciding whether they are interested in a piece of content at a much quicker rate and continuing their journey down their newsfeed if it doesn’t immediately spark their interest. This means the first impression is essential to the viewers’ decision on hanging around to see more or continuing their scroll.

Scroll-Stopping Tips

Now this all may sound doom and gloom, and you might be thinking to yourself “why are Mark and his algorithm against me” “these young folks are scrolling too damn fast” and “well what can I do?” – but we’ve got you.

Here are some quick tips that you can implement (or we’ll happily implement for you) to make sure your content is scroll-stopping.

  1. Be bold: Sometimes you’ve got to risk it for the biscuit – think animations, colours that pop, an attention-demanding creative is one surefire way to bring people in for a closer look. After inspiration? See our bold TVC and digital campaign, Who I Want To Be, for Tramps The Store.
  2. Keep it real: On a platform where the algorithm favours individuality, think about ways to stand out from the crowd that is unique to you.
  3. Video content: We’ve said it before (see creating great video content) but we’ll say again – video content is by far the best medium to use to communicate online and generate engagement.
  4. Define your ideal customer: Knowing who your ideal customer is means you can focus on creating content and a language that speaks directly to the people most profitable and likely to engage. Worry less about an abundance of audiences but the quality of the few you have.