Social media has definitely become a huge part of our lives. It has changed every aspect of our lives from our access to news and information to our interaction with our loved ones. As unavoidable as it has become, it has gained that much power over time and undoubtedly become an essential element that dictates every move we make.
According to social media marketing statistics published on Oberlo, 3.5 billion people worldwide use social media. Therefore, there is no denying that social media is everywhere, and indeed, this powerful outlet can be beneficial in many different ways other than socializing. It has proven as significant marketing and advertising tool for brands and businesses.
We have been introduced to many different ways of sharing content within the broad spectrum of social media. There are direct communication channels and platforms to share detailed content like blogs, images, and videos.
In addition to these, there is also a capacity for short-lived “ephemeral” content”-the rich media that is only accessible for a limited time period, usually 24-hours. It can take up all forms of the multitudes of the content we are already familiar with, but the idea is to make it short and snappy.
Let’s find out what benefits does it have for brand marketing, among other things.
Reasons Why Brands Should Consider Ephemeral Content for Exposure and Marketing
The following are some major reasons to convince you to invest in ephemeral content for increased brand exposure and marketing.
1. Utilizing Major Platforms For Brand Marketing
Right now, ephemeral content, also known as social media “stories,” is currently available to be published on three major platforms: Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat.
– Snapchat vs. Instagram
Whenever you hear the term stories, you will naturally think of Snapchat. That is because Snapchat is the pioneer of this type of content. It is where it all started for the first time. The app’s much-deserved success is what led to Facebook and Instagram, adopting it much recently. It is like people say, Snapchat walked so Instagram could run. If Snapchat came up with the idea and successfully operated it, Instagram took it and made it better. The debate has been ongoing ever since with mixed reviews. However, the benefit has always been of brands thriving on both.
2. More Expandable Reach
Ephemeral content can help you gain more expandable reach because of stories as we know it appears spate from all the other content available on these platforms. This gives you a way to break the chain of algorithms and increase your reach. If you pay the platform and have a public page, then you can run your stories across the platform like in-between advertisements and have a higher chance of reaching a broad base of a new audience.
3. Higher Engagement Levels
Story content allows the user to engage with the brand on a more personal level compared to any other form of advertising. Because stories are inherently sharable in nature, it gives your viewer the ease of sharing. Interacting with the content is also easier because you can reply under the story directly to the brand page.
The best way to leverage this is by making it highly actionable. You can conduct polls, ask questions, and use a branded filter to encourage user-generated content. Even if you use your brand account to go live, users will get a notification, urging them to join.
4. Leveraging the Fear of Missing Out
FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) is one of the most apparent advantages that ephemeral content has. Because of the short-lived nature of the content, it brings out the user’s emotion that if they didn’t see it now, they would miss out on what is being shared. This elicits an immediate response which brands and businesses can easily leverage for its benefit.
The response can range from casually checking out the profile to readily signing up for what is being proposed. Either way, it is a point earned for the brand as the urgency to perform the rightful action fueled by FOMO is a huge driving factor at play.
5. Low Budget, High Quality
The best and probably the biggest area where ephemeral content takes the cake for marketing is that it takes a low budget to drive high-quality content with maximum ROI. The reason is that it doesn’t have to be perfect. The 10 to 12 second, fleeting nature of the content for one-time viewing gives you the creative freedom to design whatever type of content but with the right strategy.
It just needs to be attention-grabbing and eye-catching enough to engage the potential customer and contain a commanding call-for-action to make an instant decision.
6. Validation of Authenticity and Activity
Many brand pages and profiles on platforms like Instagram and Facebook struggle for keeping its page active regularly. Creating engaging content for the customers every so often requires time and effort.
And even if you make a bi-monthly new launch or advertising campaign, you can only milk it for a certain time. After that, it becomes repetitive and stale, and audience members don’t appreciate it.
The best way to overcome all these issues is by investing in ephemeral content. It is an incredible source of validation of your brand’s authenticity that yes, it is up and running.
7. Easier To Put Your Brand Story Across
If you see from the customer’s perspective, most of us will never willingly read a long caption or a post talking about the brand. But if it is a matter of a few stories, then scrolling through them and learning about the brand is no big deal. The reason behind this is the nature of the content.
Sitting through a whole paragraph seems time-consuming, but a few 10-second stories don’t due to its fleeting nature. Therefore, it is great for brands to put their brand story across. You can make it as creative and as relatable to your audience as you like.
8. Integrating Hashtags
You can create a branded hashtag and integrate it within your story-content to increase its reach. Many brands creatively design a hashtag with its tagline or create a catchy hashtag that would sit well with the stories. When the customers search for the brand through the hashtag or come across an advertisement that uses it, it will take them directly to the specific content it connects to.
Platforms like Instagram have made it incredibly easy for brands to associate even the most generic hashtags to any type of content being posted on the platform.
Wrapping It Up For Brand Marketing!
All in all, social media stories have been revolutionary for business marketing and advertising. Ephemeral content has proven to be a powerful tool that is extremely flexible to suit any type of organization.
From bigger, global brands to small and medium enterprises that operate locally, all have embraced this content type and are readily using it for their benefit.
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