Commentary

On Social Feeds, Intimate Marketing Is Crucial

What marketers need to learn about advertising via social media is to think smaller and more intimately, especially for scrollers. That was one of the takeaways from panel Nano-Second Narrative panel at today’s OMMA Video event in New York.

Some big, established advertisers don’t know “how to have a one to one interaction and still move the needle,” said Topher Burns, group director of distribution strategy at Deep Focus.

Accustomed to speaking authoritatively, when some brands use social media, they need to understand their audience wants a measure of intimacy. The bigger and more established the brand, the harder that might be to do.

Miscalculations are made by brands that remain too traditional or seem too obsequious to please their younger audience.  

Some of the panelists said some brands and marketers make big mistakes rushing to social media for very ordinary messaging--an advertiser with a schmaltzy Mother’s Day message--or reacting to news stories where a brand’s two-cents seems particularly worthless, like a offering a tribute to the legacy of Prince on the day he died.

With younger users-- used to scrolling feeds--snap judgments are what it’s all about , per Tiffany Winter, head of strategy and partnerships for Mindshare Entertainment, NA. She says when she comes across ads on social feeds, she asks herself if the brand “understood why I’m there. Why am I watching?”  

Burns added that when he comes across advertising on social media, there’s a “quick split second” in which he looks at the content while considering what brand is presenting “to see where it’s coming from and what does that say about why I’m watching?”
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