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It's a love story in the making


Published on Thursday, 02 June 2016 by Katharine Liese in Marketing

They say that the eye is the window to the soul – a portal into the understanding of the mystical, the unknown and the deepest truth. A study done a few years back by psychologist Arthur Aron discovered that there are 36 questions you need to ask someone before staring into their eyes for four minutes in order to fall in love.

The idea is that the mutual vulnerability fosters closeness and he is quoted as saying "one key pattern associated with the development of close relationships amongst peers is sustained, escalating and reciprocal personal self-disclosure."

To be vulnerable with another person is extremely difficult, yet we do it every day. Social media has become our new window to the soul. Facebook and Instagram especially have given us a glimpse inside the hearts and minds of the people around us. A couple of years ago, I saw a pyramid from Facebook detailing how they envisaged usage on their platform. At the top was a small group of people who are the Igniters – they are the creators of content, the originators of meaning, we would call them the influencers today. That was followed by a thin layer of people who were the Sharers, disseminating information into social pockets. Then you would have the Observers, the passive activists that like and comment, doing very little else but playing the role of the ultimate observer.

I think that picture has changed a bit now. With the advent of the new smart phone technologies, every consumer is now a broadcaster and every device a transmitter. We can see gradually into the lives of people that before we never had access to. The access to information about an individual on social media is staggering and the way in which we engage with it has changed fundamentally.

Just a few days ago Candice Payne broke all records on Facebook Live when she posted a photo of herself laughing in a Chewbacca mask! Currently with 72 million views, she has overtaken the last most watched video on Facebook Live, a slow motion video of a watermelon exploding under the pressure of thousands of elastic bands. I sourced it online and you can watch it here on YouTube:

Essentially the success of the video is because it is about life – it’s about why we are here, what we are living for, who we are and what makes us people. It’s about having fun and being in the moment and enjoying things for what they are – right now – without social and digital engineering.

And that’s what is getting the online world going right now – the exploration of real moments. It’s so important that we don’t forget why people engage digitally – its escapism, it’s the opportunity to peer into another’s world, unseen and undetected and to play a part in it, in some small way – even if it’s purely voyeuristic.

Musa Kalenga, Client Partner at Facebook, came to chat to The MediaShop a few weeks ago and spoke of something that they are constantly trying to get brands to do online – the creation of what’s referred to as “thumb stopping moments”. That’s content so compelling that it delivers an audience who chooses to stop scrolling through a newsfeed and engage with a brand. The creation of thumb stopping moments is about creating a gateway to engagement for a brand with a consumer, the first date so to speak, which can lead to a lifelong relationship.

Carolyn Everson, vice president of Global Marketing Solutions at Facebook reiterates that everyone’s phone is personal and thus the expectation for marketing on Facebook and other mobile apps is that brands must “show up in a delightful, useful way, otherwise you are noise. Consumers want you to add value to the experience”. Creating content online that generates a love affair with the consumer is the quickest way to generate brand preference and brand love. This is achieved by delivering the right message, at the right time and in the right place to ensure that you get the maximum ROI on your marketing investment.

The future is bright for this love affair – as long as we respect the parameters of engagement, and like all good relationships, as a brand, deliver on what we promise to our beloved, the consumer.

Last modified onThursday, 15 June 2017 15:46