by Mike Sharman (@MikeSharman) A major challenge facing marketing is the deluge of new digital and social platforms that pop up almost every day. As a result, we need to evaluate each one to decide whether today’s new players will be tomorrow’s mainstays, or flash-in-the-pan fads to be discarded upon the digital scrapheap.
The platforms that become successful are the ones whose teams behind them have taken the time to research and understand consumer behaviour, the target market, the market need and so on.
Storytelling
These are the platforms which understand that, regardless of the technology behind delivering the message, there is nothing more important than how the platform engages with consumers to allow them to tell stories in ways that resonate with them, and inspires action.
We’ve seen digital and social platforms come and go, such as Foursquare that never really made headway in the local market, despite successes abroad. Locally, Foursquare offered a single layer of content, without building upon the storytelling experience. It was quickly superseded by numerous food and entertainment application solutions, such as Zomato for example, that do offer a deeper content experience, supported by real-life events.
The really successful platforms are the ones that draw upon elements of their competitors in their ecosystem, giving users a single environment that meets content needs. This is why Facebook has been so successful in the local market. It supports video, location-based content, and offers one of the most-accessible advertising solutions available.
360-degree videos
Did you know that YouTube has introduced support for 360-degree videos on Chrome or the Android YouTube application, making it possible for viewers to look ‘around’ a video? Add in that 360-degree camera systems are more readily available, and brands all of a sudden have the opportunity to offer a completely immersive storytelling experience.
Red Bull has taken the lead with this, with a 360-degree video of its Formula 1 team that gives viewers an up-close-and-personal experience of what it’s really like to be sitting in the cockpit of a Formula 1 racing car.
It will be most interesting to see how Facebook responds to this development. YouTube is the world’s second-most popular search engine, with Facebook taking the fight to the Google-owned platform for video tech supremacy. I’m looking forward to seeing how Facebook makes video more appealing in its environment, giving us even more great ways to tell brands’ stories.
Stories must be engaging
While the technology behind all these new developments is exciting, it’s vital to always come back to that touchstone: if the story isn’t engaging, consumers will not connect with the brand, no matter how new and innovative the delivery platform may be.
Consumers respond to an immersive content experience far more positively than they respond to an ephemeral, flat concept wrapped up in digital bells and coded whistles.
Mike Sharman (@MikeSharman) is co-founder of Retroviral, a digital communications agency specialising in content creation, community engagement and client commerce wins. He understands the platforms to guide brands on how to execute the stories, in order to have a direct impact on sales. Mike will be contributing the monthly “Tech Speak” column, dedicated to the advancements on the marketing-technology front and addressing the trend of tech vs storytelling, to MarkLives.com.
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