Engagement’s just one small piece of a bigger puzzle and, to be honest, an agency can skew data—particularly social data—in any way to make a campaign look successful, particularly when it comes to vanity metrics.
George Pappas is the Co-Founder and Director of Web & Content at G Squared, an award-winning digital creative agency driven by data and results and specializing in social marketing and web design. (The agency is currently offering a Covid-19 social media monitoring service at a reduced rate.)
We sat down with Pappas in April of last year to get his insights on the importance of personalizing the customer journey, social channels and media platforms.
The “woke” world of content (3:30)
They’re not necessarily searching for the content; the content must find them and has to be the most accurate and the most relatable and relevant. Otherwise at the click of a button they can make sure that brand never finds them again.
It’s the million dollar question: What content resonates with Gen Z? One thing that’s become clear is that they are much more cause-driven and motivated by their beliefs than prior generations. In fact 77% of Gen Zers have taken some form of action for a cause they believe in; 23% have even boycotted a brand for perceived injustices. When it comes to social issues such as gender and climate change, however, there’s not much difference between Gen Zers and Millennials.
Naturally the best way to reach Gen Z is to find them where they are and which content platforms they access most for information.
All about the platform (4:49)
I think we will be seeing a platform consolidation as opposed to an expansion of the amount of platforms at the moment in the land of social. If there’s anything that’s going to make an emergence, it would be social aggregators.
A social media aggregator is a tool often leveraged by companies to display user-generated content (UGC) and develop an active community. Pappas cited the now-defunct Vine, a short-form video hosting platform, as a good example of UGC. It was acquired by Twitter but later discontinued. (At one point Vine boasted 200 million monthly users.) Vine gave rise to other video services such as TikTok and Instagram.
UGC takes many forms but one of the more helpful ones for marketers is online reviews for products and services. Close to 90% of online shoppers say they incorporate customer reviews into their purchase decisions.
Just make sure to monitor yours.
Likes & dislikes (7:03)
We need to start moving away from vanity metrics so it could be forcing us to do the right thing and stop looking necessarily at likes, comments, clicks and shares and start looking at broader and broader metrics…Engagement’s just one small piece of a bigger puzzle.
When it comes to Gen Z, Instagram and YouTube top the list. Instagram Stories are an ideal fit for this younger generation, with its mixed media and interactive content that finds its way into the ether after 24 hours. Instagram was also created specifically for mobile devices.
A recent Facebook survey (Instagram’s parent company) found that 69% of users think brands should market their products on Stories. But businesses need to keep an eye on TikTok as well. An average session on TikTok lasts close to nine minutes compared to three minutes on Instagram.
Last November Instagram announced that it would start hiding the number of likes on posts, part of its so-called Project Daisy campaign (“you like me/you like me not”). Although it’s not technically removing the likes, it’s hiding them from your public profile. You’ll still be able to see who’s liking your posts, but other people will not. However, depending on where you live, the change continues to be in a trial phase. Clearly this new policy will impact how brands market to, and engage with, their audience on the social platform.
Up close & personal (8:38)
The closer we get to personalizing web experiences, the closer we’ll get to actually nailing everyone’s unique journey and the nuances of each unique user.
IDC predicts that in just two years, market demand for tailored digital marketing experiences will double every six months in the majority of industries. And by 2023, 40% of the data collected from the customer journey will be used to create a better experience.
The funny thing about personalization is it’s not necessarily only dependent on your experience on their website. It’s also a full-funnel personalization journey.
To learn more about G Squared, visit their website.