The evolution of the format and methods of positioning branded content on social media seems miscellaneous. When you work daily developing methods to position and diffuse marketing content via social media, you should assume that what works today, tomorrow will be obsolete. Necessarily, you are in a position of constant self-evaluation, and the search for new techniques to reach audiences is never ending.
We have grown accustomed to seeing moving graphics on social media—the emergence of GIFs and audiovisual content has ensured its daily presence in our news feeds. These dynamic images catch our eyes, often making us smile or linger over a visual for a few extra seconds. Often, we want to spread our smiles to our friends and followers. And here lies the key to increasing brand impact through social media—sharing.
Facebook, for example, is a social network in a constant state of change. Several months ago we could add a Call To Action (CTA) at the end of a video we uploaded, but a few weeks ago this option ceased to exist.
The famous algorithm of Facebook is finding interesting and high-quality content for users, a combination that is often a challenge to achieve. Users can easily detect when content is a disguised commercial advertisement, or when a promotional purpose lies behind a post on Facebook. The audience will always prefer to see content from Facebook friends or from pages it follows, rather than commercial messages. As we discussed in our previous post, ¨Invisible Publicity,¨ a solution is to weave the brand seamlessly into content that interests and intrigues the audience.
Brands like Ecoembes have opted for with this type of content, which erases the already thinning line between branded content and publicity. Gone in the blink of an eye.
“Hechos de sueños” by Ecoembes is a piece of branded content whose fundamental objective is to present the epics of ordinary people, people who are not typically featured on television but who deserve our attention because they have managed to fulfil their dreams and to change the world. Here, Ecoembes is not the protagonist of the story, and instead the audience and its stories take center stage. Ecoembes becomes a voice for these people, and the brand that allows their stories to come to light. How many other brands have dared to do this?
Earlier I spoke of the emergence of GIFs on social media. This is a new opportunity for brands to deliver interesting and high-value content to their audiences. Again, Ecoembes opted for innovative, fresh content and the bet is paying off.
In conclusion, brands should focus on creating interesting, high-quality content, that has value for consumers, and that does not appear to be a promotion and that does not resemble a generic television ad. Because if the audience is the king, we should let it rule us.