Tom Collins, Consumer Insight Specialist, Bord Bia – Irish Food Board
Almost a year ago today, the Financial Times ran an article, titled ‘Social Media Influencers are so last season’ and since then we have been hearing echoes of this sentiment. There are many contributing factors to some of this push back, whether it is the blurring of category expertise by influencers, the realisation that some are purchasing likes and follows or the individual scandals of influencers themselves. Last year, Unilever decided to take a step back from working with influencers for a while citing a lack of trust in bloggers and that they cannot invest in such ‘a shadow tool’. As a result, we are seeing the emergence of other Social Media trends and tactics.
1) Personalised Messaging
We have seen the success of personalised messaging through tangible brand campaigns by Coca Cola and Nutella and we know that powerful brand engagement can help retain consumers. We are beginning to see a rise in the usage of social messenger bots or avatars, a tool that enables brands to have a personalised, one on one conversation with their consumers. These AI generated ambassadors can be tailored to their audience whether that is based on previous brand interactions, social metrics or geographical location to name a few. Younger consumers and millennials are particularly receptive to engaging in an ongoing dialogue or relationship with the brands that they hold dear. Durex India’s Rexbot is a best in class example of this tool in action.
2) Content Interactions
Following on from the idea the powerful brand engagement can help retain consumers, the creation of social media content or a social media experience can enable this engagement. Producing creative and interactive content for your audience in the location that they visit for entertainment, can encourage consumers to engage and take a deeper look at your brand and products. It can also encourage consumers to share with their peer group or network. If a brand has managed to demonstrate its benefits or reasons to believe, then this is a much more effective way than telling the consumer. Last year’s Cheetos campaign is a best in class example of encouraging consumers to interact with a brand. What started out as an activation concept, the museum has now become a major part of their advertising plan.
3) Real Time Interactions
Taking content interactions a step further, this tool encourages and facilitates real time brand engagement in-moment. Live social media interactions or participations in campaigns during the moment of consumption, help to deepen the relationship with the consumer and to retain live audiences for an elongated experience. However, this is no easy feat. These experiences need to be innovative, contextually relevant and immersive. They need to try and maintain natural dialogue with the consumer without being intrusive. A successful activation gains the consumer’s attention and then releases supporting information. McDonalds Brazil, used a McBot and leveraged their tray liners and Facebook messenger to create an engaging, immersive and rewarding in-moment experience for their diners.
References
Durex - Rexbot - RepriseDigital.com. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.reprisedigital.com/work/durex-rexbot/
Frederick, D. (2019). Instagram trend sparks idea for Cheetos Museum. Retrieved from https://www.prweek.com/article/1438231/instagram-trend-sparks-idea-cheetos-museum
McDonald's McBot. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.effie.org/case_database/case/BR_2017_27