The social web is getting more fragmented by the day. Even the largest networks – Facebook, Twitter, and Google (Google+, YouTube, Blogger, Picassa, etc.) – are becoming increasingly more complex. As more networks emerge and splinter our online behavior, it’s making marketers’ jobs harder to communicate with their audience.
The main goal for any social media campaign is to become visible to as many people’s social streams as possible. The catch is capturing an audience’s attention at the right time but knowing when to push content out through social channels is complex.
To determine when and how to engage, it’s vital to understand both offline behaviors and online habits in order to capture consumer attention. In 2009, the New York Times published a study illustrating how different groups spend time during the day. Between working, traveling, sleeping, eating, and other household activities, the average adult with no children has little time to spare. Add children, and free time for parents gets even slimmer. For teens and young adults, work is usually replaced with going to school, homework and school related activities. Unfortunately, brands often don’t take this activity into consideration when they attempt to engage with consumers on social networks.
Once we begin to dissect online habits, the trend is that digital activity is increasingly more fragmented. Complicating how we assess digital behavior is the mass migration from PC to mobile (tablets and smartphones). Everything from purchasing behavior to communicating with friends is changing because of the ability to do anything from anywhere at any time with a mobile device.
The one constant brand managers can count on, Facebook currently owns society’s time and Google isn’t far behind. Twitter, which is really in a world of its own, may have a smaller audience, but distinguishes itself with an audience of social media power users versus dabblers.
A recent infographic provides a summary of what our online habits look like, but keep in mind this is pre-Google+. According to a new report published by ReadWriteWeb, Google+ may soon attract younger audiences.
What is a brand to do?
Social media marketing warfare is about eyeballs and keeping those eyeballs attuned to your brand for as long as possible. With a shrinking attention span, this is getting harder to accomplish and won’t let up anytime soon.
The following are few steps brands can consider taking:
Be mindful of real-time cultural events. Every day, people tune their voyeuristic habits to a particular story. Right now, a hot topic is the Occupy Wall Street movement as well as chaos in the European economy, the “Dancing with The Stars” finalists, and Justin Bieber’s paternity suit. Are you tapping into the conversation that is currently happening?
Granted, many topics will give a brand’s legal teams indigestion, but brand teams generally know when to capitalize on a cultural topic. Ben and Jerry’s may have publicly supported the Occupy movement, which connects with their own brand positioning, but not every brand should.
Focus on quality content. There is rising case for brands to strategically develop entertaining content. As brands evolve from broadcaster to conversationalist, “publisher” can be added to an ever-increasing demand on brands to entertain their customers and attract new consumers. If Facebook owns the majority of time spent on the web, which it does, then what is your brand doing to keep attention on your status update? Is it compelling enough for fans to share with their connections?
If you aren’t asking these questions and seeking answers for each, you should be.
Understand your audience’s digital habits. When was the last time you asked your audience how they spend their time online? If you haven’t, then this might be an obvious starting point. With all the noise that exists in social channels, the difference between guessing and knowing when to share content with an audience can greatly impact engagement rates.
Photo Credit: R’eyes
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