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Social Is Opportunity To Go Beyond Ordinary And Create Meaningful Experiences
February 2, 2016
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Facebook and Twitter recently worked together to release new information about mobile content consumption on their respective platforms.
And the results show that while scrolling truly is a pastime in this mobile, feed-based environment - people are still able to process and retain content.
Even faster than realized.
Of the 73% of people in the U.S. that say their phone is always with them, half say that they check their phone more than 30 times a day. (And that percentage increases for millennials.)
And on average, people consume mobile content on Facebook and Twitter in 1.7 seconds.
That's how long you have to make an impression right now. Round it off - two seconds.
But apparently that's plenty of time. Facebook and Twitter both found from their research that recall of messages occur in very short amounts of time.
So if content - even viewed quickly - still has a chance to break through - why does some content go ignored, while other content triggers reaction and participation?
Remember this about social:
The entire premise of these platforms is to "elevate people's capacity to build and maintain connections." It's how the audience uses social every day of their lives.
People are recording their "timelines" and they aren't especially interested in what brands are doing or how great they say they are.
Unless we are giving them what they crave. And that is things they can relate to.
For example, something like what WCSX/Detroit pulled off.
After the passing of Eagles co-founding member and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Glenn Frey, WCSX Morning Show Host, Jim O'Brien, had the idea of getting a roadway named after Frey in Glenn's hometown of Royal Oak, MI.
This idea took the loss of an icon and gave fans something to rally around. Playing his music was big and it was important - so was giving the fans something positive to spend their energy on.
And the only reason is resonated socially is that it was a good idea.
It touched so many people, so fast, that it even reached Eagles member, Joe Walsh, who then tweeted support for WCSX and #GlennFreyDrive.
The point is - this is "what works" on social - pure emotion.
Content filled with contagious feelings.
We can't come at social media as what can it do for me. Stop asking "How can we blow this up on social?"
Come at social with, "What can we do to cut through?" in two seconds time and be the cure for boredom as folks are scrolling.
Give them something that matters - something that moves them.
It doesn't always have to be in the form of cool movements like "Glenn Frey Drive," but what are small, every day actions you can create to stand out in this space?
We have to work at this. It's impossible to hone the skill of artfully using social when we resort to winging it. There's such a thing as practice in the social space, too. And studying what stands out.
Perhaps author John Steinbeck said it best: "Only the deeply personal and familiar clearly resonates."
Social is such an opportunity to go beyond the ordinary and create meaningful experiences.
But we have to work at it to make it matter.
(And, by the way, it sounds like "Glenn Frey Drive" will happen. You can follow WCSX on Twitter to find out when.)
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