It was announced this month that Facebook owner Meta was launching a fresh app to rival Twitter. ‘Threads’ is a brand-new platform with similar functionality to the Elon Musk-owned, tweety bird-logoed app, which is experiencing its fair share of problems of late. Like Twitter, Threads looks to be a quick way to communicate with others and discuss what’s happening in the world, or shout digitally at followers about a topic you’re particularly passionate about.
Not the first lookalike from Meta, its owner Mark Zuckerberg has been no stranger to doppelgangers. In recent years, Instagram Reels has been widely regarded as a TikTok copy and the Instagram Stories function looks suspiciously similar to Snapchat’s same feature launched a few years previously.
With new platforms popping up seemingly every other month, the modern marketing space for brands can look overwhelming. So what must brands do to cut through the noise in the increasingly busy environment of 2023?
Tell compelling stories
A great story sticks with you. In fact, psychologist Jerome Bruner found we are 22 times more likely to remember a fact when it has been wrapped in a story. Regardless of the platform, a particularly compelling well-told tale will translate across many different spaces and still resonate with its audience.
Touching an audience on an emotional level will help a campaign stay with a person. Examples of this could include some of John Lewis’s standout Christmas adverts which work on TV, across social and indeed other forms of media or even the Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty of the early 2000s with its poignant message. These examples tell a story and carry an emotional sentiment with them which works across multiple channels. Their story helps each campaign stick in the memory and cut through a crowded space.
Leverage authenticity
More people than ever before have a voice, whether that’s through a Tweet (or perhaps now a Thread), a LinkedIn article, a TikTok video or an Instagram post. People can become active brand advocates quite quickly, and brand critics equally as fast. Customers want brands that are true to their word and to them – honesty is therefore key.
So using things such as Trustpilot reviews and user-generated content (UGC), brands can show real-world, authentic positivity within their marketing.
Social listening and engaging with customers regularly is a useful way to understand how customers feel about your brand. These learnings can then be applied to your marketing activity.
Lastly, we’ve all seen an influencer partner with a brand and thought, “that’s just not right?” It’s likely because the pair are not the correct match. Get the fit wrong and you lose any sense of authenticity.
In a noisy space, it’s the brands who are really listening to their customers and being true to themselves who will be rewarded.
Seize the moment
With an ever-increasing number of ways brands can reach out to customers, there’s a danger of trying to dabble in them all, but with little success. Rather than spreading their message too thinly, smart brands have their ear to the ground and a team capable of identifying the platforms best-suited to their business, so that they’re primed and ready to seize the moment when it arrives.
Take for example Duolingo, the language learning app. With its playful nature and Gen-Z audience in mind, the marketing team were given the go-ahead to get slightly chaotic on TikTok just as the app was in ascension. This has made for hilarious (and regular) viral content which cuts through and stands out from the majority of brands.
“I think one of the funniest and most basic things is that we have our ear to the ground in giving the community what they want to see,” said Global Social Media Manager, Zaria Parvez.
Duolingo jumps on TikTok trends as they happen, posting bold, humorous (and often silly) short videos whilst also commenting on other users’ posts with quick, witty takes that can cause a stir. This strategy has seen the language app reach 146.3M likes and 6.8m followers on TikTok.
Learning from this, with the launch of Threads heralded as the latest shiny new thing, brands should pay close attention, do their research first, and then jump into action if and when the opportunity is right.
Need a voice to help make the correct strategic decisions? Get in touch.
References
https://www.techradar.com/features/how-duolingo-went-viral-on-tiktok-to-millions-of-usershttps://www.anecdote.com/2015/01/link-between-memory-and-stories/
