I am 22 years old but somehow most content I see on social media makes me feel like I am 45. Brands and small businesses are trying to connect to me and make me want to use their service or buy their product but they are using tactics from what feels like 10 years ago. The internet moves at ludacris speed, and if you don't know that yet you have some catching up to do. Lets say you are going to try and reach a younger audience, such as 18-30, you better be prepared for constant changes. New hit songs release every day, new memes blow up every few hours, new ideas, new clothing styles, new phrases...So many new things are happening all at once because of the internet so when you are trying to market to a person who is constantly online, you can't be using yesterdays tactics in todays world.
A lot of big companies have been looked at as a joke or as "cringe" in recent years because they are late to the party, they release video content that has a dance or a viral trend from a month ago plus, but by then the lifespan of that trend is long gone and now you just look like someone who doesn't know how to use the internet.
Intimidating, I know. But this constant change is a good thing for an individual or small business that wants to make unique content. Keeping up to date with what's doing big numbers online is KEY to continuously have fresh content. Big businesses are always going to be late to the party because they have too many hoops to jump through to release content. Small businesses on the other hand, have so much less to worry about when getting their content released, which gives us the upper hand. We can release content that is relevant to the current events of the internet.
You just have to do it right. Part of the reason business owners aren't taken seriously when trying to be relevant, is because they try too hard. They try to blend in with the demographic they are marketing towards... STOP! It's 2022, I don't want to see you doing the mannequin challenge. Be natural. You can utilize the hottest trend without trying too hard. Don't act like you're not a business owner. Being relatable goes both ways. I want to see that you're up to speed, but also don't want to feel like you're just trying to grab views off of me. I want to know that you're a person like me, that happens to have a product or service you're providing. It's confusing. But there is a middle ground. Depending on what you are offering, incorporate something popular into your video or graphic that week for social media. Post it as a story or something that is short term. Use it as short form content, under a minute is generous for videos. Really your videos need to be under 30 seconds for trend based content. Trends move too fast right now and if you're not careful, your content will not age well and next thing you know you're the new cringey company for the week. If you execute the content properly in a timely fashion of the new trend, then you just caught the eye of every person who is also on that viral wave. Now you are the cool business, the cool small business, that all the cool trendy people like to go to.
I for one am not an expert in analytics or consumerism, but I am a professional at consuming. I would guess that most of us are professional consumers when it comes to media. We watch and listen to so much media between streaming services, Facebook, Twitter, tik tok, all these social platforms. So I believe that we have a little bit of say when it comes to what we want to see. Whether we are conscious of it or not, we want to see something fresh! There is a reason we spend an hour scrolling through Netflix looking for something to watch, we want something new.
Everything on the internet moves at a very fast pace. Attention spans are low, and judgement is high. With how quickly things change it gives a very small window for content. And as small businesses it should be a priority to put out content which can be tough with a small window of time. But remember it's 2022, nothing is too short anymore. So stay up to date, be self aware and create cool and fun content.
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