Why Newsfeed Marketing Rocks

Marketers like us have learned some long lasting lessons from traditional methods of advertising. Things like structuring the content around long-term campaigns. Advertising taglines like “I’m Lovin’ it,” and “A Diamond is Forever,” were all well planned marketing endeavors designed to be splashed across different media for a long term increase in product sales.

Today’s scenario is different. With the increasing role of social media and everyone wanting instant online gratification, the old school of advertising cannot survive.

Of course, long term ad campaigns do have their importance, but not at all times and in all places. When we’re looking to produce interesting content for social platforms, we cannot spend weeks and months. This is because online people are an impatient lot. Simply put, customers are not content in waiting for content.

Newsfeed Marketing

It’s time to bid adieu to traditional campaigns and welcome "Newsfeed Marketing." This kind of marketing involves creating branded content in real time and putting it on your customers’ social newsfeeds.

We marketers think a lot about strategies and techniques of implementation, but often don’t manage to create shareable and relevant online content. We need to do rather than think. So instead of thinking whether it’s a beautiful day outside, post a fabulous picture of a park on Facebook. Tweet the picture!

Since there are enough resources handy, we can easily jump on to the latest trends and keep pace with the super-fast speed of pop-culture. By posting images relevant to current events, it becomes easy to drive fan engagement since you’re making a contribution towards something bigger.

Real Time Branded Content

Here are some easy ways to get started with branded content in real time:

·         Seek inspiration from Twitter’s trending topics.

·         Stay updated with the latest events by following news sites like Imgur and Reddit.

·         RSS readers like Feedly can help you keep a watch on the latest news and stories.

As marketers, we need to understand that the definition of “great” content is constantly changing in our world which is driven by newsfeeds. Content that’s likely to rule is real-time, culturally-relevant, and visual. What works today may not work tomorrow. So each day, we must try to work towards content that puts our brand in focus. Then customers relate to the content and the brand gets humanized.

Though real-time marketing may never replace traditional campaigns completely, it’s becoming quite clear that it’s an important component of all marketing mixes. Brands are required to be aware of and in sync with happenings all over at all times.

There’s better engagement when there’s plenty of your content in people’s newsfeeds. Everyone likes to share something that makes them look positive. So if they share a funny photo, their followers will think they’re funny. Similarly, sharing inspirational quotes makes them look sensitive and motivated.

The Bottom Line

The bottom line is that your stuff has a better chance of being shared by your customers if they consider it relevant and newsworthy. As marketers, we must make it our primary job to contribute as much as we can to all those information exchanges that are already happening online.