An era of story-telling

With the rapid development of social media, brands have realised sharing their stories is key to driving awareness and loyalty, if properly done. Mere brand exposure and distributing advertisements to consumers is not viable on social media and it’s getting harder and harder to draw attention and engagement on digital platforms.1. What to do: Building a brand via contentConsumers are now in control of what they want to see, readily rejecting advertisements that do not interest them, so we need to be creating desirable consumer experiences, both online and offline.a. Make it real:People love stories, particularly when they are real. Dove’s “Real Beauty Sketches” social campaign has received more than 67 million views on YouTube alone, and the number is still growing. Your audience wants to see something they can relate to, and when it is real, they are naturally engaged.b. E-commerce is content:Nothing can be more direct when your consumers love your products. When you sell them online, that's the best content. Today, Nike.com is no longer a brand site, it is an e-commerce website. It knows its products are the best connecting points and consumers are engaged in Nike.com now more than ever.c. Draw your consumers into the game:We all have to bear in mind consumers now have all the channels they need to tell their stories, whether or not brands are aware of it. So let’s not ignore them, but embrace their participation.2. How to do it: Don’t buy ads, buy the environmentToday, when you are placing your ad, even if you have picked the right channels, at the right time, you will probably find that your ad engagements, or even reach, are very low. There are two ways to improve it:a. Building the right atmosphere:At New Media Group, we have launched a “2+3 formula” where before we place our clients’ ad (three ad spots), our team will start developing related content (two editorial content) so the relevant audience is attracted and pre-engaged. We found that ads using this formula are 200% to 300% more effective than others.b. Do it in the right format:Each channel is different, and the people are there for different reasons. When you are advertising in a travel channel with mostly short video formats, you will have better engagement doing your ads following similar formats, and you will do some trial and error tests to establish your effectiveness in this channel.By Royce Lee, CEO at New Media Group