On Second Thought

October 05, 2017 by Taylor Wiegert in Video

Mobile has put our minds in overdrive. We consume content at hyper speed and scroll through our feeds in no time flat. Living with a deluge of content hasn’t meant choosing what content to view as much as it’s meant consuming what content is available at a faster pace than ever before.

Facebook’s found that we spend 1.7 seconds, on average, with content viewed through mobile in our News Feeds. It’s not much better on desktop—2.5 seconds. People want to be entertained. They want to be engaged, but they do not want to give any piece of content, be it from friends or brands, more than a moment of their time.

Needless to say, 1.7 seconds is not much time. What could possible be accomplished in 1.7 seconds? Well, in 0.25 seconds people can recall content they’ve seen in their News Feeds. That’s it. 0.25 seconds.

This research certainly benefits Facebook as it tries to contend with the fact that people tend to skip ads. Facebook's trying to say that doesn't really matter because 1.7 seconds is all you need. The value of those 1.7 seconds is certainly up for debate, especially with a research claim like this one, but that's how marketers should operate. Assume the worst. Assume seconds is all you'll get.

The gauntlet’s been thrown for advertisers. Marketers should assume 1.7 seconds is all they’ll get from people, and anything beyond that is extra. That’s quite the line in the sand, so what’s an advertiser to do?

Becoming Emoji-Literate

August 05, 2014 by Taylor Wiegert in Consumer Behavior

Marketers have had a lot of evolving to do. They've gone visual. They've taken steps to adopt more video. They've adopted mobile as a core means of communication. Marketers have never had to adopt and adapt to more ways to communicate with consumers in such a short period of time, and people are continuing to keep marketers on their toes. The next language marketers may need to learn is emoji.

Giving Consumers the Time of Day

January 07, 2014 by Taylor Wiegert in Consumer Behavior

Social media marketing is a given for most brands today, making the challenge of getting funds to support initiatives easier than it used to be (in most cases at least). The challenge is becoming more intangible. The struggle for brands in a a space that is always moving faster and showing no sign of slowing down is finding the time to serve customer needs in a way that meets their expectations.

Using Social for Customer Utility

January 10, 2013 by Taylor Wiegert in Content Marketing, Consumer Behavior

C onsumers are hackers. They want the best product for the best price, and they have the tools to do that. Businesses can either fight the trend (unsuccessfully) or embrace empowered consumers by creating marketing that doubles as a service or utility.

Marketers talk about building “relationships” with consumers, but as Adam Kmiec points out, consumer relationships are few and far between. Consumers want comfort and ease. Marketers that can connect them to those wants will evolve their role in the lives of their customers from being supply depots to being partners that enhance their lives. It might not be a ‘relationship,’ but it does elevate the brand in the eyes of the customer.

What Do You Want People to Do?

August 21, 2012 by Taylor Wiegert in Consumer Behavior

The power of social media is not in the number of people your brand has the potential to reach. This mindset takes us down the road of being obsessed with the number of users and the number of followers, and numbers mean absolutely nothing without an understanding of what they represent.

On the other hand, social media marketing power is shown when one user’s action is shared with his or her connections, and their actions spread to their respective connections. It’s online word of mouth. So, instead of focusing on the number of people, marketers first need to understand what action they want people to take—what they want them to do that will spread to others.

Different Platforms for Different Actions

Consumers have diversified their social platforms. They’re not focused on one or two. Instead, they use different communities to connect with different people, to share different content and to behave differently.

eMarketer released findings on different user behavior on a variety of platforms. Major platforms like Facebook are important when it comes to consuming content, but more niche platforms are more likely to encourage a sharing behavior.

Different Audiences with Different Actions

No brand’s segment of consumers will be exactly the same. They’ll behave differently on different platforms, which means it’s important to first understand who your audience is, what you want them to do and where they’re more likely to exhibit that behavior. Without this understanding, a brand can find itself trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. In other words, they’re trying to get consumers to take an action they wouldn’t otherwise take.

Ask yourself if the current platforms you’re using are encouraging the behavior you want.