In an era of tech proliferation, we have a lot, but one thing becoming increasingly scarce is attention to spare. For marketers, reach is one thing, but getting people to pay attention when they tell their stories is an entirely different ball game where relevance is everything.

Relevance is a loaded term. It conjures up eye rolls and is easy to dismiss, but when it comes down to it, it’s about what advertising has always been about, making a message relevant to a consumer’s life and current mindset. The challenge now is lifestyles are more diverse and mindsets shift on a minute-by-minute basis. But understanding what is on a large segment of the population’s mind is easier than ever if we pay attention.

People use social media to connect with people, not brands. When people do connect with brands, they do so more often than not because they’re a regular customer and connecting with that brand communicates something about them to their social connections. “Liking” a brand is like wearing a t-shirt or a hat with a logo on it. They’re communicating something about themselves through the brands they follow.

Following a brand across social channels can be a superficial action. People are not looking for relationships with brands or to have a one-to-one dialogue in most cases. Associating with a brand simply serves as a social signal. The brand is a means to an end, not the end itself.