You might be asking – why 8 seconds? Because that’s how long our attention span is. Well, at least according to a study committed by Microsoft. (And yes, it is shorter than a goldfish’s 9-second attention span!)
The onslaught and pervasiveness of social media simultaneously makes marketing easier and harder at the same time. Recently Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook will be revamping its news feed, which prioritises users friends’ interactions and news first. Other content like news, business advertisements then comes next.
Thus, this is exactly why you need to learn how to cut through the information fog fast, and now.
A great example would be Starbucks Singapore’s Instagram account.
Treat your audience as connoisseurs, of consuming social media that is. They have probably consumed a ton of it and know what they like to look at. Aesthetically pleasing images (i.e flat lays) are a must, especially so when you are doing an Instagram ad. If post-production work has to be done, double and triple-check that the ‘shops are flawless. Let your campaign ends up being the subject of a viral article! As for gifs, there are plenty of apps and websites (e.g. Giphy) you can utilise to create one for your brand! Moving images are a sure way to grab attention quickly and increase your post’s engagement.
This draws from the power of words and human’s curiosity. Nothing commands attention better than our buddy, curiosity over here. Leave only enough breadcrumbs to lead your audience on a trail towards you. And BuzzFeed does it best:
Well – yes, they’re all leaning towards click-bait but it illustrates the point, if not BuzzFeed’s net worth of 167 million USD would!
Let’s start off with this:
Yes, it’s Gucci. Yes, it also makes use of memes and millennial slangs. Sure, this commands second glances and “really? Gucci?” but they took a leap and did it anyway. We daresay this is the best way to capture your audience attention quickly and effectively, only because netizens are very much into humour-based content. A quick browse on a few Facebook feeds, and all you will see are memes, funny dog videos and more references to other memes.
One local example would be SGAG. Started off as a parody Facebook page, SGAG rolled colloquial and internet humour into one and has witnessed success evident in their brand partnership with Scoot (bantering-turned-giveaway-campaign), Pastamania and Foodpanda. Leveraging on the humour factor sure turned out great for these brands.
It only bodes well if you understand how long of an attention span your audience holds and the ways you can use to capture it. If you’ve yet to include these methods, try it for your next campaign!
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