Social Media Marketing: Ephemeral Content Will Keep Gaining Popularity
“It’s a dialogue, not a monologue, and some people don’t understand that. Social media is more like a telephone than a television.” – Amy Jo Martin, author of Renegades Write the Rules
Are you considering adding social media marketing to your brand’s digital marketing strategy? If so, do you know what type of content, ephemeral or permanent, you want to post, and which social media platforms you wish to use?
By way of answering these questions, let’s consider the following points:
What is social media marketing?
Social media marketing (SMM) is defined by whatis.techtarget.com as a “form of Internet marketing that utilizes social networking websites as a marketing tool.” Its primary aim is to “produce content that users will share with their social network to help a company increase brand exposure and broaden customer reach.”
There are different types of SMM, including social networks where people connect, discussion forums, blogging networks, and media sharing networks. Additionally, different social media platforms fulfill the requirements of one or more of these SSM-types like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, Snapchat, and Pinterest.
Ephemeral versus permanent content
As highlighted above, posts can consist of different formats like a 280-character Tweet, a long-form blog post of thousands of words, or a multimedia post that includes text and a photo or video such as an Instagram or Facebook post.
And, a post can be ephemeral like a TikTok, SnapChat, or Instagram story. Or, it can be permanent like a standard Facebook and Instagram post, or a Tweet.
What is an ephemeral post?
Merriam-Webster.com defines ephemeral as “something that lasts for a very short time.” Therefore, an ephemeral post is a social media post that disappears after a predefined period of time, giving audiences a small amount of time to look at and engage with the post.
Why is this ephemeral content important?
The hubspot.com blog provides the succinct answer to this question:
In a nutshell, it is a “smart method to use if you are looking for your audience to take faster action on your content.” It is also a “highly diverse way to engage” with your brand’s audience. It can actually “help you connect with your target audience and define your brand.”
Statistics reported in 2019 by Statista.com, show that Instagram story features have 500 million daily active users with WhatsApp coming a close second with 450 million daily active users.
Therefore, the question that begs is why are these disappearing stories so popular?
The following points attempt to answer this question:
Engage with your brand’s target audience
Your target audience is more likely to respond to actionable, ephemeral content that to non-actionable content. A good example of this type of content is to use an Instagram story to pose a question and answer session about your brand on an Instagram story.
Direct your audience to your Instagram shopping/services page
The aim of ephemeral content is to create a sense of urgency in the story’s viewer. This content creates the impression that the content requires an immediate response. Therefore, it’s an ideal vehicle to encourage your target audience to answer the story’s CTA (Call to Action), which in this case is to send your target audience to the Instagram page where they can purchase your products.
