Gone were those days when we write for passive readership. With the revolutionary social media wave, suddenly anyone can create and distribute contents from anywhere. For instance, Facebook shares more than 3.5 billion contents while YouTube videos can easily get more than 100 million views. Then enter Snapchat, Wickr and the likes where contents last only for a very short time. They’re fleeting and fluid in nature. We call them, ephemeral contents.
The question now, is how do we optimize these ephemeral contents? How does it affect our content creation? How do we ensure clients and brands benefit from it?
Facts and Figures
“What gets measured, gets managed (Peter Drucker). Facts and figures, will help you optimize your ephemeral contents. Question to begin with is, how do you measure something so fleeting and spontaneous?
It’s best to measure ephemeral content responses through multiple campaign platforms. Smart brands do this by redirecting these ephemeral contents back to their websites and measure from there. Each response is captured rather than letting it go waste.
For example, the story of 16 Handles. As a New York frozen yogurt chain, 16 Handles held a campaign for its ‘Snappy New Year’ coupon promotion back in January 2013. 16 Handles requested its Facebook fans to send out a Snapchat shot of their frozen yogurt, and in return, these customers received a coupon worth either 16% – 100% off. 16 Handles claims that after the campaign, its received more than 1,400 interactions with “friends”. (Source: Mashable)
Hype
Imagine publishing a “Give-Away”, “Mystery Gifts” or even competitions? You’ll get all the hype and buzz that you want! You will garner most attention from the widest group at the shortest span of time with possibility of your contents even going viral! Here are some other ephemeral contents that’ll work up a hype:
- Sneak peek or preview of products
- Discount coupons or codes
- Announcement of contests
- Sneak look at behind-the-scenes
- Introducing new member of the team
Novelty
The ephemeral content thrives on novelty. Tell a new story everyday about your brand. Engage your readers with an evolving and authentic story. The Audi collaboration with The Onion about Superbowl Live grew Audi’s Snapchat following by more than 5,500 over the course of the game. The formula to this is just to use humorous photos and captions to display typical behaviour of people and their pets during a game. (Source: 5 Creative Ways Brands Are Using Snapchats, by Jessica Gioglio)
Related : 8 Brands Rocking Snapchats
Do you know of any other ways to optimize your ephemeral contents?
Do share them with me.
Write Synergy 