Brands need to be braver with their social media strategies

Brands need to be braver when it comes to social media.

Content, presence, interactions you name it. It’s a drum that marketers have been banging on for a while, but a message that still needs to land on quite a few brands ears.

I stumbled on this interesting article while doing my weekly research on interesting news in the industry (I know I need to get a life) called “Stop treating social as an add-on to your TV or digital OOH campaign. Not only should social be part of a brand’s strategy, it should be the strategy.” by Jacinta Faul: She goes on a respectable rant about how brands still see social as a bolt-on to their OOH or TV campaigns. This is a message I wholeheartedly agree with; repeatedly brands are advised to develop social-first content native to platforms they use, and lo and behold, another cut down of a TV creative or a reformatted OOH asset.

I believe we all need to remember why audiences are on social media in the first place: to be entertained. Brands such as Duolingo, Burger King or Ryan Air have completely understood this and have become icons in how to interact with audiences and consistently go viral. I am sure their social managers make their legal teams go crazy, but these kinds of risks have more than been handsomely rewarded with extreme brand advocacy, engagement and earned media. Does this mean all brands need to fake their deaths and be reborn? Maybe not, but they definitely need to think more outside the box than cutting down TV creatives.

For platforms especially TikTok, brands need to reinvent their wheels. It’s no longer about brand notoriety but how you can provide entertainment or value to audiences. Content creators are running the show, plopping super stars and having them read a script is no longer the way to go.

Long story short to improve performance on social:  be brave, be proud, and be funny.