Coming Out of COVID, Part 2: P Is For Participation!
The pandemic accelerated a shift in content consumption that was already underway. Will it stick? What’s a brand to do about it?
Forget the feed. There’s a paradigm shift happening in the digital media landscape. It’s been accelerated during COVID-19, but it was happening before the pandemic turned us all into masked-up hermits. Humans crave connection, and we’re increasingly seeking richer connections online.
**** the Feed
It doesn’t require a tech background or a marketing degree to see shifts in the digital media landscape. Just look at where the major platforms are spending their time and capital in engineering and marketing. Hint — it’s not their feed. People are scrolling through the news or home feed of platforms like Facebook and Instagram less and less. In fact, two years ago Instagram users accelerated the trend to spend more time swiping, tapping, and posting Stories than in the NewsFeed.
Snapchat can take some credit for blowing up the feed-based consumption model. The app opens on your phone’s camera, inviting you to create instead of scroll. The app’s interface is more focused on discovery instead of a linear assembly line of content streaming past you. This is the reason Instagram Stories even exist. Facebook copied Snapchat because they saw where user attention was headed.
Now, TikTok is taking it to another level. It combines a Stories-like swipe-thru experience with an algorithm that is insanely good at surfacing content that will interest you [like, say, guitar solos laid over songs that absolutely don’t need them, played by some dude in his garage studio]. Both Snap and TikTok have tapped into two trends — democratized creativity and immersive, ephemeral content — and supercharged them. Snap’s growth shot up during COVID-19 and TikTok exploded to become the number one app in Apple’s App Store.
People are leaning into content, taking a more active role in both creation and curation. Brands need to start planning to draft into this jetstream.
Leaning In LIVE!
There’s another trend that intersects with the movement of consumers away from the feed towards richer engagement during COVID-19. The pandemic accelerated streaming, and in particular live streaming online. Gaming was a primary catalyst, as more people flocked to places like Twitch and YouTube to play and stream gaming and esports content while in lockdown. Damaged industries like music also took to live streaming to supplement [at least somewhat] the loss of live events.
And then there’s Clubhouse. The app launched in April of last year, during the initial wave of COVID-19 lockdown measures. In September of 2020, only a few thousand people had downloaded the app. By February of this year, the app had raced past 10 million downloads, with two-thirds of new users adopting the app in the new year.
Live streaming apps are obvious sources to earn more attention. The engagement is richer — instead of snacking as you scroll or swipe, you’re immersed in what’s happening. Typically, that involves a topic the user is passionate about, which adds to the motivation to engage. These experiences are also driven by a more intimate human connection. You see or hear the host or the performer[s], and it brings you into the experience in a deeper way.
Oh, and it’s also a lot harder for brands to **** up these experiences with ads.
So What? Now What?
With great opportunity comes great responsibility. There is tremendous upside for brands to lean into participatory digital media, but it requires focus and discipline:
- BE HUMAN: give your experiences a human voice; no brand-speak. It’s OK to use a little less polish. People want real.
- GO GRASSROOTS: start by finding ways to enrich the communities you aim to engage on whichever platforms make sense. Remember — nobody invited your brand, so try to be respectful.
- BUILD A PROFILE: that doesn’t mean just start doing stuff. Curate your presence. Have a reason for being where you are, and doing what you’re doing. And have that reason matter to the community you aim to engage.
- RETHINK FORMATS: It takes a different type of storytelling to make participatory engagements work. Focus on outlining an experience and leave room for it to evolve in real-time as the streaming even unfolds.
Forget the feed. Feed the need for connection.
