Celebrity Growth Hacker, Co-Founder of iNexxus & MusicPromoToday.
getty
How times change. Five years ago, I heard many people argue that social media rots your soul and that emotional vulnerability on social media depolarizes society. The ubiquity of social media has had a profound effect on the way we run our businesses and communicate with society.
In a data-driven social marketing era, pop culture helps drive an endless stream of revenue to many individuals and brands. The question is how to understand and tap into the pop culture mindset. I believe this is crucial for modern marketers.
Learn To Listen
Imagine a world where leaders listened to their people. What if radio and TV had not just talk shows but “listen shows”? What if world powers had not just peace talks but “peace listens”? While it may seem audacious, it’s not complicated.
Listening is the missing half of communication. It’s vital in communication, but it’s often overlooked. Effective listening involves observing. It takes great effort and genuine engagement to be a mindful listener. If you study the behavior of successful negotiators, you realize that they listen far more than they talk; after all, we’re given two ears and one mouth for a reason.
MORE FOR YOU
Are you listening to today’s digital conversations on social media before making any decision? By listening, you’re able to gather information that can help you encourage more organic conversions.
The process of monitoring and analyzing everything is proper social listening. It helps you understand the other side. Listening to your community and gauging the importance of the information you are collecting can help you produce better content at scale and bring value to your community. It’s your opportunity to create affinity for you and your business. Listening can help you connect and build rapport and trust.
In today’s transparent universe, you don’t talk your way to the top; you listen your way there. Consider Clubhouse, pop culture’s latest social media obsession — it’s a community where people listen for hours. Embrace this paradigm shift. Genuine listening is a superpower. It costs you nothing, offers huge benefits and is the golden key to building relationships in this new social marketing era.
Stay Contextually Relevant
Any digital marketer worth their salt knows that content generation is key when listening. But the new rules of social media don’t include just content creation. They include providing creative context.
Pop culture cares about the world and is acutely aware of political, social and environmental problems that our society faces today. What does this mean for your brand? In the new era of social media, you can’t just say things; you must live by them. Know your core values, contribute to society and communicate your purpose. That allows you to build context in content easily.
Authentic storytelling is the key to engagement. The brands that are producing relevant stories are connecting with their audiences the best. Video storytelling is one way to add more context to your content. In 2020, 63% of mobile traffic was from video. By 2024, mobile video ad spending is expected to grow to almost $10 billion. Personally, I estimate that over 80% of internet traffic will be video-based in the next decade.
Some marketers say short-form content is king and that simpler is better (i.e., TikTok, Reels and Stories). Nonetheless, it is imperative to offer pop culture uniqueness and exclusivity as key behavioral drivers.
The subtle art of understanding pop culture is knowing what context to serve them. From what I’ve observed, the consumers who are leading pop culture are ambitious, empowered and entrepreneurial but also impatient and seeking convenience and instant gratification. They’re looking for intellectually and emotionally stimulating stories.
Create A Customer-Centric Culture
The social media playbook changes every day. But in essence, what matters most? Us, the consumers. By building customer-centricity into your message’s DNA, you can build a purpose that transcends differences in race, ethnicity, politics or religion.
Customer-centricity can become the hallmark of your brand if you operationalize compassion and customer empathy — not apathy. Instilling empathy as a universal value can also facilitate direct interaction with customers, and human experiences will drive your business forward.
To cultivate customer-centric thinking in the new world of social media means to have holistic, strategic approaches to customer experience. In this data-driven social era, where many consumers, especially younger ones, expect singular, delightful, unified experiences, the democratization of big data and the accessibility of user behavior data are imperative to exploit people’s interests.
The Power Of Pop Culture
Harnessing the power of pop culture can help you build long-term relationships and true brand affinity, which can lead to increased customer retention and revenue. If you doubt pop culture’s power, consider how GameStop shares soared recently as a result of millions of small investors who were spurred on by a Reddit forum. The situation caused upheaval on Wall Street. This shows us that pop culture isn’t just something that influences movies and TV. It could potentially change the future of finance.
The ecosystem has changed, and it’s paramount to resonate with pop culture.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
Go to Source
Author: Anto Dotcom, Forbes Councils Member
