Tic tock, tic tock, time just gushes by so quickly these days. Let’s face it, we live in a fast-paced world where time is money and sadly we just don’t have enough of either. In consequence, our attention span is waning with studies from to Microsoft Corporation suggesting a reduction from 12 to 8 seconds. If I’ve already lost you, my point has just been proven.
We are scurrying away, like an apprehensive bride at the altar, from communication using the simple text format. The written word it seems is being quietly eroded by images such as graphics, photographs, emoji’s and more. Being honest, I’ll sheepishly admit, I often lazily indulge in a whole conversation relying solely on visual communications. In order to increase revenue and not become a relic of past communication practices, the way forward for companies is through ephemeral marketing.
What is Ephemeral Marketing?
In a nutshell, ephemeral marketing is straight to the point marketing. It cuts out the noise and nonsense. This culminates in a shorter and more precise message. This is profound when we consider our attention span is 4 seconds shorter compared to previous generations. It’s “in the moment” marketing with an expiration date. In effect, encouraging viewers to act now rather than later. Consequently, it concentrates viewers attention for a shorter period of time. Thereby, maximizing message visibility and retention levels.
It’s so trendy in marketing right now. Hubspot has named it as one of the seven game-changing marketing trends. Personally, I believe it’s only going to get bigger. Snapchat is the most famous platform that allows marketers to optimize ephemeral marketing. I must say Snapchat is a must for any marketer that wants to stand out and grab people’s attention dynamically and in a short amount of time.
Snapchat
While only released in 2011, Snapchat is now considered a standard marketing platform. It has evolved dramatically from a singular photo sharing app for the younger generation of savvy teens. Snapchat offers fantastic opportunities now for marketers thirsty to find unique and creative ways to target their audience.
Indeed, many marketers still don’t realize the power of Snapchat as a marketing tool. This is also true when it comes to utilizing the platform to create greater company awareness. I confess being a member of this oblivious group also up until recently. But it’s important to recognize, people are sharply drifting towards Snapchat in order to easily digest messages in real time. The messages are short, snappy and straight-forward. As a result, Snapchat provides a great opportunity for marketers to improve communication with their audience. In essence, these ephemeral marketing practices help hold consumer attention and focus the target market’s eyes on the key message of the ad.
Snap statistics
Equally important is, Snapchat has now reached over 41% of all 18-34 year old’s in the U.S alone. Half of the new users signing up are over the age of 25. Despite the hype surrounding ephemeral marketing, only a small number of businesses are using it. The first thing to remember is, Snapchat offers many unique opportunities to get your viewers to hear and absorb the message.
I just read recently, Snapchat has just overtaken Twitter in daily usage.150 million people check in daily according to BloombergTechnology. That’s massive! Snapchat has grown so much that recently they have been adding new business features. Snap Ads are being embedded in people’s story page. They are even rolling out features where users will be able to interact with the ad by swiping it resulting in delivery straight to the company website or an extended video.
World Wildlife Fund
The bigger players have entered into the Snapchat marketing space already as they realize its many benefits. For example, the World Wildlife Fund’s Snapchat campaign stirred the emotions in animal lovers everywhere. This is what great marketing is all about - giving your audience information they can digest easily, while also connecting with them on a deeper level. This campaign, in particular, worked great complimented by Snapchat’s main benefits of the message’s disappearance after 10 seconds. This signifying the disappearance of endangered animals around the world.
The message was short and straight to the point which made the ad memorable. In conclusion, this ad worked so well that they reached their month’s donation target in just three days. Other companies such as McDonald’s and Taco Bell are also using ephemeral marketing as a tool to get their key messages heard and understood. You can learn more about these campaigns and others by following this link.
Ephemeral pitfalls
Conversely, ephemeral marketing on social media platforms such as Snapchat has some downfalls for participants also. Chiefly there is no way to effectively measure the ad campaign’s effectiveness. Unfortunately, Snapchat is still missing important monitoring and measurement software. This could be a major issue for businesses without a large advertising budget to briskly gamble away.
But overall, there are many benefits if you want to get your message out there and connect uniquely with your target audience by using ephemeral marketing. Its transient nature offers the potential to embed teasers giving viewers a preview of new products or services that may be coming up.
Keeping it short and sweet
Don’t let the bigger players be the only ones to benefit. Ephemeral marketing is changing the way we communicate. Adapt it and see your brand stand out and get attention. You won’t be sorry.
