Switch Tracks?
Virtual, reels, shorts, 3d, platforms.
When is it time to embrace the new?
The daily rumba I do with social media and online platforms is deciding when a platform is viable for a client’s marketing campaign. Where it is best to concentrate my client's focus and resources? When is it time to switch to a new platform? I recently picked up TikTok and spent a week learning the public end of the platform. WOW, after finding myself absorbed for hours wandering from one video to the next I was amazed at my own inability to quit the app and get back to work. I pride myself on being a hardened, experienced online media consumer and TikTok is definitely a phenom. Granted my viewing habits are longer videos of artists, my personal demographic is in the 2-3 min range and time spent on a mobile device is limited because I prefer a desktop. My extended viewing time was a wake-up call in media consumption. But, and it's a big but, none of my clients at this time would benefit from the fast-paced and content-consuming platform. There is no clear path to direct sales and entry to gain traction is multiple posts per day. The journey did reinforce my commitment to video versus other forms of communication. Video viewing is growing exponentially for so many reasons.
With video we communicate:
Faster
A single minute of video is worth about 1.8 million words. (Forrester)
Deeper
90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual, and visuals are processed 60,000X faster in the brain than text (Zabisco);
For the why video stats this article has all the numbers. PopVideo.
And for video for marketing check this online piece out. - invideo.io
Next on the NEW list was web 3.0
My oculus arrived on Monday. OK - mind blown. I was amazed at how far we’ve come in the third dimension in the media world. The applications are endless and the tech and entry-level to join are becoming mainstream. Gaming passed movie sales years before the pandemic reached our shores and 3.0 is all about games and social interaction. The past three years just moved the transition up by five years, maybe more.
So, where does that leave us in the decision to enter or let it mature?
Developing a system to test, evaluate and plan for the future for onboarding a new online platform is key.
Test
Jump in on the consumer end. Get a feel for how people interact. Ask yourself, are your people ready to experience the move? Have they already moved? Does your business gel with the platform and will your marketing make the grade? Even the jump from Facebook to Instagram takes some modification of your FB media. Check my article on Leveraging Your Content.
Evaluate
This can be tricky. You need to figure out if the platform has a mature and workable ad structure. It took Meta years to develop Instagram’s ad platform and it took even longer for it to become a viable ad space for the user. In the beginning, the clickable links were cumbersome and you had to jump through too many hoops to get anywhere to purchase. Plus the culture was a "cancel ads culture", because the majority of users were against ads. Zuckerberg had to wait to launch a viable ad platform. It took a few years before it became useable for the paid ad space. Which happened when it was linked through ad manager with Facebook around 2017. Only in a Meta Ad account can you see the real numbers, boosts leave a lot of data for speculation. It wasn't until 2019 did Instagram have click-through rates comparable to Facebook and even today they are even. You would think Instagram's would be higher but the numbers say different. Facebook is still the number one platform. So you need to be thorough in this phase. Does it have paid advertising? Clear paths to purchase? Do your people use the interface and why? To shop or just consume.
Plan
So, you have determined it’s a viable platform and you want to move your focus. Time to write out a plan. I’m set on taking Big Water Ci. into web 3.0 but it will take some doing. This is a major change and the planning process will take the next 3 months to even start the baby steps to get to the first phase. There are some major investments into tech that I will need to begin the learning phase. First product launch? - mid-2023. If you are thinking about a small jump from Youtube to Reels to TikTok take time for careful consideration. For even this small shift the video content will need to be shortened with added graphics to get attention on a mainly visual feed. If you have long-format informational videos on other platforms it’s time to chop it up and add some flash. Or get a new phone, set up a home studio, and learn how to go all mobile. For Web 3.0 it's new hardware (ouch$$$$) with new software (time) to a completely new platform. Being a lifetime learner and I am so over binge-watching. I'm all in.
If it’s where your business needs to go, then no better than now to begin the journey.
Nothing about today’s world says “I’ll wait for you to get your business going”.
But, and it’s a big BUT. I’ve been in this online digital platform world since 2000 and had to wait till 2010 to adopt an all-digital video delivery system that earned Big Water Event Media a Youtube Partnership. Next was venturing onto Facebook and the online advertising world. Over the years I’ve developed a process to test, evaluate and then plan for each and every jump. It makes the journey fun instead of a burden.
Any questions please comment below.
Or reach out tgold@bigwaterci.com
Trina Gold
Master Creator
BWCI