Hasta La Creative!

Is it just me, or does it seem like every commercial ends with some half-assed attempt to drive social media traffic? What’s the rationale behind adding a Facebook and Twitter logo to the bottom of a commercial with no page name and no call to action? Does the team putting the spot together think viewers will be pleasantly shocked to discover the brand has social channels? And that viewers love their brand so much that they’ll drop everything to search for the right page out of their own curiosity? Or how about the ever-present hashtag? Am I supposed to be so excited about watching a commercial that I log on to Twitter to tell all my friends about it, using the guidelines the brand just introduced to me?

These guys still don’t get it social media is dictated entirely by consumers, not brands. Trends, discussions, and points of interest are going to be generated by news, current events and pop culture, not brand business goals. I realize every marketer is trying to maximize earned media, but with the exception of a few brilliantly conceived lines by a handful of companies, the majority of the hashtag encouragement is a waste of time (and for anyone promoting trends, a waste of money). Brands will always have a hard time starting a conversation, especially about their products, because people would rather talk about who Kim Kardashian is marrying or which athletes are taking steroids. The brands that really achieve earned media at scale are the ones who relevantly insert themselves into ongoing conversations in a fun or witty way. And if the last year has taught us anything about social, it’s that the window of opportunity to enter these discussions will get smaller and smaller.

Consumers’ attention spans are shortening by the second; most news is only relevant for a day or two, if not less. Just recently, an Olympic hero shot his girlfriend, and then a meteor hit Russia the next day. Anyone talking about either of those headlines after the weekend is an eternity too late. However, brands that can enter those conversations as they’re happening are giving consumers what they want and leveraging ongoing momentum. We’ve seen time and time again that culturally relevant content achieves engagement at much greater scale than that which is forced. So, all the brands suggesting hashtags and slapping platform logos on the end of their commercials are better off tuning into CNN or ESPN for inspiration to create something people will actually care about.

Continue reading at AdAge.com