If anyone falls prey to Netflix’s crazy good paid media strategy it’s me. I, along with majority of the world who subscribe to Netflix, was hooked into watching the Tinder Swindler. And for about three days in mid-February 2022 it was all the hype and rage – did you notice that too? It seemed to fill a good gap in the pop-culture segment of all my small talk for the week and everywhere I turned I was fed some type of messaging about this 2 hour Netflix documentary whether it be in blogs, social media posts and e-commerce. Talking about it #trending. We’re going to unpack the benefits of trends in your content strategy.
Big brands join in as well
We even saw big brands like Checkers come swiftly to the party with these Tinder Swindler references on their Sixty60 App. The win here is not only to give their current App users a chuckle for the day but it’s how much they made their customers feel known through this type of entertainment. A ripple effect was the fact that their customers to this humorous messaging onto social media – an entirely different marketing channel. Checkers was now in front of a new audience (people who aren’t necessarily users of their Sixty60 app) and part of a conversation on an entirely different different channel.
In retrospect, I don’t know whether Checkers had planned for their audience to take this conversation onto social media. However, it does make you (at least me!) pause and want to investigate why they were so quick to integrate these pop-culture references onto their App so quickly.
This really got me thinking about trends. In fact, it got me really fascinated about trends too. I’m not only intrigued by the fast mass hysteria around it but rather how quickly it dies out – even faster than it emerged. There was roughly about a three day window where the Tinder Swindler was all the rage. However, by day 4 messaging around it seemed to fall a little flat and even the memes became less funny.
What advantage do trends present to us?
There’s a strategic advantage that trends present to us as we’re building our brands and our social communities. An advantage which adds an enormous amount of value to our content strategy. The aim of a content strategy is more than having something to post. A content strategy is a strategic move to educate, entertain and add value to the lives of our target customer such that we become top of mind when our offerings solve a problem they’re facing. A well thought out content strategy will consistently build trust and it create a point of departure for micro-conversations to be made.
Below we unpack two advantages on integrating trends into your content strategy.
1. Micro-conversions
Micro-conversions are mini wins along the way before you get your target market to actually spend money on your offering. Some examples of micro-conversions include:
- Social media engagement (like, comment, share and tagging friends)
- Clicking through to read a blog post
- Opening your email and better yet clicking through to your website
- Page hoping on your website and responding to your call to actions.
2. Make your customer feel like you really know them
The best way to engage with our customer is to enter the conversations they are already having. It’s a phenomenal and often easier point of entry to speak about something they are already interested in. Trends like The Tinder Swindler provide you accessible ways to bring personality to your brand. I believe this works great especially if you’re offering is something we deem to be “serious”.
Refer back to the Checkers example. By including this in their e-commerce messaging they paint a bigger picture of their brand personality. In essence they are communicating that they are not just another grocer. But rather, a grocer with a sense of humour who had really funny and on-trend selling points on their App. This might make me want to spend some more time on their App browsing their specials and offerings. In this engagement, my win as the consumer is being entertained and educated (on their offerings). Their win is the numerous opportunities to get me into their store and make a purchase or better yet, get me to place an in-app order immediately.
Quick wins with using trends in a content strategy:
- The trick is in the timing
- Action quickly, almost immediately.
- No matter how good the content is, if you’ve missed the point when the conversation is at its peak it can actually do your brand a disservice in that you may be seen as “so two days ago”.
- Trends make for good sharable and viral content because it interests people who fall out of the scope of your immediate customer base. The key here is to find the angle that resonates with your target market.
- While missing a trend might not be a big deal and there’s a chance you can win on the next one, there’s always the opportunity cost of the up-sell or cross sell that you missed. So it’s best to try with each brand-aligned trend that comes your way.
Some last thoughts
The key takeaway here is to keep your finger keep your finger on the pulse. Keep your eyes out for for what people are talking about/interested in. You always win when you have your ear close to your consumer. Again, this is just another reason why we need to define that consumer avatar but that’s coming up in the next blog (I promise!).
If you’re wanting to step up your content strategy game but not sure where to start, pop me an email or leave me message here. I’d love to connect with you.