Social discovery is all around us. From film endorsements on Facebook to trending topics on Twitter or song recommendations on Spotify, you can be influenced by the opinions of others more than you might think. Sure, sometimes you’ll find new products or services that interest you through traditional means. But more often than not, and especially if you’re a millennial, you will stumble across new things to watch, see, and do via grassroots advocacy from people you know. There’s no getting away from the fact social networks are a great place to get targeted recommendations from those you share common interests with. So it’s no wonder the term ‘social discovery’ has grown significantly in the last few years. It characterises any situation where a consumer is exposed to something new based on the opinions of another person, and it’s having a big impact on the content marketing sector.
In today’s world, full of user-generated images, text and video, anyone can be an influencer. Research from Business Insider supports this view, finding that 71 per cent of consumers feel peer reviews make them more confident about a purchase. This represents a powerful opportunity for marketers, especially when you take this model and apply it to the millions of social media users out there. Facebook and Twitter are perhaps the biggest examples of websites fuelling social discovery. Twitter is a great platform for starting new trends and viral conversations, but the actual participation and sharing of content happens through Facebook. Thanks to a range of built-in sharing features these networks make it possible for any piece of content about a product, service or brand to go viral quickly.
Part of the reason social discovery has become so common, and why it’s now important for brands from an advertising and marketing perspective, is because there’s more content available online than ever before. Take the way we watch TV, for example. The internet has moved the availability of video far beyond linear television, and the rise of services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video mean today’s viewers have an incredible amount of choice. The same can be seen across other sectors too.
It’s no wonder, therefore, that brands of all shapes and sizes are actively looking to tap into the power of social discovery and use this to reach an important segment of the market that, until now, they’ve struggled with – millennials. However it comes about, social discovery is a powerful force that traditional forms of advertising and promotion struggle to match in 2015. It’s real and trustworthy – two values not to be underestimated when it comes to reaching a millennial audience.
So how can brands harness the power of this phenomenon rather than simply being swept along by its tide? The answer is to be where the audience is, give them a good reason to be interested in what you have to say, then offer an engaging and meaningful experience around the content you’ve created. By adopting this approach, brands can not only use social discovery as a form of native advertising, pushing their products to new audiences in a less aggressive way than with traditional marketing methods, but to also offer more targeted and relevant messages to specific demographics.
Social discovery lets brands hone in on what people are saying with more precision and relevancy than ever before. And the easiest way to do this is through new online tools, like Beamly, which cut through reams of content available online to reach a target audience, driving interest via social media while simultaneously promoting a brand’s core message. It’s a win-win situation for all involved.
For audiences of all ages great content is still, after all, great content. Video, text, or images that drive passionate conversations and fierce loyalty, even in a splintered and choice-rich media world, are far more valuable than those that do not. With this in mind, the benefits of partnering with a social discovery platform, built around providing a deep level of user engagement, is clear. It opens up the opportunity for brands to get closer to their target audience than ever before. By focusing marketing efforts on creating newsworthy, sharable and actionable content then pushing it through social media to an active audience, it’s possible to dramatically increase engagement.
By Juliette Otterburn-Hall, Chief Content Officer at Beamly.
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