Insight into 3 trends and understand 4 keywords to master new media marketing

In the eyes of many marketers , this is an era of "too many advertisements and not enough users." The emergence of new media has brought about tremendous changes in the relationship between content, channels and people. Understanding the relationship between these three is a prerequisite for brands to carry out effective marketing .

Content is becoming increasingly homogenized, channels are becoming increasingly out of control, and users are becoming increasingly difficult to please, making traditional marketing strategies and rhythms gradually ineffective. The biggest difference between marketing in the new media era and the traditional media era is that you must understand the rules and techniques of content dissemination better, because this is an era where "everyone has their own channels": everyone has their own social account, and everyone can radiate to a group of people.

In the new media era, what changes have taken place in users’ psychological demands and cognitive patterns? Only by understanding 3 trends and 4 keywords can you create marketing that has its own spreadability.

Trend 1: The collapse of elite thinking: the common people are the lovable ones

In the era of traditional media, channels are king; in the era of the Internet, content is king; and now, "content that users like" is king.

In the era of traditional media, the right to filter information is controlled by a small number of elite groups (reporters and editors), who largely decide what information users can and cannot see. In the new media era, the right to filter information has begun to be decentralized, and everyone is a disseminator of content. High-brow content may have high value from a professional perspective, but content that is approachable and interesting is more likely to be loved by the public and gain considerable traffic through its dissemination.

In the era of traditional media, the human brain's cognitive model is "linear and high-involvement", but in the era of new media, cognition is "non-linear and low-involvement". Just like when you read a 100,000-word book, you will take the time to immerse yourself in it and read it linearly from beginning to end, but when you read a 1,000-word article online, you may jump to other articles through hyperlinks in the article or be distracted by pop-up ads.

In the new media information environment, no matter how high-quality the marketing content is, users no longer have the energy to "appreciate" it. They prefer content that is highly relevant and engaging to them. In this era, the historical status of "down-to-earth" content has surpassed that of "high-end" content for the first time.

Trend 2: Everyone is an actor: Users’ inner drama needs a stage

In the era of traditional media, companies have strong control over channels, users usually play the role of listeners, and information is disseminated in a "one-way" manner. In the new media era, since everyone has their own communication channels, information presents a complex "multi-directional" communication model.

In such a media environment, users' desire for self-expression is growing stronger, and their will and preferences become a key point in the success of marketing.

In this age where “everyone is a drama queen”, what users need is not “guidance” but “expression”. What marketers should consider more is not just how clever the ideas are or how good the content is, but how to provide a stage for users’ inner dramas. UGC has begun to become a keyword in marketing.

Trend 3: Deep Divers and Speedboaters: Users are better at forgetting than remembering

 Nicholas Carr, author of "The Shallows," believes that in the age of paper media, the way we obtain information is like wearing a scuba gear and moving slowly in the ocean of words, but in the age of the Internet, we are like motorboat drivers, whizzing past the water.

As our use of the Internet makes it more difficult for us to retain information in our biological memory, we are forced to rely more and more on the Internet's huge and easily retrievable artificial memory, even if it turns us into superficial thinkers.

In such an environment, the user's brain no longer relies on the act of memory itself. When faced with the cognitive load caused by information overload, users will not try hard to remember the information they think is important. They are more inclined to block and forget the information they think is unimportant. In this way, marketing must reduce the cost for users to digest and store information in order to have a chance to take root in the minds of users.

In the new media era, four key words for marketing to gain communication power

After understanding the communication logic of the new media era, as well as users' cognitive patterns and content preferences, marketers must also avoid the situation of "critical acclaim but poor commercial success." After all, no one wants users to praise "this ad is great" instead of "this product is great" after watching the content.

In the new media era, content that meets the following four keywords is more likely to attract fans:

1. Use strongly relevant “stimuli”

In the era of self-media , it is easy for marketers to get caught up in the noisy battle for eyeballs. Everyone knows that if you want to attract users' attention, you cannot do without "stimulus factors." Riding on hot topics, using clickbait titles , and playing with the grain are all behaviors of looking for "stimulating factors."

However, if the stimulus factors are used improperly, they often only arouse users' interest in the stimulus itself, while ignoring the message that the brand or product wants to convey.

Colortrack TV used a beautiful model in its advertisement. The model was dressed conservatively. Eye tracking devices found that the audience stared at the advertisement for a very long time, and 36% of the audience still remembered the brand name 72 hours later. Another similar product used a sexy girl in revealing clothes in its advertisement. Eye tracking devices showed that this advertisement was also quite eye-catching. However, due to the strong stimulus and low relevance to the brand, only 9% of the audience still remembered the brand name 72 hours later.

Therefore, whether a brand wants to take advantage of a trend or try a new and creative marketing approach, it must follow the principle that “stimulus factors” must be strongly correlated with the brand.

While other brands are still running traditional elevator light box advertisements, NetEase Yanxuan has decorated a 3-square-meter elevator cabin in Beijing's China World Trade Center office building into a home space, which can be said to be a new idea. However, the most wonderful thing about this marketing is not just its imagination, but the brand purpose it conveys: a good life is not that expensive. A small house, no money and no time should not be an excuse for a crude life. Even a cramped elevator cabin can be made warm and beautiful by NetEase Yanxuan.

This kind of marketing will not make users only remember the excitement itself after watching it, but will enable them to clearly perceive the existence of the brand.

2. Let users become "spiritual shareholders"

When PepsiCo 's snack brand Frito-Lay was developing a new type of Lays potato chips, it did not consult many experts or conduct market research to collect user opinions. Instead, it launched a Facebook app that asked netizens to fill in the name of their favorite potato chips and the ingredients they wanted, and used this information as a reference for the production of new products.

The emergence of social networks has enabled marketers to tear down the walls between brands and users, and through communication, gain their trust, build brand appeal and loyalty, and turn them into "spiritual shareholders" of the company. Actions like Frito-Lay allow users to participate in the "development" of a product before it is born, making it easier for users to become its "spiritual shareholders."

3. Unleash the power of Meformer

A study by Rutgers University shows that users on social networking sites are generally divided into two groups. One is the Informer, or information sharer, who prefers to share social news or practical knowledge, and they account for about 20% of the total number of users; the other is the Meformer, or self-informer, who mostly share content that is highly related to themselves or their lives, emotions, and feelings, and this group of users accounts for 80% of the total number of users.

This can also explain why, in the new media communication environment, "down-to-earth" content is more likely to gain considerable traffic. On the premise of ensuring that the marketing appeal is clear, mobilizing the power of Meformer as much as possible can bring better voice to the marketing.

Rather than forwarding abstract concepts, ideas, and articles, Meformers prefer to share things that can bring them little surprises in their daily lives. What would you do when you see a pink and purple cup of Starbucks , or a transparent bottle of coffee? Many people’s first reaction is undoubtedly to take photos and post them on WeChat Moments . Starbucks' "Unicorn Frappuccino" and colorless and transparent Clear Coffee have achieved the effect of sweeping social networks by satisfying users' girlish hearts or curiosity.

4. In the post-truth era, reduce the granularity of emotions

"Post-truth" is the Oxford English Dictionary's word of the year in 2016, meaning that objective facts have less influence on public opinion than emotions or personal beliefs.

In the new media era, everyone has the right to produce and disseminate content. Content that can touch users' inner emotional buttons has great advantages in dissemination.

"To prompt people to have certain emotions can be a form of manipulation, it can be an art, or more likely it is something in between." But marketers must be aware that in the new media era, the granularity of user emotions can be very small. Not only can they be moved by grand and intense emotions such as anger, grief, and emotion, but more often, it is easier to capture the user's tiny emotions and win their hearts .

The home furnishing brand HOLA once launched a short film with the theme "Never trust someone who misses you so much that he can't sleep." The previous shot was the heroine hugging the hero and saying "When you were not around, I missed you so much that I couldn't sleep." The next shot was the heroine sleeping soundly on a big bed covered with HOLA products.

Compared with those advertisements that promote sincere and moving feelings between men and women, this kind of advertisement with a bit of complaints and ridicule is more likely to resonate with users' emotions. After all, everyone has a list of complaints about their partner. Although such emotions may not be grand, they are more approachable and make people more eager to share.

Conclusion

In the noisy and turbulent new media era, marketers' pursuits and methods of play are undergoing tremendous changes, and the stage and spotlight are gradually being transferred to users. By choosing "stimuli" that are strongly associated with the brand, cultivating users to become the brand's "spiritual shareholders", mobilizing the power of Meformer, and reducing the granularity of emotional expression, marketers will have a greater chance of creating content that has its own spreadability.