Bring on the Emotions

If you are in the advertising and branding business, Facebook’s recent change in their news feed algorithm that prioritizes family and friends over brand content may be cause for worry or it may be a sign that you can better differentiate yourself with something new.  What is that you say? Simply put, it is a reminder that content strategy, when done authentically, can drive emotional connections from the brand to the consumer.

Two ways that can be measured and compelling are to devote more time to rich, compelling, short videos and engage audiences with Facebook Live.  Content is king and drives the social media across all digital platforms, it’s the message that counts.  Zuckerberg’s reasoning for the algorithm change was to deliver on his mission to connect everyone in the world in ways that matter to them and have value.  By highlighting content that carried emotional connections, more people were liking, loving, sharing and commenting than with branded content that had no meaning for them.  For marketers, this presents an opportunity to step up there content because there is a “strong correlation between emotional reactions and shares” (Feldman & Kavilanz, 2018).

Humor is always the best medicine and the hardest to produce.  I leave you with a fake commercial for Nike’s Pro-Chiller Leggings, a spoof from Saturday Night Live last weekend that shows us how emotion can be a driver of consumerism.  I’d buy these leggings if they were available.  Enjoy!