Has Evergreen Marketing been Replaced by Ephemeral Marketing?

Gone are the days where print ads were the end all to creative copy and marketing communication. In this new era of social media marketing, companies have fully immersed themselves in the interactive relationships with consumers. I am quite certain that the classic evergreen marketing strategies are still essential, because believe it or not, everyone has not fully converted to social media as a complete guide to brand information. Depending on the brand’s targeted market capitalizing on the new algorithm shifts on social media, ephemeral marketing could show huge benefits.

Ephemeral marketing is defined as “lasting a very short time”. The ephemeral marketing that I’m referring to is the Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat stories that boomed in recent years. Marketers are taking advantage of how interactive these 24 hours stories can be. You can add links to websites, direct to products, and other locations for your brand. Although these stories only last for 24 hours in the feed, Instagram has offered brands the opportunity to turn their best ephemeral marketing communications into versions of evergreen communications by adding the stories to their highlights on their profiles. I thought this was a genius move by Instagram to mitigate any pushback brands may have about using the function. Not only will brands connect with users who have FOMO (Fear of missing out) but they will still be able to connect with users who actually missed out on the story. Research has shown that brands that use this function have more interaction from the users due to the limited time the communication is available. Users find themselves constantly checking their favorite brand’s accounts for more stories.

I think ephemeral marketing is a great tool to use for companies that have a target audience of social media users. After all, brands should be where their target audiences are! Here are some of the top benefits for brands:


-Interactive
-Keeps consumers engaged
-Benefits from FOMO
-Cost effective
-Visibility beyond algorithms limits
-Shareable (limitless reach of consumers)
-Encourages engagement
-Versatile

Evergreen marketing which can be defined as a marketing strategy that will last for a long period of time; an example of this would be your logo. This is a form of marketing that if you are trying to make a name for yourself you will keep it consistent over long periods of time. Brand recognition is important for developing brand loyalty, and consistency plays a large roll in its success. Evergreen marketing has more to do with making your brand presence known and having your content stay relevant over time. Developing concepts that will transcend through time is the main difference between evergreen and ephemeral marketing. This type of marketing is still a valuable and an essential form of marketing communication. In my opinion, brands should have a good mix of the two; especially if your target audience is heavily influenced by social media. Brands should first look to establish a solid consumer audience that have been loyal to their evergreen marketing (logo, tagline, keywords). This will encourage those loyal consumers to stay engaged with your ephemeral marketing strategies once they begin to develop.


Thank you,
Raynell

Sources:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ephemeral
https://www.pointvisible.com/blog/ephemeral-content/
https://marketingartfully.com/what-is-evergreen-marketing/
http://webmindset.net/evergreen-content-may-need-content-strategy/
https://mavsocial.com/best-social-media-platforms-for-your-brand/