Why you need to capitalise on ephemeral content

I’m already imagining that you are staring blankly at me muttering “what…?”.

Ephemeral content is that appears on your social media accounts for a short time before disappearing. Think Instagram Stories, Snapchat and Facebook Stories.

If you want to promote a sponsor without publishing evergreen content, build up hype for a new show or to keep in touch with your listeners, ephemeral content could be the right way for your brand to connect with your target audience.

It’s authentic, in the moment and makes listeners feel like they have access to exclusive content. How do you reel them in with ephemeral content? FOMO. Your followers will become hooked because they don’t want to feel excluded, so they’ll stick around and check your content regularly. The ability for followers to interact with your brand via real-time polls, likes and comments triggers much higher engagement, and they also feel like they’ve made a connection with you.

The biggest hurdle is creating a content strategy for ephemeral messaging. Organic reach is becoming more and more difficult with algorithm changes prioritising content that isn’t published by brands. You not only have to create content that your audience will find captivating, but you need to learn how platforms categorise content to ensure your marketing message reaches your target demographic.

So how do you embrace this highly effective marketing tool?

Get to the point

Remember you are telling a story. Keep it brief and don’t go into too much detail or make it complicated. Your followers know your brand, so you don’t need to regurgitate information. Be bold, take risks and experiment. The objective is to keep and hold interest to ensure followers keep coming back.

Be raw and real

Users want to see that human side and what really goes on behind the scenes. They are looking to make some sort of connection with you, so make it authentic and personal. You’d be surprised how the most trivial things make some of the best ephemeral content. You need to make your followers feel like they are getting a taste of your daily routine, rather than the polished posts they see in your regular feed.

Generate content specifically for each platform

Don’t reshare the same video with a bunny filter to Instagram Stories and Snapchat. Craft content your followers actually want to engage with. Be strategic and stop being lazy; review your audience stats across each platform and create unique content for each account accordingly.

Utilise the interactive features

Play around with things like the interactive polls on Instagram Stories. It’s a novel way to get your followers involve and engaged. Utilising these features will allow you to gain insight into your audience; you’ll be able to discover what types of content they want to see more of.

 


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Social Scorecard is compiled exclusively for Radio Today by Jess Frangelli and is brought to you by Social News Desk.

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