Insight

In the fast-paced digital world, social media platforms are constantly evolving and introducing new features to enhance user experiences and keep them engaged and entertained. While some of these features are hailed as game changers, others may receive mixed reactions. Let’s face it, not all new features were quickly spread around the world, like the ‘Add Yours’ Instagram Story sticker which is still in use.

Now we’ll delve into some of the latest social media features and assess if they are worth a go or just a U-turn for your brand:

#1 Comment with GIFs: Adding a Sense of Fun and Expression

Community managers would love this! Instagram recently rolled out a new feature that allows users to comment with GIFs.¹ This feature adds an extra touch of fun and emotional expressiveness to conversations, making it easier than ever to share reactions and engage with your fans. If your brand has a mascot or fictional character, like MyTOWN’s Goosey, this enhancement will definitely slay as it could humanise your brand’s tone even better to create a more dynamic community.

Source: Lactel Malaysia Instagram replied to a fan with a GIF to enhance the interaction.²

Pro tip: For brands that are eager to drive social media excitement, you can take it to the next level by creating a unique set of GIFs to make the interaction more memorable while reinforcing your brand identity.

#2 Add Music to Photo Posts: Amplifying Visual Content

Have you ever realised that some Instagram photo posts come with background music (BGM)? This feature³ has been available on Instagram since November 2022. Now they continue to push the boundaries of creativity by testing this enhancement with carousel posts.

This feature allows you to bring your content to life by adding a soundtrack to your photo post on Feed. We’re testing this feature with carousel posts now – more to come soon.

Any other gems you think I should cover? Let me know 👇🏼 pic.twitter.com/09tDJkMIl3

— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) May 3, 2023

Source: Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram announced the upcoming new feature.⁴

This feature allows us to pair visual content with music, enabling a more immersive and engaging viewing experience. Could you imagine Disney adding “Under the Sea” BGM to a photo post of “The Little Mermaid” movie poster or Paddle Pop adding the “Super Duper Yummy” jingle⁵ to a reposted UGC (user-generated content) photo? By making good use of this feature, you can definitely make your brand sound more light-hearted and fun! It’s also where the UGC opportunity comes in when people start to notice your brand and hop on the trends by using your unique BGM or advertising jingle.

Yet everything has its pros and cons. The volume of audio is at its maximum. Hence, it might give your fans a heart attack even though it stops their thumbs from scrolling.

Source: Users commented on the announcement post of Instagram’s @Creators.³

#3 Multiple Links in Bio: Streamlining Navigation

Traditionally, Instagram limited users to include a single link in their bio. However, with the introduction of multiple links in the bio (maximum 5 links), brands and influencers can now direct users to different destinations without using a third-party landing page that can contain multiple links. This enhancement is worth a try to simplify navigation, enhance user experience, and enable better conversion opportunities!

We can see that not only us have already made the first move:

#4 Video Playback Speed Controls: Tailoring the Viewing Experience

Do you ever wish you could control video speed in social media apps? Well, a little bird told Twitter! They recently introduced video playback speed controls, allowing users to adjust the playback speed of videos on their feed.⁸

Source: There is a range of playback speed options to choose from via the video player on Twitter.⁹

This enhancement is undoubtedly a fun feature for brands to make good use of as it offers greater control over the viewing experience, enabling users to watch videos at their preferred pace. It can help to improve engagement and community communication with some interesting interactive content.

Pro Tip: Utilise this enhancement to create multiple viewing experiences with only one video. For example, a ‘What You Think VS. What Really Happened’ campaign from a logistic company to show audiences how effective their dedicated customer service team is. The video includes some hidden messages that can only be seen when watching it at 2x speed.

#5 咻咻Instant Photo Sharing: Enhancing Real-Time Interaction

For those actively using Xiaohongshu, did you realise there is an exciting new feature called 咻咻 (Xiu Xiu)?¹⁰ This innovative feature allows users to share moments with others in real time by taking photos. It’s similar to the AirDrop feature but without any limitations of the operating system.

With this enhancement, brands or influencers can engage with their communities through real-time interaction, especially at an exclusive event or on-ground campaign. It could bring a new level of engagement and authenticity, fostering meaningful connections between brands and audiences.

Source: Xiaohongshu new feature.¹⁰

Conclusion

As social media platforms evolve, new features emerge, presenting both opportunities and considerations for brands. However, it’s essential to carefully evaluate each feature’s relevance to your brand and audiences before diving in.

If you’re looking for help leveraging these features strategically to unlock new opportunities for community engagement and brand awareness, get in touch with us.

References:

• • ¹ Social Media Today | Instagram Adds GIFs in Comments
  • ² Lactel Malaysia Instagram | Personality Quiz for Kids
  • ³ Instagram’s @Creators | Add Music to Photos
  • ⁴ Adam Mosseri Twitter | Add Music to Carousel
  • ⁵ Reddit (Jacobcrackers14) | Paddle Pop “Super Duper Yummy” jingle
  • ⁶ Kingdom Digital Instagram
  • ⁷ LaLaport Bukit Bintang City Centre Instagram
  • ⁸ Social Media Today | Video Playback Speed Controls on Twitter
  • ⁹ Pos Malaysia Twitter | Social Post
  • ¹⁰ Xuan | Xiaohongshu New Features

What are aesthetics?

First things first, we are not referring to aesthetic procedures that usually come up when you search the terms ‘aesthetic’ and ‘marketing’ together. We are talking about the aesthetics recently popularised by TikTok¹, defined as a particular style or visual appearance that people adopt and appreciate.

Image Source: Pinterest

Aesthetics have been a significant part of human culture for a long time. Many have emerged throughout history although recently, there has been a surge in the popularity of various aesthetics among Gen Z. This is partly due to the pandemic. Lockdowns have given them the time to explore their identities with minimal influence of immediate friend groups and having access to the internet, an open world of information.¹

Besides influencing style/fashion choices, aesthetics can also affect the surroundings and personality traits of someone dedicated to an aesthetic, curating their spaces and interests to suit them. Aesthetics can also influence the world views of an individual. For example, Cottagecore² romanticises and promotes the simplicity of domestic labours and self-sufficiency.^2,3

To give you a better picture of aesthetics and the culture that surrounds them, here’s some information on the most popular aesthetics:

Dark Academia

The Dark Academia⁴ aesthetic is characterised by a love for classic literature, art, and intellectual pursuits. It is usually associated with a moody, introspective vibe and often features vintage clothing, dark colours, and elements of Gothic and Renaissance styles.^1,4

Image Source: Pinterest

Y2K

The Y2K⁵ aesthetic is inspired by early 2000s fashion and pop culture. It is characterised by bright, bold colours, futuristic elements, and a playful whimsical vibe. It often features chunky platform shoes, mini skirts, crop tops, and bold makeup and accessories.^1,5

Image Source: Pinterest

Cottagecore

The Cottagecore² aesthetic is characterised by a love for the simple and natural pleasures of life. It is inspired by rural living and traditional crafts. It also often features flowy and comfortable clothing, soft colours and floral prints, and cozy and rustic interiors. It emphasises a connection to nature and is usually associated with domestic activities like gardening, baking, and mushroom foraging.^1,2

Image Source: Pinterest

Other popular aesthetics include Retro/Vintage, K-pop, Vaporwave, and E-girl/E-boy.

How can my brand leverage on aesthetics?

First, you must understand the community surrounding these aesthetics. Learn what appeals to them and why they choose these aesthetics to represent themselves. Then, analyse your brand and determine whether the aesthetic aligns with your brand’s vision, beliefs, look, and feel.

Once you’ve determined the aesthetic, you can create marketing content and campaigns inspired by that aesthetic, building a strong brand image and increasing consumer loyalty.

For example, if you have chosen the Dark Academia⁴ aesthetic for your brand, you can create content and ads that incorporate elements such as tweed, vintage styles, and classic literature references. This can create a sense of affinity with the aesthetic and attract consumers who are interested in this style.

However, as simple as it may seem, it is crucial for you to be genuine in your use of aesthetics. Avoid appropriating or commodifying certain styles or cultures as consumers can pick up on the inauthenticity. Using an aesthetic in a way that is forced or insincere can damage a brand’s image and reputation.

How have brands leveraged on aesthetics?

Lirika Matoshi

Lirika Matoshi⁶ is a fashion designer who has gained popularity for her whimsical and dreamy designs, incorporating elements of the Cottagecore aesthetic. Her designs appeal to those who appreciate the gentle and ethereal qualities of the Cottagecore aesthetic. Her viral Strawberry Dress⁷ has been seen as a symbol of the Cottagecore aesthetic with its soft colours and romantic, whimsical design.

Image Source: Pinterest, Lirika Matoshi (@lirika.matoshi, Instagram)

Selkie

Selkie⁸ (not to be confused with Selkiecore) is a fashion brand known for its whimsical and playful designs that feature bright colours and unique textures. Its designs are inspired by vintage fashion with a modern and eclectic twist. This brand is also known for its signature wrap dresses, puffed sleeves, and ruffled details—elements that are often associated with several aesthetics like Royalcore and Cottagecore.

Image Source: Pinterest, Selkie (@selkie, Instagram)

Aesop

Aesop⁹ is known for its minimalist and apothecary-inspired aesthetic. Its packaging is simple and understated. Their brown glass bottles and black-and-white labels act as a tribute to traditional apothecary bottles. Overall, the brand appeals to those who appreciate minimalist design and natural, high-quality ingredients, gaining a loyal following among skincare enthusiasts.¹⁰,¹¹

Image Source: Pinterest

NewJeans

NewJeans¹² is a Korean girl group composed of five members. Their debut in 2022 created waves with its strong Y2K influence. From the songs to their looks and concept visuals, the group maintains an early 2000s feel—mixing nostalgia with modern elements. This helped differentiate them from the oversaturation of K-pop girl groups (often criticised for looking/sounding the same).¹³

Image Source: Pinterest, NewJeans (@NewJeans_ADOR, Twitter)

Final Thoughts

Aesthetics have the potential to be a powerful tool for brands, not just beauty or fashion related ones but anything that has a lifestyle surrounding it. For example, a coffee brand can leverage on the Dark Academia⁴ aesthetic—linking it to late night reading or studying sessions.

Aesthetics can be used to connect with consumers and build a strong brand identity, but it is important to approach the use of aesthetics thoughtfully and with respect to the cultural and historical contexts of which they originated.

A downside to consider when associating closely with an aesthetic is that you may be limiting a brand to one identity, look, and community. If your brand is too closely associated, audiences might not be able to view your brand image and products outside of the aesthetic. So, you must be smart with the structure and variety of your content.

Want to see how your brand can leverage on aesthetics?

Get in touch

References:

• • ¹ The Art of the Aesthetic: A Rundown of Gen Z’s Favorite TikTok Aesthetics
  • ² Cottagecore | Aesthetics Wiki
  • ³ Once Upon a Time, There Was Cottagecore
  • ⁴ Dark Academia | Aesthetics Wiki
  • ⁵ Y2K | Aesthetics Wiki
  • ⁶ Lirika Matoshi
  • ⁷ How Did This Dress Get So Popular in a Pandemic?
  • ⁸ Selkie
  • ⁹ Aesop Malaysia
  • ¹⁰ Aesop Brings Decadent Products to a Minimalist Space on Fillmore
  • ¹¹ Finding Minimalist Perfection in Aesop Stores
  • ¹² NewJeans – ‘New Jeans’ Review: HYBE’s Latest Girl Group Go Against the Grain in an Uneven Debut
  • ¹³ NewJeans Is Already in the Running for Best K-Pop Debut of 2022

Today’s market is a war-like landscape, with brands competing against one another everywhere you look. To build a successful brand, companies require more than just a great product or service. Most brands neglect their community, focusing heavily only on talking to their audience through product sharing and promos, and not listening to their audiences’ thoughts, wants, and concerns which would drive rewards and long-term brand loyalty. The brands that can truly thrive are those with a clear understanding of their community and are able to connect to them.

So, what are communities and fanbases? How do they function to benefit a brand?

Brand communities and fanbases¹ are groups of loyal customers or fans who share a common interest, passion, or affiliation with a particular brand. They are formed around a brand’s products, values, cultures, or mission, and are characterised by active engagement, shared experiences, and a sense of belonging among members. A few global brand examples are Adidas with their Creators Club, or Starbucks with Starbucks Rewards.

On a local level, we can look at Chucks’ recently launched Chucks n’ Pals or Moom Health’s Club Moom² and Wellness Events³. These brands were able to create hype and generate talkability which in-turn built their brand loyalty through community-based events and community engagement content on social media.

Traditional Marketing vs. New Marketing Approach

The focus on community building for brands takes on a different approach in comparison to the traditional way of advertising through a marketing funnel. There are four stages in a traditional marketing funnel.⁴

As we can see, traditional marketing focuses on the first three stages with loyalty coming last, but that is precisely where communities are built on.

A strategy that centers around community building however, is the McKinsey Flywheel.

Unlike the traditional marketing funnel, which is linear and transactional, the Flywheel⁵ emphasises the circular nature of customer interactions and the importance of customer retention and advocacy as the key drivers of a brand’s growth.

To break it down, how does this approach benefit you more than a traditional marketing funnel?

1. Customer-centricity: The Flywheel places the customer at the center, building exceptional customer experience and long-term relationship.
2. Positive Feedback Loop: Creating a positive loop of engagement, satisfaction, and advocacy allows brands to retain repeated customers in a cycle of product, services, and customer experiences improvement.
3. Holistic Approach: The Flywheel considers all aspects of the consumer journey, allowing brands to optimise the entire consumer experience, rather than just focusing on acquiring new customers.
4. Community Building: As the Flywheel centers itself around the brands’ community, it focuses on building a place where customers can engage, share experiences, advocate for the brand, and foster a sense of loyalty. The community is also able to produce user-generated content that drives word-of-mouth marketing. This will be more effective and cost-efficient than traditional advertising in the long run.
5. Long-term Growth: By prioritising customer-retention and advocacy, brands can reduce customer churn, increase customer lifetime value, and achieve higher customer satisfaction, leading to a strong foundation for future growth.

Chuck’s: Our Community is Everything

A skincare brand launched by an influencer or a celebrity may rise fast, but it fades out equally as fast. Jane Chuck’s brand⁶ was able to leverage on her identity to first launch itself but she understood the

importance of community for her brand/business longevity. That is why she started the trend of community events.

In February 2023, they hosted a slew of workshops for their Chucks’ N Pals (the name of their community that was launched in telegram) titled “Did It For Love”⁷. Playing into the theme of love languages: Words of Affirmation⁸, Quality Time⁹, Acts of Service¹⁰, Physical Touch¹¹, and Gifting¹², they were able to leverage on their community of millennials and gen-z’s interests to build events that also coincided with the launch of their exclusive bundles.

Source: Chucks.co Instagram | Did it For Love⁷ and Words of Affirmation¹⁴

In summary, by creating a safe space for their customers to share their interest, converse, and engage, Chucks was able to build loyalty, brand recognition, customer retention (and growth), allowing what was originally just labelled as an “influencer brand” to turn into a force in new-age marketing, and “more than just an influencer brand”.

Conclusion

By focusing on community building and embracing the Flywheel, brands can create a more robust and resilient business model in comparison to the traditional marketing funnel, one that we might debate on if it might eventually be obsolete — but that is a debate for another day.

If you’re looking for help getting connected with your community, get in touch.

References:

• • ¹ Bazaar Voice | Building a Brand
  • ² Moom Health | Club Moom
  • ³ Moom Health | Wellness Events
  • ⁴ Sprout Social | Marketing Funnel
  • ⁵ McKinsey | Community FlyWheel
  • ⁶ Chucks | Instagram
  • ⁷ Chucks | Did it for Love
  • ⁸ Chucks | Words of Affirmation
  • ⁹ Chucks | Quality Time
  • ¹⁰ Chucks | Acts of Service
  • ¹¹ Chucks | Physical Touch
  • ¹² Chucks | Gifting
  • ¹³ Chucks | Words of Affirmation Video

Social media usage among Malaysians continues to achieve record figures, with the active user count peaking at over 30 million¹ in 2022. Despite Facebook and Instagram’s dominance, platforms including Xiaohongshu, BeReal, and Bondee have been shaking up the social media scene.

However, not all have proven to be more than a passing fad. Here’s the lowdown on these apps and how brand marketers may leverage the potential opportunities they present.

Xiaohongshu: Online Shopping REDefined

Boasting a monthly active user base of 200 million² people, Xiaohongshu, or RED, is one of China’s fastest-growing social media platforms. Unlike other apps angled at networking or staying in touch, Xiaohongshu sets its focus on lifestyle-sharing, particularly fashion and beauty.

Addressing a community comprising mainly young, affluent Chinese women, the content on Xiaohongshu is anchored on sparking conversations around trends and products instead of direct promotions. Credible user-generated content³ is the driving force behind Xiaohongshu’s success, and this comes from the sizeable community of key opinion leaders (KOLs) and key opinion consumers (KOCs). Compared to mainstream advertisements, users deem their content to be more “trustworthy”, which in turn translates to higher conversion rates.

Nonetheless, due to the distribution algorithm, high follower counts do not guarantee reach on Xiaohongshu. In its 2019 perfume launch⁴, C-beauty pioneer Perfect Diary bypassed this barrier by engaging over 150 KOLs with follower counts ranging from three to six figures. Five days after the launch, more than 24,000 bottles of perfume were sold, generating Perfect Diary millions of yuan in revenue.

Not just another figure⁴: A “small” KOL’s post attracted more engagement than a KOL with over 10,000 followers.

Quick Takeaway

As a product-centred platform, Xiaohongshu may be ideal for generating awareness through word-of-mouth, especially for smaller or newer brands. Given credibility is key, it is important to partner with the right KOL or KOC.⁵ Remember to consider whether their content and audience align with that of your brand. Moreover, endorsements that are too “commercial” do not do well on Xiaohongshu, so aim for authenticity rather than perfection.

Nevertheless, the platform may be unsuitable for a Malaysian audience as Mandarin is almost exclusively used on the app. An alternative to this setback may be the up-and-coming app⁶, Lemon8. While similar to Xiaohongshu, Lemon8 appeals to the Malaysian masses with highly-localised content in both English and Bahasa Malaysia. Although monetised content features have yet to be introduced, Lemon8 certainly holds promise for brands looking to boost their visibility on local ground.

BeReal: A Snap to Fame

In early 2022, this French social media app exploded in popularity worldwide. Its emphasis on being authentic and effortless⁷ appealed to a younger audience, particularly Gen Z. Once daily, the app would notify users to snap a photo. Users are given a two-minute window to post, with no options to add filters or edit. The idea was to get users to post about what they were “really” doing at the time—a clear distinction from the perfectly-curated content seen on other platforms.

Although BeReal does not offer ad space or business pages, it provided brands with a novel way of connecting with consumers. Two major brands that effectively and quickly built a presence on BeReal at the start of its rise are fast food giant, Chipotle, and renowned cosmetics maker, e.l.f. Beauty.

Both brands understood the draw of the platform well, who their target audience was, and the type of content that worked. Breaking away from the usual polished photos, Chipotle⁸ simply posted BeReals of promo codes handwritten on paper bags, asking followers to redeem the codes at its restaurants. Through e.l.f. Beauty’s account⁹, followers were given an “unfiltered” look into the company along with discounts and freebies. In addition to the attention garnered on BeReal, both brands enjoyed extensive media coverage abroad for being among the first brands on a considerably new platform.

Everybody loves a treat⁸: Chipotle shared a BeReal with a promo code to reward fans.

Quick Takeaway

While it may have been advantageous to be on BeReal at the peak of its popularity, in recent times, the app seems to have lost its lustre among users and brands¹⁰ alike. Little activity is seen among brands that were early adopters of the platform, and as of 2023, only 9% of BeReal’s user base is reported to be active.⁷

Bondee: Bonus or Bust?

Dubbed the “next-gen social app”, Singapore-based Bondee took Asia by storm when it racked up millions of downloads just one week into its launch. The app intrigued a young audience with features for customising avatars and interacting with friends in a metaverse environment. Millennials found themselves nostalgic, comparing Bondee to the likes of Habbo Hotel and Club Penguin as they decked their “rooms” to their hearts’ content.

Like BeReal, Bondee currently does not offer direct advertising avenues for brands. Nevertheless, the app does offer a great channel to interact with consumers. Mydin tweeted¹¹ a snapshot of its Bondee room, to the amusement of local netizens. The supermarket chain then shared a QR code inviting followers to “befriend” Mydin on Bondee. As Bondee has a limit of only 50 friends per account, spots were quickly filled up.

Rindu nak buat kerja intern pic.twitter.com/FOxi0eouQ0

— MYDIN (@MydinMalaysia) January 29, 2023

New neighbours¹¹: Dozens of fans “befriended” Mydin on Bondee.

Across the causeway, beer brand 1664 Blanc nudged fans to add them with the promise¹² of the chance to win a four-pack of its beer. Creating a Bondee account to leverage the hype surrounding the app was effective at getting consumers to sample 1664 Blanc’s products.

Quick Takeaway

With the limited exposure given to an account on the app, the potential of advertising on Bondee remains curtailed. Additionally, given its user data troubles¹³ and lack of feature updates¹², only time will tell whether Bondee will continue its rise or wane into obscurity.

Conclusion

Evidently, leveraging emerging social media apps at opportune moments can drive greater authentic awareness and engagement for your brand. However, navigating past the restrictions and sustaining traction on the platforms may be challenging. Before making a leap onto the next trending platform, ask these questions first:

1. What are your objectives?
2. Can the platform help meet your objectives?
3. Is your target audience on the platform?
4. Are your resources best spent here?

Lastly, creating content and developing visual directions specific to the platform, no matter which, is fundamental towards achieving your goals.

Get in touch with us for more insight before testing the waters of social media apps new to your brand.

References:

• • ¹ Social Media Statistics for Malaysia [2022]
  • ² How to succeed on Little Red Book in China (Xiaohongshu)
  • ³ How does Xiaohongshu work and why is it so popular?
  • ⁴ How does Xiaohongshu marketing work? – A cosmetics brand case study
  • ⁵ What Is RED (Xiaohongshu) And How Can It Unlock A New Revenue Stream?
  • ⁶ We tried Lemon8, TikTok’s sister app, so you don’t have to
  • ⁷ Is BeReal Dying?
  • ⁸ How Chipotle is experimenting with BeReal, Gen Z’s new favorite social platform
  • ⁹ e.l.f. launches on BeReal, the buzzy anti-Instagram app
  • ¹⁰ Is BeReal in its flop era?
  • ¹¹ What’s Bondee? The new social media app making waves in Malaysia
  • ¹² Is Bondee here for the long run or just another fad for the ad world to play with?
  • ¹³ Is Bondee a brand safety red flag?

‘INFP’ ‘INFJ’ ENFP’ ‘ENFJ’. We see these Myer-Brigss Type Indicator labels plastered on people’s bios more than ever before. Maybe it’s just riding on the bandwagon, or perhaps it’s a deeply rooted feeling of wanting to connect with one another. So, whether we believe in these personality indicators or not, it’s hard to deny that we do subconsciously seek to find those with common personality traits.

This presents a unique opportunity for brands to humanise themselves in order to resonate better with their consumers. With marketing strategies evolving to a more two-way communication style today, a well-cultivated personality and voice can encourage deeper and more robust engagement with consumers, making it a worthwhile investment for any brand.

What is Brand Personality?

Brand personality is a set of human traits that you would associate with your brand. Think of it as creating a Sims character—What are their likes and dislikes; how do they talk, and what do they stand for? All these characteristics are what will help to build a connection with your consumer. It’s what made them choose to buy a product from you, rather than your competitors.

Types of Brand Personality

Back in 1997, marketer, Jennifer Aaker published ‘The Five Dimensions of Brand Personality’ which later became the most popular brand personality scale in the management literature² (Think the Myer-Brigss Personality Test, but for brands). The paper revealed a framework that measures the “personality” of a brand in five core dimensions.

Analysis of Brand Persona

Now that we have been acquainted with all the different types of brand personalities, let us take a closer look at a few international and local brands’ personas for inspiration.

1) Chanel (Sophistication)

Persona:
Adopting a sophisticated brand persona, Chanel’s exclusivity energy is even consistent in the manner in which they only follow 3 brands on Instagram.³ The brand is very selective in the people it allows in its circle, working with only influencers that portray a certain type of aspirational lifestyle. This proved to be a great move as the luxury brand achieved a resounding success of one million likes in a month through its influencer campaign to promote No.5 L’Eau perfume.⁴

Visuals:
Naturally, fashion translates best into visuals and Chanel understands this well. They conjure up images of opulence—minimalistic yet artful that are consistent as you browse through their official social media accounts with Instagram boasting a hefty 54.6 million followers, one of the highest among luxury brands.⁵

Language:
Chanel carries an air of affluence by having a no-nonsense approach with very straightforward language. All the captions used throughout all their social media platforms have a classy feel with little to no room for emoji at the risk of looking unprofessional and unsophisticated.

2) Duolingo (Excitement)

Persona:
To stand out from the competition, brands must create authentic content that sets them apart—and authentic is exactly what Duolingo went for. The language-learning app builds its Excitement persona around a humourous guilt-tripping green bird. While it can be a double-edged sword, Duolingo however remarked that the guilt trips were actually found to be 5 to 8% more effective at getting users re-engaged than other methods⁶, proving that focusing too much on a noble image online can be unnatural and deter consumers.

Visuals:
Their controversial personality online is given a face through its brand mascot, Duo. The cheeky green bird often trend jacks onto controversial topics. When the entertainment industry was shocked by the cheating scandal of Shakira’s ex-husband Picque, Duolingo certainly did not hold back⁷ from giving its own take on the issue. The brand did not shy away by creating its own spin-off⁸ of Adam Levine’s leaked DMs with an Instagram model too.

Language:
Keep in mind that reports show that only 33% of consumers⁹ want brands to be snarky, while 83% prefer⁹ brands to be friendly. However, with Duolingo’s audience trending younger, with 60% of US users under age 30¹⁰, their snarky replies¹¹ online are found to be humorous and generally well-accepted. Regardless, the brand still keeps a good balance of snarkiness and kindness to avoid an excess of negative sentiment on its pages.

3) Mydin (Sincerity)

Persona:
Since the founder, Tuan Mydin Mohamed’s demise, the supermarket chain’s legacy has been continued by his son, Datuk Wira Ameer Ali, who currently holds the Managing Director position and also acts as the face of the brand. With his image, the brand appears to be more honest, genuine, and altogether radiates a kind fatherly figure.

Visuals:
The brand doesn’t necessarily maintain consistency in terms of visuals, however, Datuk Wira Ameer Ali is seen as a recurring figure in their online presence, creating young and trendy content that one wouldn’t assume someone of his stature and age would be interested in. This, in turn, tremendously aid in humanising the brand as it portrays Mydin as a fatherly figure that is just happy to make someone’s day. Mydin Malaysia at present has 386.9k followers¹² on TikTok and remains the only local supermarket giant to see the potential of the platform.

Language:
As with every social media account, there is an admin on the back end replying to inquiries and comments. Staying true to the brand’s efforts to humanise its presence online, the brand’s admin identifies itself as ‘Min’¹³ (Perhaps a truncated version of the word ‘Admin’) in the captions and replies. This small effort helps the followers to feel closer to the brand in what would otherwise be a very cold and automated experience.

4) KyoChon Malaysia (Sincerity)

Persona:
KyoChon understands that the key to adapting to local culture is to amalgamate. Back home, their fried chicken is served sans side dishes and is mainly enjoyed with beer. But here, rice and soup are added to relate to Malaysians and their culture.¹⁴ The same can be said for KyoChon Malaysia’s social media, they managed to merge Korean culture with Malaysian culture through a wholesome persona simply called ‘K’. This character seeks to present the best of what South Korea has to offer while earnestly taking Malaysians’ preferences into account.

Visuals:
On Instagram, KyoChon Malaysia utilises two or more talents in order to capture the feeling of togetherness that is close to the hearts of Malaysians. This is further strengthened by creating a hashtag #Kyommunity which serves as a platform for their followers to join in on the camaraderie too. Additionally, the brand often jumps onto trending Korean entertainment topics by featuring images of Korean artists in memeable formats¹⁵ for a touch of humour. To date, KyoChon Malaysia’s official Instagram has the highest number of followers at 69.9k followers¹⁶ in comparison with its close competitors (Kfry Malaysia at 65.5k¹⁷, 4Fingers Malaysia at 38.4k¹⁸)

Language:
KyoChon Malaysia’s approach to its language on social media is also a big factor in gaining a strong presence online. Asides from humanising itself by identifying as ‘K’ in the captions and calling its followers #KyoChingu (Chingu means friend) to foster a strong relationship, the brand also incorporates Korean terms in its captions and visual copy to hint at their Korean origin. Nevertheless the brand still very much speaks the language of Malaysians for instance when the brand created a contest named #AyamBigWinner¹⁹ with ‘Ayam’ (Malay for the word chicken) being a wordplay of ‘I am’. On Twitter, the brand maintains this synergy too by replying to inquiries²⁰ in Malay while using GIFs that feature Korean artists.

Takeaways

‘The Five Dimensions of Brand Personality’ is a great way to start when it comes to aligning what persona your brand represents but taking your time to build something that’s uniquely your own—from visuals, and language all the way to the overall energy your brand is trying to convey, is what ultimately will set your brand apart from competitors. In the end, whether big or small, a unique brand persona not only strengthens customer loyalty but more importantly, helps foster relationships that can go a long way with the audience.

Need help building a personality for your brand like how we developed one for KyoChon Malaysia? (Yes, we’re the brains behind that.)

Get in touch with us today.

References:

• • ¹ Brand Personality: Definition, Examples, and How to Define Yours
  • ² Brand Personality: Understanding Aaker’s 5 Dimension Model
  • ³ Chanel Official Instagram
  • ⁴ Why Chanel is the most influential luxury brand on social
  • ⁵ List of Top Brands Ranking
  • ⁶ Duolingo’s $6-Billion Growth Marketing Case Study: Using Guilt & Memes to Get Engagement
  • ⁷ Duolingo Official Instagram: Picque
  • ⁸ Duolingo Official Instagram: Adam Levine
  • ⁹ The Sprout Social Index: Edition XI: Social Personality
  • ¹⁰ Dear Duolingo: How does language learning differ between generations?
  • ¹¹ Duolingo Official Twitter
  • ¹² Mydin Malaysia Official TikTok
  • ¹³ Mydin Malaysia Official Instagram
  • ¹⁴ Korean Fried Chicken: The Crunch That Changed The World
  • ¹⁵ KyoChon Malaysia Official Instagram: Korean artists
  • ¹⁶ KyoChon Malaysia Official Instagram
  • ¹⁷ KFry Malaysia Official Instagram
  • ¹⁸ 4Fingers Malaysia Official Instagram
  • ¹⁹ KyoChon Malaysia Official Instagram
  • ²⁰ KyoChon Malaysia Official Twitter

In the 19th century, Defiance, a powdered milk company, struggled to penetrate a heavily saturated market. Despite advertising efforts, sales were just not picking up.

Their ads did however spark consumer inquiries on infant care. Unheard of in its time, the company founder hired a nurse to respond to each inquiry with a handwritten letter. Soon, hundreds more questions came flowing in. As public interest in Defiance’s products grew, so did its sales¹.

What can the modern marketer learn from Defiance’s story?

In one of the earliest manifestations of experiential marketing, Defiance has shown us a great example of how unique brand experiences can support a brand’s goals—by attracting new customers and anchoring user loyalty.

Defining Experiential Marketing

The essence of experiential marketing lies in forging an authentic emotional connection² between the consumer and the brand. These unique experiences allow the consumer to engage with the brand through some, if not all, of the five basic senses—touch, taste, sound, smell, and sight.

Today, experiential marketing takes on various forms including guerrilla³ and interactive⁴ campaigns.

The former often rely on the element of surprise, emotions, and provocativeness. Examples of strategies employed in guerilla marketing are large-scale flash mobs, quirky publicity stunts, and street art installations.

On the other hand, interactive campaigns focus on building direct connections with customers. Through games, interactive pop-up stores, or providing real-time product personalisation (eg. merchandise engraving), brands create opportunities for customer interaction.

With exceptional leaps in technology, brands have also jumped on the virtual bandwagon with their interactive campaigns. These range from immersive microsite experiences to impressive augmented reality (AR) showrooms.

Experiential Marketing In Action

Brimming with unparalleled creativity, here are a few noteworthy campaigns that demonstrate the far-reaching impact of experiential marketing done right.

1) Social Swipe Campaign, MISEREOR (2020)

What is it about?
In an awareness campaign, MISEREOR⁶ installed digital displays at multiple airports depicting visual representations of social issues the NGO was trying to combat—a loaf of bread for world hunger, or wrists tied with rope for wrongful imprisonment. The screens were equipped with digital card readers, inviting audiences to make a donation of €2.

Upon donation, the images came to life: the bread sliced, or the hands freed. The imagery had a visceral effect, showing participants that their small donation made a real difference.

Why does it work?
The nature of the campaign gave participants the feeling that they were part of something bigger—that their small act of kindness had a tangible effect. The campaign expertly leveraged technology⁷ to immerse viewers in its story.

The interaction didn’t stop there⁶. Participants would later receive a thank-you note in their bank statements, with a link to turn their one-time donation into a monthly one. While the connection was forged during the experience, this follow-up action furthered it.

2) Stratos Campaign, Red Bull (2012)

What is it about?
Red Bull has always been associated with over-the-top marketing stunts. The brand raised the bar when they sent an Austrian sky-diver to the edge of the atmosphere, intending to break the world record for the highest altitude jump.⁹ With eight million people watching the event live¹⁰, the campaign made a massive leap in becoming one of the most successful marketing campaigns of all time¹¹.

Why does it work?
Although there wasn’t a tangible element to the campaign in which consumers could partake in, such feats take them vicariously into self-realisation that the human race is extraordinary.

Red Bull gained two million new subscribers in the span of 15 days¹². The key takeaway from this campaign is that brands can move beyond ROI and instead focus on generating emotional impact, as humans are intrinsically emotional creatures.

3) Speakeasy Café, Wonda Coffee (2020)

What is it about?
Closer to home, Wonda Coffee launched a mobile café¹³ camouflaged as an abandoned bus. To access the café and enjoy a free cup of coffee, consumers participated in a mini-mission to obtain a secret code. Clues were posted on Wonda Coffee’s social pages, and the café’s location was disclosed through Waze location pins. This made the immersive experience all the more exciting for consumers while increasing traffic to their socials.

Why does it work?
A recurring theme throughout all the campaigns is emotional pull. The brand understood that consumers want to break free from the humdrum of 9-5 life, and so they transformed a mundane coffee run into a fun adventure.

The shareability of the café’s interior played a role too. By creating a trendy and Instagrammable atmosphere inside a cafe accessible only to those who solve the puzzle, the brand instilled a fear of missing out among consumers. The result? Wonda Coffee gained a stellar 25% growth in sales¹⁴ over the campaign period alone.

Conclusion

Back to the notion put forth at the beginning of this article: humans are emotional by nature. We prize the idea of feeling like we matter, or that we are part of something bigger than us. Good experiential marketing understands this well.

As the world grows more connected than ever, multifaceted digital and social media strategies are fundamental in amplifying the impact your experiential marketing campaign creates. Give your campaign a leg up by getting the word out through digital advertising or generate greater buzz on social media—before, during, and even after your event.

Not sure where to start? Get in touch today to elevate your next campaign with an all-around approach to both digital and social media.

References:

• • ¹ Experiential Marketing | What Is It and Why Does It Work?
  • ² Embracing Experiential Connection for Consumers’ Emotional Bond
  • ³ Guerilla Marketing
  • ⁴ Boost Customer Engagement with Interactive Marketing
  • ⁵ The Event & Experiential Marketing Industry Forecast & Best Practices Study
  • ⁶ Misereor | Social Swipe Makes Giving a Game
  • ⁷ The Social Swipe
  • ⁸ What Are The Benefits of Experiential Marketing?
  • ⁹ Red Bull | Stratos
  • ¹⁰ Felix Baumgartner Jump: Record 8m Watch Live on YouTube
  • ¹¹ Redbull | The Stratosphere Campaign
  • ¹² 7 Social Insights from the Red Bull Stratos Marketing Campaign
  • ¹³ Wonda Coffee’s Mobile Speakeasy Café Receives a Nod from Coffee Loving Netizens
  • ¹⁴ 5 Firms in Malaysia That Redefined Experiential Marketing
  • ¹⁵ Experiential Marketing Content Benchmarking Report

Waving goodbye to yet another fruitful year, let us set our sights on 2023 as we predict the upcoming trends this year.

There are lots of exciting developments in the digital landscape that will undoubtedly influence consumers’ behaviour that will in turn impact marketing strategies for brands across the world.

What can we expect in the brand new year? Read on to know more about the hottest 2023 consumer trends in the digital sphere.

Web3 continues to make a splash

Based on blockchain technology, the idea of Web3¹ is to decentralise the web², returning ownership to the users and builders. Instead of having large data controlled by tech giants and governments, Web3 hopes to gradually shift the internet to a consumer-driven space. Some examples of Web3 applications include Bitcoin³, OpenSea⁴, Google Cloud⁵, and even Apple Siri.

Source: Coca-Cola

Cryptographic assets based on blockchain technology such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs)⁶ have been all the rage the past few years. Huge brands such as Coca-Cola⁷, Adidas⁸, and Clinique⁹ have been quick to create their own, leading the way of the future.

Various sectors from media and entertainment, retail and e-commerce, healthcare, and energy are expected to adopt Web3’s blockchain technology¹⁰ in their operations. It’ll definitely keep being part of the conversation in the coming years, way beyond 2023.

Influencer marketing still reigns supreme

Proven to be an effectively rewarding strategy for brands, influencer marketing needs no introduction. Statistics show that 30% of consumers prefer influencers’ recommendations¹¹ over their friends and families’, putting their trust in the products and services recommended by their favourite content creators.

Moreover, according to studies, 33% of Malaysian buyers¹² tend to gravitate towards popular influencer content such as reviews, vlogs, and unboxing videos. Consumers would seek inspiration and pick up DIY hacks plus tips and tricks by watching them.

Repurposing influencers’ content¹³ can effectively attract eyeballs and help stretch your marketing budget, making the most of these paid partnerships by building a lasting brand impression. They can be promoted and amplified across platforms such as Instagram and TikTok, leading to higher conversion rates and customer stickiness.¹⁴

Furthermore, long-term partnerships with influencers¹⁵ will help create a consistent flow of content for your brand, retaining your audience’s attention and keeping them intrigued.

Social media as the starting point of buyer’s journey

As business owners, having a strong social media presence is one of the fundamental ways to increase brand awareness among potential customers. Social platforms provide consumers an opportunity to interact with brands while researching products or services before purchasing.

At the very beginning of the buyer’s journey, your potential customer is seeking a fix to their problem.¹⁶ This stage is where educational social content comes into play. In order to create effective awareness content, brands should research extensively about their target audience and consider the pain points of their customers¹⁷, then present their product or service as the solution.

User-generated content is the key to building brand trust

Compared to brand-generated content, consumers find user-generated content (UGC) more reliable and trustworthy, as the message isn’t coming directly from the brand itself. Thanks to social media, getting your loyal customer base to create content for your brand isn’t a far-fetched idea.

Wondering how you can get started？ Use a call-to-action to encourage your followers to create content featuring your brand. Then check your socials regularly and actively be on the lookout to repost any UGCs available, it’s a great way to ensure a continuous stream of content for your brand as well.

For instance, Nutox’s ‘1 Serum, 100% Loyal Users Programme’¹⁸ repurposed consumers’ testimonials for their social content, where they managed to garner a whooping 18,551 unique sign-ups and increase social media video views by 199%.

Utilising branded hashtags¹⁹ is also an easy way to encourage contribution and collect user-generated content on social platforms. It can be shared along with a “call to create” action, where your brand can tap into, earn consumers’ trust, and grow.

Customer experience matters

In the coming year, building meaningful and lasting relationships with their customer base will be crucial for businesses. The modern consumers increasingly crave for their interactions with brands to be more noteworthy and memorable. To stay relevant in the field, brands must turn customer journeys into thoughtful and memorable experiences.

For instance, by going the extra mile of offering personalised products and services²⁰, it’ll make your customers feel special, and even attract new customers. A research by Deloitte found that customers are often willing to pay a 20% premium for customised or personalised products.

Brands can leverage cost-efficient creative automation tools such as our proprietary system, Digital Creative Automation (DCA)²¹, to effortlessly achieve hyper-personalisation while maintaining brand consistency.

Are you ready for what’s coming next in 2023? Together, let’s embrace change and growth to manifest new heights and break records.

Get in touch to see how we can help elevate your brand’s digital presence this year.

References:

• • ¹ The Future of Web3.0 – Outlook for 2023-2030
  • ² The Top Five Web3 Trends in 2023
  • ³ Bitcoin
  • ⁴ OpenSea
  • ⁵ Google Cloud
  • ⁶ An Intro to Blockchain and NFTs
  • ⁷ Coca-Cola to Offer First-Ever NFT Collectibles in International Friendship Day Charity Auction
  • ⁸ Adidas: Into the Metaverse
  • ⁹ Clinique: Enter for a Chance to Win Clinique’s First NFT
  • ¹⁰ The Future of Web3.0 – Outlook for 2023-2030
  • ¹¹ The Top Shopping Trends of 2022 & Beyond [State of Consumer Trends Data]
  • ¹² 30% of Malaysian Buyers Reaffirm Purchase Decisions Through Relatable Influencers
  • ¹³ Influencer Marketing Trends: How Influencers Are Shaping Ecommerce Marketing
  • ¹⁴ What Is Customer Stickiness and How Is It Beneficial?
  • ¹⁵ Influencer Marketing Trends: How Influencers Are Shaping Ecommerce Marketing
  • ¹⁶ A Guide to Aligning Your Content Strategy with the Buying Process
  • ¹⁷ Awareness, Consideration & Decision: How To Convert At Each Stage
  • ¹⁸ Nutox: 1 Serum, 100% Loyal Users Programme – Branded Content & Digital Campaign
  • ¹⁹ User-Generated Content (UGC): Getting the Internet to Create Content for Your Brand
  • ²⁰ The Top 4 Customer Experience Trends In 2023
  • ²¹ Digital Creative Automation: Personalisation at Scale, Creative at Speed

Ahh, nostalgia! It’s a blast from the past that allows us to re-experience the sentimental good ol’ days. A throwback in the form of a heart-warming embrace filled with all your favourite memories.

Research has shown that nostalgia serves an existential function¹ by giving our lives a sense of meaning as we grow older. Especially during uncertain and challenging times in our lives, we tend to cling to familiar things that bring us comfort.

This is evidently seen during the COVID-19 pandemic, where nostalgia marketing was all the rage. Using Nike’s You Can’t Stop Us Campaign² as an example, it served as a blissful escape from loneliness, boredom, and anxiety during the looming lockdowns.

Let’s dive into the power of nostalgia and take a walk down memory lane with a few case studies.

What is nostalgia marketing?

Nostalgia marketing is a strategy that taps into familiar and endearing concepts, appealing to our collective longing for a much-coveted past.

It’s the secret ingredient that adds a spark to contemporary campaigns to generate interest and ultimately build consumer trust. It strategically associates your brand with something your audience are already fond of, thus encouraging an emotional connection.

This popular marketing tactic is taking over the world by storm. Big brands from Apple, McDonald’s to Lego are capitalising and maximising on nostalgia marketing, actively targeting millennials in the process to enjoy exceptional returns.

Why does it work well for brands?

The 30-year cycle

Also known as the nostalgia pendulum, the 30-year cycle is when the consumers grow into adulthood and start shaping the cultural landscape as creators.³

According to Patrick Metzger⁴, “After about 30 years, you’ve got a real market of people with disposable income who are nostalgic for their childhoods. So artists working in popular mediums are rewarded for making art that appeals to this audience”.

This also explains why the 90s is the era that’s most fondly remembered by the millennials, as 30 years have passed since then.

Emotional attachment

Nostalgia-centric marketing forges meaningful connections between the past and present, creating a strong emotional hook.⁵ The key is to leverage on nostalgia while also offering something new, making it a perfect symphony of the past and present.

Nostalgia lets the consumers take refuge in happy memories from the past, giving them a sense of comfort in times of chaos.

Brand authenticity

With consumer scepticism rising and brand trust being at an all-time low, injecting nostalgic elements will help present your brand in a more authentic light⁶ and regain consumers’ trust.

Nostalgia-themed campaigns show that your brand isn’t afraid to experiment and have a little fun from time to time. This built sense of trust⁷ will then lead to conversions, as scientific studies⁸ found that nostalgic feelings weaken people’s desire for money and increased their willingness to purchase. This makes it a surefire way to boost sales, making your campaign a smashing hit.

A Trip Down Memory Lane

Below are some great examples showcasing how the past and present can come together to form a campaign that will elevate the consumers’ brand experience.

Example #1: The Success of Pokémon GO

As the most searched item online in 2016, Pokémon Go, a location-based mobile gaming app that merges our physical and digital world, was a roaring hit globally. It saw consumers clock in 8.7 billion kilometres⁹ when playing the game.

The New York Times called it millennials’ “first mass-consumption nostalgia product”, as it allowed them to relive the joys of their youth by capturing Pokémon characters through augmented reality.¹⁰

Example #2: Pac-Man X Pizza Hut

Order a pizza and play Pac-Man on its box? This fun, retro collaboration¹¹ lets you do just that.

As part of Pizza Hut’s ‘Newstalgia’ campaign, it’s bringing back dine-in favourites with a modern touch. The limited-edition pizza boxes will feature QR codes that allow users to play an Augmented Reality version of the game.

Example #3: F&N’s Classic Taste Throughout the Years for CNY

Our yearly lunar new year celebrations aren’t complete without a fizzy drink or two. F&N has been a familiar and popular choice of beverage after hearty meals during the festivities.

Understanding this, F&N’s 2021 Chinese New Year advertisement takes the audience on a trip back in time, showing how the brand has accompanied families throughout the years during the annual celebrations with a time jump from 1987 to 2021.

Example #4: Silkygirl’s Brand Journey

To celebrate the brand’s sweet 16 back in 2021, Silkygirl produced a storytelling-style video that showcased how the brand started, a timeline of its product launches, to the brand’s latest updates.

This little throwback is a fun, quirky way to let your audience learn more about the initiation of your brand. It helps build brand loyalty while encouraging engagement within your brand community.

Conclusion

Are you ready to take your audience on a journey through time? With Chinese New Year coming up, this is a great chance for your brand to leverage nostalgic feelings and kickstart the conversation with a fond festive memory.

Get in touch to see how we can help you incorporate nostalgic elements into your CNY campaign.

References:

• • ¹ The Past Makes the Present Meaningful: Nostalgia As An Existential Resource.
  • ² Nike – You Can’t Stop Us (2020)
  • ³ The 30-year Cycle – Why We’re Obsessed with Marketing Nostalgia
  • ⁴ The Nostalgia Pendulum: A Rolling 30-year Cycle of Pop Culture Trends
  • ⁵ Why You Need to Embrace Nostalgia Marketing Now
  • ⁶ Nostalgia Marketing And The Search For Authenticity
  • ⁷ Why You Need to Embrace Nostalgia Marketing Now
  • ⁸ Science Shows Why Marketers Are Right to Use Nostalgia
  • ⁹ The Success of Pokémon Go and Nostalgia Marketing
  • ¹⁰ What Is Augmented Reality (AR)?
  • ¹¹ Pizza Hut Is Launching Augmented Reality Pizza Boxes That You Can Play ‘Pac-Man’ On. The Company’s CMO Tells Insider Why It’s Using the Gaming Icon In Its ‘Newstalgia’ Campaign.

Quality content is the building blocks of a successful brand strategy, which is why investing in content marketing is key for businesses. It creates a strong online presence while bringing in traffic and leads that allow your brand to go further.

Despite the fierce competition for consumers’ attention¹ in the digital sphere, with the right approach in content marketing, you can still maximise every piece of content you publish.

To produce optimum results for your brand, avoid these 5 mistakes when it comes to content marketing.

Not defining your target audience

As a brand, you might be inclined to target everyone and anyone in hopes of getting more revenue for your business. But the mass marketing approach of trying to reach everyone will result in you getting very little quality leads.

Appeal to everyone and you’ll appeal to no one², this is especially true for digital marketing. Brands should be breaking down their mass potential consumers into segments based on different characteristics, such as their age, gender, cultural backgrounds, educational level, etc.

This segmentation method will definitely help your business with developing effective marketing communication strategies. More specificity in targeting³ allows you to reach your target audience and generate quality leads.

Setting up primary and secondary audience groups with different objectives will also help to create more relatable personas for the brand. For instance, brand campaigns usually target a wider audience, while social media content marketing requires a more niche target audience to engage with the brand.

Lack of marketing goals for your content

To keep track of your brand’s engagement and growth online, set an objective for every content you publish. Do you want them to know about your latest offers or sign up for your newsletter?

Having a clear objective provides a comprehensive vision of what you’re hoping to achieve for an ongoing campaign or individual ads. Once you have set clear intentions with every piece of content, it’s easier to map out a digital marketing strategy.

An example would be to utilise Facebook’s ad objective⁴ and label your content whether they’re meant for brand awareness, reach, traffic, or engagement, then boost them accordingly to reach more of your target audience.

The one-and-done approach to content creation

It’s no secret that content creation requires a ton of brain juices and time to execute. This is why the one-and-done approach to creating content isn’t a great long-term plan.

Make sure you plan properly ahead of execution with the intention to reuse and repurpose your content across different platforms to make the most of them.

For instance, shooting and producing video content is a costly and time-consuming task. It helps to be able to reuse that content more than once, so you can cut costs and maximise your returns⁵ with every piece of content.

Pro tip: Keep an eye out and get inspiration for your content by staying up to date with the latest trends. It’s a surefire way to garner attention and boost engagement online.

When the whole world was obsessed with Netflix’s Squid Game back in September 2021, Munchy’s was quick to hop on the trend to appeal to fans of the show.

In a similar manner, KyoChon Malaysia also followed suit when Popcat went viral last year to promote their SalSal Poppers to the hungry masses.

Neglecting user-generated content

Commonly utilised by skincare and makeup brands, user-generated content (UGC) is any form of unsponsored content shared online featuring a product or service. They’re equivalent to the modern-day word of mouth in the digital era.

They are excellent for encouraging two-way engagement with your audience online. This helps build credibility⁶ and brand loyalty among your customers while fostering a sense of community for your brand.⁷

“79 percent of people say user-generated content highly impacts their purchasing decisions, while only 13 percent say content from a brand is impactful.”

This means that brands could leverage UGC for their social media instead of churning out branded content all the time. The best part is that they require minimal effort and resources⁸, with the potential to encourage conversions for your business.

New to UGC? It’s not too late to start using them to boost your presence online. Just use a simple CTA that urges your followers to tag your brand in their stories or posts, then re-share their content to your brand’s social platforms.

However, before repurposing any UGC content⁹ for your social media, be sure to seek permission from the original content creator and remember to credit them when you re-share their content.

Not using data to support your content strategy

Blindly churning out ideas for your monthly content? You might be missing golden windows of opportunities that will help you reach your audience more efficiently.

Set up a monthly meeting with your team to go over the stats and reflect on what’s working and what’s not. Look into the likes, reach, and engagement rates from both the page level and post level to evaluate the monthly performance of your content.

The next step is to come up with an improved strategy that turns these precious data into actionable insights¹⁰ for your brand. The key is to always stay on your toes and constantly adapt to the best practices for improved performance.

Conclusion

Content marketing is a life-long marathon for your brand, so slow and steady wins the race. Get the most out of your content and increase your return on investment (ROI)¹¹ when you avoid these marketing pet peeves.

Get in touch to see how we can help you.

References:

• • ¹ 7 Tips to Win the Competition for Attention
  • ² “Appealing to Everyone Means You Appeal to No One!”
  • ³ The Psychology of Marketing — Why Specificity in Targeting Matters
  • ⁴ Facebook Ad Objectives: Choose a Marketing Goal for Your Ads
  • ⁵ Why Reusable Content Should Be in Your Content Marketing Toolbox
  • ⁶ Stackla Survey Reveals Disconnect Between the Content Consumers Want & What Marketers Deliver
  • ⁷ What Is a Brand Community and How to Build a Successful One
  • ⁸ User-Generated Content: Must-Read Guide For Brands
  • ⁹ Social Media Content Rights – Understanding Best Ways to Repurpose Users’ Social Content
  • ¹⁰ How to Get Meaningful, Actionable Insights from Customer Feedback – 3 Examples
  • ¹¹ What is Marketing ROI and How Do You Calculate It?

Consumer cynicism is at an all-time high¹, and with it, a drop in brand trust. A statistic from Havas 2021 Meaningful Brands Report shows that less than half of brands are seen as trustworthy (47%), with numbers in East Asia being as low as 24%.²

This presents yet another challenge marketers must tackle. But how? A loss of trust can’t be made up for with more ads—as it is, consumers see 4000 to 10,000 ads a day³—or more data. Data-driven efforts like personalisation or programmatic media buy are only as effective as the ad itself, and in an increasingly digitalised world, data privacy is yet another factor that can erode consumers’ trust.

Rather than looking to these tools to enhance the ad experience, brands should turn to and focus on human insights.

These insights paint a picture of what matters to consumers and guide us to forging an emotional connection and later, building trust. Ultimately, trust impacts sales as a major value driver, both in the short-term and in the long-term.⁴ It can’t be ignored.

So, what are human insights exactly, and how can brands leverage them?

What are human insights?

Human insights are the “why”. While data offers numbers and measures quantitative metrics, human insights ask, “what happened” and “why it happened”. These insights are typically difficult to quantify and are highly subjective. They are rooted in observation and unfortunately, in today’s data-driven world, overlooked.

Our Head of Strategy, Edmund Lou, adds:

“Observations are key to any communication strategy. You don’t always find great big ideas from data. Rather, it’s the legwork of getting on the ground to observe and experience it all together.”

He goes on to say, “Observations are almost like a lost art. Brands tend to sway towards data because it “looks more credible”.” In reality, data and observations go together. For example, “One way to make observations appear more “credible” is to turn [them] into a survey, which will result in “data”.”

Why human insights are so important

You can tell when an ad or piece of content is utterly engaging. It hooks you in and has a certain je ne sais quoi—a quality that cannot be described or named easily, that retains your attention. As an audience member, you may feel moved or excited, or even inspired.

This is what happens when human insights are used strategically. They resonate.

Edmund explains, “[Consumers] will feel that a brand knows and understands them. The right use of such insights bridges the gap between brand and consumer. By closing [this] gap, brands can build stronger, lasting relationships with consumers.”

So, what might they look like? We’ve curated several case studies below.

Example #1: Kärcher Malaysia tugs heart strings

Source: Kärcher MY reminds families to go beyond ‘coming together’ this Raya in new short

Big idea: Oddly Satisfying

Human insight: House cleaning is seen as a chore to many. But the positive takeout is that cleaning is somehow oddly satisfying.

Kärcher Malaysia has used this big idea since we won the pitch in 2020. The concept goes beyond what the brand and its product offerings do, but rather what emotional benefit a consumer derives from using their product. In this case, it’s about that tingle of satisfaction from cleaning, which to many, is oddly satisfying.

While one-off campaigns leverage different insights, this big idea will always be the foundation for future campaign ideas.

For instance, our Raya campaign for the brand. Titled “Rumahku, Memoriku”, the campaign ties nostalgia to the odd satisfaction that comes with cleaning. It draws on this additional insight: families may bond when they come together and spruce their homes up for Raya, but such memories can be side-lined and even forgotten.⁵

Example #2: Nissan leans into family dynamics

Source: Nissan says, “My one better than your one”

Big idea: My One Better Than Your One

Human insight: Sibling rivalry is real and it’s more obvious during Chinese New Year (CNY).

During the celebrated, annual festivities, Edaran Tan Chong Motor (ETCM) and NISSAN sought a way to build brand affinity and relevance, while promoting their vehicle models.

To do so, they produced a film in collaboration with us and Clic Production. The film is set during CNY when two brothers—and their families—arrive at their parents’ home for a reunion lunch. Over lunch, casual chatter escalates into sibling rivalry. The two brothers and their wives battle it out, comparing their cars, lifestyles, and accomplishments. This eventually reads futile when the siblings’ parents teach them a valuable life lesson.⁶

The sibling rivalry in this scene, according to the brand, is common in Chinese families and especially so during the festive period. Leveraging this insight, ETCM and NISSAN took the opportunity to share this message with Malaysians: quality time with loved ones outweighs comparing achievements.

Example #3: KFC and the enduring tagline

To cap off these campaigns, Edmund shares his breakdown of KFC’s tagline and how it connects back to human insights.

Source: Business Insider

Tagline: Finger Lickin’ Good

Human insight: Consumers tend to eat fried chicken with their hands. And when they are done, they lick their fingers in satisfaction.

It’s an insight based upon observation. Data will likely never show the exact percentage of people who eat fried chicken with their hands, nor how they end a satisfying meal by licking their fingers clean.

But this true statement shows us why KFC’s long-time tagline still connects with us Malaysians and people all over the world.

Conclusion

Human insights are powerful and can impact bottom-line metrics even if they don’t always have the data behind them. And this is because these insights speak to experiences we have. That is what makes them relatable and emotionally compelling. Without it, to the consumer, an ad is just an ad. People would not care if 75% of brands disappeared¹ because there is no meaningful connection.

Instead of seeking out more digital tools, focus on human insights. Find the nuances that connect us as humans and infuse them into your marketing strategies. Tell stories that your consumers can’t help but resonate with and associate that emotional engagement with your brand.

To humanise your brand and build meaningful relationships with your consumers, get in touch.

References:

• • ¹ Consumer Cynicism at Forefront of Havas 2021 Meaningful Brands Report
  • ² Havas’ Meaningful Brands report 2021 finds we are entering THE AGE OF CYNICISM
  • ³ How Many Ads Do We See A Day In 2022?
  • ⁴ Winning or losing customers is a matter of trust
  • ⁵ Kärcher MY reminds families to go beyond ‘coming together’ this Raya in new short
  • ⁶ Nissan says, “My one better than your one”