Doesn’t it seem like every other day you are encountering a marketing term you’ve never heard before? Actually, you may not recognize the term “ephemeral content” but there is no doubt you’ve seen and experienced it in your travels through cyberspace. It may be one of the ‘newer’ marketing strategies to go viral, but it is highly effective and this is why there is so much emphasis on it in today’s market. Let’s look at what ephemeral content is and how you can use it effectively in your social media marketing strategy.
You’ve Seen This!
In effect, something that is ephemeral is something that grabs you quickly and then is gone almost as quickly as it captured your attention. However, your ‘need’ to act on that content lingers on. A brief definition of ephemeral is simply, “something that lasts for a very short time.” The fashion industry is said to be ephemeral because fashions change from year to year, from season to season, and sometimes even from week to week depending on what celeb was photographed in a personal fashion statement.
Highly Effective Ephemeral Elements for Social Media
Without a doubt, the most effective ephemeral element for social media is something that is visual. We tend to skim pages and groups we are following and if nothing catches our eye, we continue moving from group to group, or social site to social site. When it comes to social sites like Facebook and Instagram, we often rely on images to capture our attention.
Don’t you think Facebook was creative in allowing users to change the background for new posts? That’s the exact same concept as a photo background changer for posts in Instagram or even on Pinterest! You may have captured the perfect shot of a product you are selling or an artist you are promoting but the background is all lost and the focal point is all but obscured. Change the background and see how quickly the image you want to be seen is brought to the foreground!
Have You Encountered FOMO?
No, we are not asking you if you’ve encountered an alien species or a family of monsters online, but it may as well be so! Many marketers use the “Fear of Missing Out” strategy to get an audience to make a snap decision on buying something they may never have considered had it not been for fear of being left behind. Unfortunately, this can work one of two ways and often does. You are elated to have gotten in on the ground floor so that you can be the first in your social group to get that new gadget selling for a limited time at a drastically reduced price.
Then you receive your gadget, and it is nothing like the advert. You, then, fell prey to FOMO. However, on the flip side, there really are products that shouldn’t be passed up and so FOMO became your best friend. This is one ephemeral marketing strategy you want to use very carefully because those negative comments left on your social site can be your undoing.
Everyone Loves Beauty
What this all boils down to is that everyone loves beautiful things. We are, indeed, a beauty-oriented society and so ephemeral images within your social media strategies can prove to be highly effective. They can also be cost effective. You don’t always need a shot snapped by a costly professional photographer to capture the essence of what you’d like to market.
With the right online software, you can change the entire mood of a photo simply by changing the background and eliminating anything you wouldn’t like your audience to see. Isn’t that a lot better than inciting FOMO that may later be regretted? Beauty always wins in the end.
