Social media marketing has witnessed shift in recent past years. It has not been short-form video. It has not been also the development of generative AI. The key was towards straight entertainment.
However, many may, argue that entertainment has always been a key element of marketing. But, the early days of social media witnessed a central focus for brands and it was sparking interaction and driving engagement. The marketers used to provide means for target customers to get in touch and get responses from brand presence.
Algorithms further made the strategy more focused as because more comments and more likes resulted in more reach. Well, engagement is still a factor and the platforms are now moving beyond just likes and comments. They are now focusing on time spent in each app.
Meta holds leadership in social media for years. It dictated trends and norms that guided how users interact. It had learned that comments and interactions were what prompted users to stick around. Hence, its algorithm prioritized posts that garnered more of such behaviors.
The move incentivized more divisive and argumentative takes. It was found that the content that’s most likely to spark response is that which drives high emotional resonance. Joy, fear and anger are the key emotions that prompt response.
TikTok has changed the way all platforms now operate. It emphasized public posting and mainly focused on time spent. It re-aligned the matrix around entertainment instead. This is something really huge as the actual ‘social’ aspects have now been relegated to a secondary plane. It also means that social media marketing strategies need to be re-aligned.
Hence, it can be said that entertainment helps in increasing time spent with your content. And this is what’s going to drive more reach in social apps.