Tag Archive for: Snapchat

Facebook: An Emotional Wreck

93% of our daily communication is nonverbal, leaving only 7% for words. So how can social media be a reliable communication channel when it only conveys 7% of our message?

Lets take a step back and divide the 93% of nonverbal communication into specific elements, 38% of nonverbal communication is sound (tonality, attitude, pitch, volume) and 55% is body language (gestures, hand movements, facial expressions).

On social media, email or even texting, vocal elements have been substituted with hashtags and case changes. For example, if you’re trying to be sarcastic, simply end your post with #sarcasm. Throwing some shade? Add #JKNotReally. And if you think you’re not being heard scream your thoughts out LOUD by using capital cases and add as many exclamation marks as YOU CAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gestures? That’s what emoticons are for. Not enough? Well, you have over 150 sets of stickers to choose from, including our personal favorite, the Power Rangers set. To make your life easier, you can filter them through the different emotions you’d like to express.
Facebook Stickers Facebook, Communication, Digital Media, Public Relations, Strategy

Conversations are being limited to 140 characters; you can technically have a full conversation using emoticons and hashtags, try it. You can even tweet your pizza order to Domino’s with a pizza emoticon.
Dominos Pizza Meme

Not all conversations have diminished, we still write comments when the like button is not enough… oh wait, Facebook, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? Facebook just rolled out ‘reactions’ so you don’t even have to type.
Facebook Emotions

So what does this mean for brands who use social media as an engagement tool? Social media is one of the leading consumer research tools and brands that listen to their customers and adapt their products and businesses through their customers’ feedback have seen great success. Can brands adapt their strategies to follow the nonverbal movement? Only future software updates can tell us that.

Why Everyone Wants to Go Viral

Viral

In an era of Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Periscope, images, links and videos spread like wildfire in the blink of an eye. While many of those images and videos we’re bombarded with are world and regional news and live events, every now and again we’ll see an interesting product, meme or cat video.

Grumpy cat

The most viewed YouTube video of all time is Gangnam Style with more than 2.4 billion views (we warned you, it’s catchy) followed by Charlie Bit My Finger (so cute) and a slew of other music videos and Grumpy Cat memes. As PR pros, we dream about 2.4 billion views and we lose sleep over unique monthly visitors and comparative advertising values, but is there a magic formula to obtain this type of traction and what do we do with it once it’s happened?

Gangnam Style

The quick answer is no and yes. While there’s no specific algorithm that equates to billions of eyes on a product and millions of dollars sold, it’s our job as PR pros to determine the unique qualities of a brand and bring those qualities to light for consumers. We are storytellers at heart; we do all we can to unearth messages that will resonate across the board to a wide variety of audiences. From there, we leverage our relationships and place those stories in outlets and on platforms that we know will generate traction.

Happy Endings

So what do we do with this momentum once we’ve obtained it? Quite honestly, we run like hell with it by continuing to tout those achievements on even MORE outlets and propel the brand into selling heaven. As with all cycles that ebb and flow, there’s always a point when the virality of a message ends. So we look for new stories from a brand, and whether it’s a new products, service or milestone, and we begin again.

Run

Snapchat – Transitioning from nudes to news?

snapchat

It’s clear that today’s media and content landscape is more fragmented than it’s ever been. Amazon winning Golden Globe awards is a prime (Amazon pun intended) example, and it’s truly unclear where the next great story might come from. The latest entrant into the content distribution landscape is Snapchat. With the introduction of Discover, the photo-sending app is now getting into the content game. The latest addition to the platform gives users the ability to see a variety of stories from some of the biggest and most influential media companies in the world. It’s an interesting and significant move for a few reasons.

First, Snapchat understands that the novelty of sending photos will eventually start to wane, and it’s critical to maintain an active user base. Snapchat has managed to capture the coveted millennial demographic, which is both a very powerful and influential group. By offering another reason to open the app, Snapchat is hoping to maintain and grow that engagement.

Second, it’s legitimizing the app from a novelty that had some questionable beginnings, to a source of news. While the stories feature brought more meaningful storytelling to the app, it was still up to the user base to generate the content. Having thoughtful curation specifically for the platform should yield more dynamic and interesting content.

While it remains to be seen how many users engage with this feature, it’s still a win for telling stories from our perspective. Our business is telling thoughtful and engaging stories, and we always welcome a new platform with which to do so!  Find us on Snapchat!

*You can “Snap to Add” us by placing your Snapchat camera over the ghost in the photo above.