There is a lot of attention paid to the changes in human behaviour driven by the digital revolution and the dynamics of the big social platforms, especially maximising the return on exploiting and maximising the returns on engagement through their algorithmic approach.
But humans already have their own social algorithms, powerfully expressed in their communities of every stripe and dimension, and empowering those communities with basic social infrastructure can be very powerful for marketers who seek to be close to their intended audiences.
In a previous article, I explored the concept of “Social on Community” vs the existing model of large social platforms and embedded communities attached to them.
In the work we have been engaged in building and powering SoC projects for our clients, media, private and public community spaces and enterprises, we have found incredibly exciting outcomes that provide pathways to the future.
This is not to say that current approaches and methods are wrong or ineffective, but rather to explore what comes after… what more can we do, having reached out on a broad surface to engage our market, to be closer, more realtime and present yielding more valuable outcomes?
Interruptive Marketing: The Traditional Approach
Interruptive marketing, the conventional approach most familiar to consumers, involves advertisements and promotional content that abruptly disrupt the consumer’s current activity. Whether it’s while watching a video, scrolling through social media, or reading an article, these ads aim to capture attention, often with the goal of driving awareness, interest, or immediate action.
Key Characteristics:
– Disruption: Interruptive marketing relies on disruption to capture attention. Ads are strategically placed in front of users, often without their consent or expectation, interrupting their experience to deliver a message.
– Short-Term Focus: This approach prioritizes quick returns, aiming to capture attention for a fleeting moment to drive immediate conversions, clicks, or purchases.
– Broad Targeting: Interruptive marketing often employs a broad-based strategy, attempting to reach a wide audience, even if many of those individuals may not be interested in the product or service being advertised.
– Examples: Pop-up ads, pre-roll video ads, banner ads, cold calls, and TV commercials.
Challenges:
– Consumer Frustration: As consumers are subjected to an ever-increasing volume of ads, many have developed ad fatigue or resorted to ad-blocking behaviors, resulting in diminishing returns.
– Erosion of Trust: Repeated interruptions can damage a brand’s reputation, making it appear intrusive or disconnected from consumers’ needs and desires.
Integrated Marketing: A Harmonious Approach
Integrated marketing represents a shift towards creating a more seamless and natural user experience. Instead of disrupting the user journey, integrated marketing seamlessly integrates the brand message into the context of the user’s current experience.
Key Characteristics:
– Contextual Relevance: Integrated marketing focuses on delivering messages that are contextually relevant to the consumer’s current activity, interests, or environment.
– Holistic Strategy: This approach integrates various marketing channels and tactics into a cohesive strategy, ensuring consistent messaging and a seamless experience across touchpoints.
– Personalization: Integrated marketing often involves personalization, using data to tailor content and offers to individual users, making the experience more relevant and engaging.
– Examples: Sponsored content that aligns with the reader’s interests, native advertising that matches the platform’s format and style, and content marketing that educates or entertains while subtly promoting a brand.
Benefits:
– Enhanced User Experience: By respecting the user’s experience and providing value, integrated marketing builds stronger, more positive relationships with consumers.
– Increased Engagement: Messages that are contextually relevant and tailored to the user’s interests are more likely to be engaged with, leading to higher effectiveness.
Ambient Presence: The Future of Integrated Marketing
Ambient presence takes integrated marketing to the next level by seamlessly blending the brand’s message into the consumer’s environment, making it an integral part of their experience. Unlike traditional marketing that pushes messages, ambient presence involves being there subtly and consistently, providing support and relevance without demanding attention.
Key characteristics of ambient presence include:
– Subtle Integration: The brand becomes part of the user’s life without being noticeable. It offers value without demanding attention.
– Always-On Approach: The brand maintains a constant, low-key presence, ready to engage or provide value when needed, without being intrusive.
– Value-Driven Interaction: Ambient presence focuses on offering utility, support, or enrichment to the user’s experience. This could be through helpful content, tools, or services that align with the user’s needs.
– Examples: Smart assistants that provide helpful tips, branded apps that solve specific problems, or community platforms where brands offer ongoing support and engagement without direct selling.
Advantages of ambient presence include:
– Deeper Connection: By becoming part of the user’s environment naturally, ambient presence fosters a deeper emotional connection and trust between the brand and the consumer.
– Sustained Engagement: The brand’s constant presence, without being intrusive, keeps it top-of-mind without the need for aggressive advertising tactics.
The “Social-on-Community” model explored here, exemplifies ambient presence by wrapping a micro-platform around a community. Here, brands can maintain a presence that is seamlessly integrated into the community’s fabric, offering value and support that enhances the community’s purpose and goals.
– Trust and Authenticity: By immersing themselves within communities in a seamless manner, brands steer clear of the pitfalls of disruptive marketing. Instead, they build trust through genuine, ongoing engagement.
As consumer preferences shift, the transition from disruptive to contextual marketing—and ultimately to ambient presence—is inevitable. Brands that can effortlessly integrate into the lives of their consumers, offering value in a way that feels natural and unobtrusive, will be best positioned to succeed in this evolving landscape.
The future holds the promise of marketing that doesn’t feel like marketing at all—where brands become trusted companions on consumers’ journeys, always present and relevant, yet never intrusive. This is the vision behind “Social-on-Community,” a model that wraps a micro-platform around a community, fostering trust and authenticity.
Interruptive marketing, characterized by disruptive ads, is being replaced by integrated marketing, which provides contextually relevant messages. Ambient presence, a more subtle approach, integrates brands into consumers’ environments, offering value without demanding attention. The “Social-on-Community” model exemplifies ambient presence by creating a micro-platform that surrounds a community, building trust and authenticity.
