If you want to know where the future marketing is going, look to the younger generation!
The future of marketing is not going to be about who can spend the most money, the future marketing is going to be about crowdsourcing, remarkable content, and thoughtful data.
Have you ever doubted the power of younger generations today? Just look at the Kony 2012 YouTube video as an example of how quickly a message can be spread around the world. This video which has over 85 million views and growing, was done with a smallish budget, in a brief amount of time, but had an underlying message that resonates!
It is no small feat to create something and spread it across the Internet with hundreds of millions of views. But when you have a massive army of people that are waiting to distribute this content, if it is relevant, meaningful, and has a good message, then it will be shared innumerable times.
The future of marketing is about relevancy, meaning, and timing. I’m a firm believer that the generation growing up now will be some of the most thoughtful humanitarian based thinkers of our time. We are breeding and nurturing an army of people that care more about how things are going to impact our society and world in a positive way over profit and greed. This is why we see many many people responding well to messages that are most important.
Blogging has taken on a new form, with businesses gaining thousands of viewers, and many eyeballs over their content each month, by creating something of use to their target audience. They are creating value beyond numbers, and a permanent resource.
Undoubtedly, blogging in the form that we know it will change over time, and that is OK, we want it to be fine-tuned and improved over time, and that will happen organically. We need to be thoughtful and mindful to remember that not everybody consumes media in the same way. Older demographics may prefer to pick up something tangible like a physical newspaper or book. Some easily transition to using newer technology, like tablets for example. Others may not desire that at all, but I do know that over time the technological impact is increasing, and how we consume media is always changing.
Today’s younger generation are great at consuming media, as most of us are, but they are also great at creating content. From video to artistic photography, to microblogging and long blogging. Most of the stuff that is created is shared with minimal barriers because they know their target audience, their community and what is interesting, and most importantly not boring. They’ve had many many hours of experience of consuming content, so they know what it makes good stuff.
So what can we as content marketers learn from the younger generations? We can learn a lot. We can learn that by leveraging our networks, our friends, family, and colleagues, and those that care about our messages, these stories whether a simple blog post, or photograph, or report, can be shared with thousands, and millions. The key here is no trickery is allowed. No schmucks. No big corporate feeling. We just need a pure unadulterated ‘something’ that is going to impact the world, and that is how it has to be portrayed, otherwise it will be seen as valueless, faceless and cold.
This post doesn’t have all the answers, but as you are creating campaigns, be thinking more about the ‘why’, and bigger picture, and less about the tactics. The tactics are easy, and come naturally to most. Ask strategically, is the thought process being followed really in line with the overall picture?
(photo credit: MoMoNWI)