Ephemeral Content

Ephemeral content, as defined by Search Engine Journal, “is rich media, primarily images and videos, that are only accessible for a brief period.”

Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, stories have led to the increased popularity of ephemeral content. The majority of ephemeral content is temporary and is shared for up to 24 hours before it disappears.

Ephemeral content can be used by companies in their marketing strategies by displaying temporary content and designed to get an immediate response from users.

With ephemeral content, companies are able to display high-quality content and stories in real-time. FOMO, the fear of missing out, is created by the short-term nature of ephemeral content. Since the content is lost in a short amount of time, a company’s customers ans followers need to immediately respond before the content disappears. An immediate goal might be for the user to make a quick decision to purchase a product or signup and create an account with a company.

The benefits of using ephemeral content in a company’s social media marketing strategy include:

• Reaching wider audiences
• Increasing content volume
• Boosting customer loyalty

According to Search Engine Journal, “With Instagram alone, you have more than 200 million people engaging in its stories platform each month.” If ephemeral content is well-crafted, a company will be able to create a greater amount of content and increase their content volume with less effort by making short stories and videos that quickly catch the attention of their intended audiences. Companies can boost brand loyalty using ephemeral content by inviting customers in with stories and videos to the inner workings of the company. An ephemeral content social media marketing campaign can be created to allow the audience of a company greater insight into the culture of the company through social media stories.

In considering different strategies for social media marketing and ways to launch social media marketing campaigns, ephemeral content is a fast-growing way to reach audiences and connect with them in an authentic way that companies should consider when thinking about their social media marketing efforts.

References

“Social Media Marketing Trends 2018.” Smart Insights, Smart Insights, 30 Mar. 2018, http://www.smartinsights.com/social-media-marketing/social-media-marketing-trends-2018/.

Trounce, David. “Ephemeral Content: Everything Marketers Need to Know.” Search Engine Journal, Search Engine Journal, 20 Mar. 2018, http://www.searchenginejournal.com/ephemeral-content/238589/.