Brands need “deep understanding” to leverage new content platforms successfully

Brands should evaluate whether they need to extend content to new platforms and make sure that they have a “deep understanding” of how it works and what it could bring to content marketing campaigns to ensure that the right message is delivered to a target audience.

Mashable’s Branded Content Director, Hannah Meium, spoke in detail about the challenges facing content teams in the digital age at the recent Native Advertising DAYS event, and she claimed that brands should conduct more due diligence when adding a “social layer” to a campaign.

Meium believes that brands should ask themselves why they need to adopt a new platform and also be familiar with the types of content that are best for engaging with users. For example, she said that displaying a “bunch of still photos on YouTube” isn’t recommended, and clips on Facebook should be engaging without sound, as most people view them this way in their news feeds.

Meium added: “When you’re thinking about which platforms to expand your campaign to, think about what kind of content you’re doing. How should it live on those platforms? And make sure that you have a deep understanding of why you would even use that platform.”

New social platforms offer great marketing potential to brands, and Meium believes that bigger content teams are better placed to be first movers, as they have more resources to devote to diversifying content strategies. She said: “If you’re a one-person shop, don’t try to be everywhere because you won’t be able to be successful.”

Mashable’s exec also echoed recent sentiments by the likes of the Content Marketing Institute stating that brands shouldn’t try to shoehorn a message into content, as readers will not want to read a piece that sounds like an advertisement. Meium said that keeping readers in mind at all times and adding value for them in some way is the best approach for storytelling.

Finally, brands should always be tuned in to what youngsters are doing online. Meium concluded: “I have a 12-year-old nephew, and it’s like, ‘OK what’s he doing? What are his friends doing?’ Because that is what’s next. You see this trend in Facebook. Now that parents are on there and now that grandparents are on there, the younger audience doesn’t want to be there anymore. That’s why Snapchat is there.”