EP 285 - Stop Posting Like It's 2014: How to Earn Attention on Social Today

Fab: If your marketing still reads like a leaflet from 2014, the algorithm is swiping way past you. Because entertainment is not the side dish anymore. It's the all bloody main course. Hello marketing ramone, welcome back to All Marketing School.

It's Fab here, founder, head teacher and resident hype woman. And as always, we're keeping up with marketing, so you don't have to. You're welcome. ⁓ And today I'm unpacking a juicy little number from Small World and Track Suit.

called, entertain or die. Quite ominous I know. So yeah, the title is dramatic and no, they are not wrong. Because it turns out, shock and horror, that people aren't opening social to be informed anymore.

This report talks us through why social is all about being entertained. In fact, Traxity is arguing that if your content only works on people already want to buy from you, you might be too late for your own party. In the next 10 minutes, I will talk you through what the actual shift is and why it matters now. The one company that is basically a media company in a total knack.

Why KitKat's humor is a growth engine and how entertainment is becoming the core of all top brands for its own data. May today's class begin. Here's what entertain or die is really saying in fab terms. The job of social has changed.

Most people are an open in TikTok or Instagram to communicate. They're open in it for a little bit of dopamine snack. And when that's the game, your brand isn't just up against your competitors, you are up against creators who do this full time, meme that moves at the speed of light, Netflix trailers and little snippets, and that one girl that is doing a seven-part storytime about her hexes new situationship. So this kind of here's our product, please buy post gets swiped fast, faster than a bad hinge profile.

Not because the fact that your product is bad or even your messaging is off, but it's because that's not what your audience is coming here for. User intent is huge and I generally believe that your real job right now is earning attention before you even ask for something. So Apple might be one of the greatest example to point because Apple historically didn't market like a tech company, even looking at their 1984 ad. They always marketed like a cultural storyteller that wore a little turtleneck.

aligns incredibly well with the trick that is talked about in the report as well, because people are entertained by human stories and not technical specifications. So Apple makes the product a supporting cast. The stars are the creator, the craft and the story. And that's why shots on iPhone became such a staple before everyone turned to big series events on social media.

So if you spent five minutes in your explore feed recently, you will know exactly what I'm talking about with this. Think about it. The message of their shot on iPhone campaign was not about look at our camera. It was about look at what humans can make with this thing in their pocket.

And if you're sat there going cool fab, but I'm not Apple. Perfect. Because you don't need to be. The takeaway isn't make a cinematic short film, even if lot of phones allow you to do that these days.

Is stop leading with the feature and go back to leading with the transformation in a way that is engaging. So what does someone become when they use what you sell? build that story in a way that is engaging and is going through a storytelling arc as well. If you're salivating for another example, then on running is a masterclass in selling identity as well.

Because they're not just talking about shoes, but they're selling a different version of you that reflects who you are, but it gives a bit of a level up. That version that trains, maybe shows off at 6am, that is disciplined, slightly unhinged and looking intimidating in a very hot way. The report basically calls on strategy, aspiration, infrastructure, which I really love. which is a fancy McKinsey-coded way of saying they turn performance into a story you actually want to be in.

And if you're still not sure what I'm talking about, this is how it works. Fitness culture is already entertainment, which is a big bonus. And people are obsessed with training arcs, very roughly of them, personal milestones, resilient stories, and glow ups, because we all love a glow up. So ON doesn't have to invent entertainment at all, which is great.

They can just package what their audience already loves and hand them back, branded, which is amazing devastatingly effective, if you ask me. And now we get into humor. Because most brands use humor like light seasoning, a little dash, a random meme there. I panicked, make this funny please, to the social intern.

But KitKat has made humor part of the decision making process. It's the equivalent of me seasoning any dish. Flamers need to buck a punch on what even is the point, right? Their board frames Kit Kat as a brand is built long-term relevance through micro entertainment.

short jokes, fast cultural riffs, bi-size visuals. The stuff that travels gets screen-shotted and lives in the group chat. So not everything has to be a documentary. Sometimes you win by being quick, familiar and culturally fluent and tapping into what's already happening and building a story around it.

bar, and that's a chunky bar, if humor is part of your brand, it needs purpose. Just to add more layers to it, I know. you want to think about things like formats or rules or boundaries, and this can be built through a repeatable playbook that the whole team can run with. and now I'm getting to the juiciest part because this is the bit that made me sit up, the espresso in hand and think like, huh, because entertain or die makes a bigger statement.

The entertainment is becoming your brand operating system, ⁓ which means brands ⁓ quietly shifting from run the campaign to worlds, content marketing to connected entertainment ecosystems, Which is why you might be seeing in-house studios, episodic series style content, documentary called a storytelling, whole leadership roles dedicated to entertainment, which is wild. because is not built on one borough post, but consistency and connection is. So here's my question to you, Marketing Can you pick one platform, not five, not a bit of everything, just one?

and then try and finish this sentence for me. We entertain through as the stories, as a humor, as a character, behind the scenes, hot takes, tutorials with personality, you decide. All right, marketing rebels, that's a wrap on today. Make sure that you finish that sentence for me.

And as a reminder, if you want the report is called, Entertain on Dime by Small World and Track Suit. Go and read it and see what you can learn from it. But if you don't have the time to read this or any other reports, there I say that every single month inside of our all access pass, we have a round table called, What's New in Marketing. A 30 minute live session where we talk about what's happening, what's new and what's hot.

Because... you shouldn't be worrying about that. So we do the hard work for you. You can find out more or join us at the All Access Pass by going to allmarketingschool.

com slash community. And before I leave, don't forget to subscribe so that we can break down the juicy insights that you don't have to dig through 47 page PDFs on a Tuesday night. But until next time, classes dismissed.