The Best Brand Social Strategy Isn’t Going Viral. It’s Building Something People Miss

Gap, Dick’s, and Starbucks are investing in original content as brands rethink what it takes to build a loyal audience online.

EXPERT OPINION BY MICHAEL KAYE, COMMUNICATIONS LEADER

Gap created a chief entertainment officer role to expand the company’s storytelling beyond traditional advertising, and recently hired a Walmart marketing alum to drive original content. Dick’s Sporting Goods launched its own production studio to create documentaries and original sports content. Starbucks has Starbucks Studios, an initiative focused on stories about coffee, culture and community.

These companies sell very different things, but their investments point to the same shift. Brands are no longer relying solely on advertising, influencers or traditional media coverage to reach consumers. Increasingly, they’re building the teams and infrastructure to create their own content.

For years, brands were encouraged to behave more

For years, brands were encouraged to behave more like creators. They developed personalities, jumped on trends and tried to make their accounts feel less corporate. Some became very good at it, like Duolingo, Ryanair, and Wendy’s. 

But creating content that earns attention consistently requires something different from creating an occasional viral post. It requires brands to start thinking more like publishers.

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Publishers have always had to solve a problem that brands are increasingly facing on social media, which is, “How do you create something people actively choose to consume?” The answer isn’t simply producing more content. It’s understanding an audience well enough to know what they value, developing formats they want to return to, and building a system capable of delivering that consistently.

For companies investing more heavily in content

For companies investing more heavily in content and social, that’s an important distinction. The goal shouldn’t be to make a brand look more like a creator. It should be to build an audience that eventually wants to become a customer if they aren’t already. 

Build for the audience, not the algorithm

Traditional brand content often starts with what the brand wants to say. There’s a product launching, a campaign going live, or a message the company wants consumers to hear. Social media becomes another place to distribute it.

Source: www.inc.com