No Matter What Platform, Authenticity is the Key

• Trends
• December 8, 2016
• by Merrie Spaeth

Does it seem as if social media platforms are proliferating faster than rabbits? Many of us are barely keeping up with LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and yes, Instagram, but now Snapchat has been dubbed by The New York Times “one of the world’s most innovative and influential consumer technologies.”

We’re learning how to adapt it to our clients, but we’re mindful that it has an exploding audience of millennials that use it to engage with each other. It has also become another news outlet. We’ve all absorbed the admonition, “Today everyone is a reporter.” With Snapchat, groups of users pool their comments or video at an event and Snapchat editors (they like the term “curators”) bundle them. Snapchat’s contribution is the perspective. Instead of a third-party looking at the event as an outsider, Snapchatters are inside. For example, when an attacker with a knife rampaged at Ohio State, Snapchat clips came from students barricaded in classrooms sharing their fears.

And Snapchat’s influence will not end there. As noted in an article by Mashable, Snapchat’s recent partnership with Turner will introduce several new brands and television shows to the app in the new year.

Why is this so attractive? It is authentic and personal. It also disappears quickly so people using Snapchat tend to check back frequently throughout the day. This provides the level of engagement that most companies can only dream of having.

Final comment: Perfection is out, spontaneity is in.