Are websites breaking to bits?
Is the brand website becoming an archaic idea, at least as a communication vehicle? Given the content overload in the environment isn’t it wishful thinking to expect people to troop to your website or download your app unless they desperately need to? Wouldn’t it make more sense therefore for marketing engagement to happen at places that are part of the organic flow of people’s lives? Also, given that the digital age demands and allows marketers to have a disaggregated view of segmentation, shouldn’t content be created and distributed across a multiplicity of communication platforms and properties appealing to a wide variety of segments?
Is the brand website becoming an archaic idea, at least as a communication vehicle? Given the content overload in the environment isn’t it wishful thinking to expect people to troop to your website or download your app unless they desperately need to? Wouldn’t it make more sense therefore for marketing engagement to happen at places that are part of the organic flow of people’s lives? Also, given that the digital age demands and allows marketers to have a disaggregated view of segmentation, shouldn’t content be created and distributed across a multiplicity of communication platforms and properties appealing to a wide variety of segments?
Recently I came across the ‘website’ of a relatively new sports content company, ‘The Wave’ (wearewave.tv). Interestingly, their website has almost no content – instead it has links to over 100 channels of content on Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat through which they reach their millions of followers. In a way each of their channels may be representative of a ‘micro-segment’ and is being served sharply focused content without burdening them with stuff they are not interested in. (e.g. someone may only want to see great goals, but not other football news). Of course, it helps that there are thousands of fans out there creating micro-content, and hence it’s a question of collaborating and curating what’s popular and on-boarding it under their brand umbrella.
So, what could other brands learn from this?
First, that there is an opportunity to meaningfully reach out to multiple niches and segments by creating sharp-focused content that they are interested in, at the places that they frequent.
Second, the only reasonable way to create lots of micro-content is to collaborate with people who are already doing so – and make the brand a platform for their content.
And third, that while brands need to be clear and firm about their core values – they would have to be somewhat less rigid about how these values are manifested through content.
So, what could other brands learn from this?
First, that there is an opportunity to meaningfully reach out to multiple niches and segments by creating sharp-focused content that they are interested in, at the places that they frequent.
Second, the only reasonable way to create lots of micro-content is to collaborate with people who are already doing so – and make the brand a platform for their content.
And third, that while brands need to be clear and firm about their core values – they would have to be somewhat less rigid about how these values are manifested through content.
