Social is as social does

When brands look to harness the power of influence to change behaviour and sway audiences towards their product, a common misunderstanding is that social platforms are simply another media channel to allocate spend, the same as print or television. They are not.

With an increasingly democratised world of content, stronger regulation around posting and greater demand for transparency in content, these platforms should not be considered channels owned by singular businesses but live and dynamic mass congregations of audiences. That is to say, the creators become the platforms themselves, and businesses must understand the difference in order to maximise ROI and drive the results they need.

An ideal case study presented itself last month in ‘Make Instagram Instagram Again’. In short, for some time Instagram has prioritised video-first content over images, particularly after the wild success of TikTok. In a bid to steer the user experience even closer to that of TikTok, new updates to Instagram were designed to increase the frequency of AI-recommended videos in user feeds, as opposed to the content of those they followed. The move would allow users to more easily discover new content and expose them to a greater volume of recommended advertising in the process. According to Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri, the change was based on user data which reflected how audiences engaged with the platform. 

In response, 21-year-old Tati Bruening shared a protest post and launched a petition on 23 July. It was subsequently reposted by mega influencers like the Kardashians all the way down to countless nano influencers within days. At the time of writing, the petition has over 300,000 signatures and the original post on Instagram has over 2.25 million likes.

A viral social movement isn’t news by any means, but a key indicator of the true power creators hold is Instagram’s choice to listen. On 29 July, Mosseri went live to say Instagram will roll back algorithms pushing suggested content, albeit not entirely, abandon the trialled 16:9 display in favour of the classic screen resolution and generally favour an interface in line with Instagram’s more traditional format.

People first, brands second

Whether you care if you’re seeing more video than still content, and want to see new accounts or old friends, there’s critical learnings in the fallout to last month’s announcement. The first? Users want to see creators that influence them; they opt into that content and respond positively. Users are actively speaking out against algorithms that promote unsolicited content – which includes paid social – and the platforms are listening. They are retracting and evolving in favour of social discourse over even their own user data. That puts brands engaging with social media on a purely advertising only level at a significant disadvantage. 

This doesn’t mean social media is still a Wild West frontier; there are safe ways for brands to reach and influence their audiences through the platforms, but getting the strategy right is crucial. While last week proved bad news for those looking to influence audiences through social media with paid mass reach, it is good news for businesses who understand how to make their brand a part of the organic conversation. Last week proved how passionate users are about the content they want to see, and while that includes their friends, it certainly includes a whole host of brilliant creators who hold a significant degree of influence. Importantly, these are not always the creators with the most reach but can be those who represent and speak directly to individual communities choosing to follow them on the platform.

What would Vaseline do?

Brands must first study the audiences they wish to reach through the platform and pay attention to the conversations they are having and who is influencing them. Partnerships with creators that speak the language of these particular audiences (which may greatly vary between sectors) are impactful and well-regulated means for businesses to influence audiences.

Look at Vaseline and their adoption of the ‘slugging’ trend. If you can see past the strange trend name it provides a perfect case study; Vaseline identified a micro trend on TikTok in which creators were curing dryness by covering their face in the product. Vaseline chose to tap into the existing trend and amplify it by partnering with key TikTok creators who spoke to their target audience, paying them to participate in the trend. This sparked a fire and slugging absolutely exploded. In February this year, Vaseline – a brand that has sold at stable figures for many years – saw their sales skyrocket by 327 per cent. Simply by listening and piggybacking off existing social behaviour rather than seeking to control it.

There are also implicit consequences at play for brands who fail to understand what their audience is doing on social. In June just this year, cosmetics megabrand Revlon filed for bankruptcy after choosing to forego the initial use of creators and therefore missing the social media make-up boom. Revlon invested far too late, meaning it was unable to keep the pace with rivals who effectively used video social personalities to fuel greater connection and growth.

Looking only at the platforms on a macro level and failing to understand them as a dynamic congregation full of micro communities who are passionate about the content they want is a missed opportunity. Even Instagram itself is still learning an important lesson that they no longer entirely own the future of the platform and through the power of influence, people will get what they want, all brands have to do is listen.