Micro-moments (definition): “critical touch points within today’s consumer journey, and when added together, they ultimately determine how that journey ends.[1]” In the past year alone, websites in the United States have seen a 20% increase in mobile’s share of online sessions[2]. Research shows that we check our phones 150 times a day[3] and spend on average 177 minutes on our phones per day[4]. These short, sharp smartphone interactions (averaging 70 seconds) provide countless opportunities for brands to interact with their audience – but ideally only when they are open to influence, or when they are from sources they trust. “These are intent-rich moments when decisions are made and preferences shaped”. “Today’s battle for hearts, minds, and dollars is won (or lost) in micro-moments—intent-driven moments of decision-making and preference-shaping that occur throughout the entire consumer journey”[5]. Mobile has forever changed what we expect of brands. It’s fractured the consumer journey into hundreds of real-time, intent-driven micro-moments. Each is a critical opportunity for brands to shape our decisions and preferences. In this new infinite marketplace, brands must find authentic, useful and surprising ways to connect with new audiences.
Original user-generated content is the key to engagement:
- Consumers gravitate toward brands with snackable, educational content—not brands giving the hard sell[6];
- The message and the messenger must intersect with those of the brand’s target audience;
- The mobile experience has to be fast and frictionless, keep them entertained and wanting more.
A personal handheld device is the best way to communicate with your target audience:
- smartphone video viewers are nearly 2X as likely as TV viewers to feel a sense of personal connection to brands that show video content or ads on their devices[7];
- 53% of smartphone users feel more favourable towards companies whose mobile sites or apps provide instructional video content[8];
- brands should connect with their target audience from multiple angles, and repeatedly.
The connection brands can create is significant if they combine captivating micro-moments with compelling micro-influencers. How to evaluate your brand’s content as a Micro-moment: Critically and strategically consider your own brand content (blogs, social media images, articles and video) and evaluate its credentials as a micro-moment. Consider this under 3 categories: Content, Format, and Voice as we have done for our business, The Office Space.
Content – Curated and Compelling Create content that has context. Develop a high level plan for your content based on the messages that you want to communicate that are relevant to your brand and to your audience. Each month The Office Space delivers a 9-point content & event program (our Cultural Program) that focuses on a central theme which is relevant, inspiring, or emerging. The theme is announced each month via our News EDM (disseminated to our database of 6,000 subscribers and social media channels), and further explored through Thought (a long-form thought-leadership article such as this one, exploring the theme using the latest research), Trend (a Top 5 ‘listical’ that highlights companies, individuals or movements relevant to a particular aspect of the theme), and Profile (a filmed one-on-one interview with a TOS client or business community expert that is involved with the theme). Our monthly Table and Social events provide great snapshots of our dynamic business community and our most popular event is Insight by The Office Space, a monthly talk series hosted at the Golden Age Cinema in Surry Hills. We invite three successful and inspiring entrepreneurs relevant to our theme to discuss, in Q&A format, the evolution of their business strategies and brand. In marketing video content is king and is a great way to gain traction with an audience. Insight is professionally filmed and edited to produce 4 short video clips (the hosts introduction monologue/address, and sound bites from each guest speaker) which link back to the hour-long video of the event in its entirety. We also pull out speaker quotes which a great device for piquing interest in a various topic and demonstrating the credibility of the speakers. Through hard research and easy conversation, Insight teases out various voices on a particular topic and showcases a variety of different perspectives. Once you have your content plan, determine who and how it will be executed. At The Office Space, a dedicated Community Manager works with the Business Manager to source and curate content, drive strategy for amplification and engagement, and ensure the success and authenticity of this program.
Format – Unique and Engaging People expect brands to talk with them rather than at them. They no longer expect brands to sell to them, but to entertain and inform them. In this new paradigm, brands must strategically partner with aligned influencers to participate in the organic conversations and original content they are producing for their audience. Insight’s unique format creates compelling micro-moments that achieve real cut-through. Insight offers authentic, user-generated content to explore business themes relevant to our clients, and to connect with the surrounding business community. Digital channels have the potential to expand Insight’s audience beyond Sydney to a national and even international audience. Insight is intimate, filmed in front of a live audience within the iconic Golden Age Cinema in Surry Hills, and below The Office Space’s award-winning Paramount office. Guest speakers are invited to sit on the tiered art-deco stage with eye level to the audience, further contributing to the intimacy of the event. Insight is probing, using well-informed, high-considered conversations with our guests to achieve a more personal and revealing level of discussion. Innovative professionals work collaboratively and with an open mind-set. Consider what content you can effectively produce each month that provides interest of information to your audience. And consider how you can amplify this content’s reach through partnerships with other aligned busiensses. For The Office Space, The Golden Age Cinema offers an additional channel for promotion of Insight and its speakers. We are also actively approaching relevant blue-chip companies to sponsor Insight and further boost our content through their small business channels.
Voice – Impressive Individuals and Successful Brands Think not only about the tone of your content but the voices that are contributing to it. It may be a profile of your clients and customers or perhaps from experts (or micro-influencers) in your industry who would support yoru messaging. Insight’s speaker-centric format allows us to feature business heros with knowledge and expertise in their field. This offers a range of personalities to connect with a variety of audience interests. Sournce those in yoru own industry who are: respected – think trail-blazing creatives, savvy entrepreneurs, and corporate experts from up-and-coming businesses and high profile global brands; experienced –value the journey and explore an individual career progression, their failures and learnings, and their pathway to success; and connected – look to connect with those that also have a strong and aligned following. Through seeding activities that can tap into our Insight speakers own networks, The Office Sapce creates an opportunity to connect with their own unique following.
CONCLUSION: Insight by The Office Space offers an in-depth exploration of business themes, a roster of high-profile speakers, an established following, and an aspirational environment within which to host and produce the event. Think about how to connect your business insights and ideas with influencers who can in turn connect their audience to your brand. Seek to create enduring partnerships that are mutually beneficial and naturally synergistic, to ensure you communicate with clarity and strength across multiple touch-points. The potential is limitless!
[1] https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/articles/win-every-micromoment-with-better-mobile-strategy.html [2] https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/articles/how-micromoments-are-changing-rules.html [3] Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, 2013 Internet Trends Report. [4] Flurry Analytics, Comscore, Q4 2014. [5] https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/collections/micromoments.html?_ga=1.235810625.1562415697.1486679200 [6] Consumers in the Micro-Moment, Wave 3, Google/Ipsos, U.S., August 2015, n=1,291 online smartphone users 18+. [7] 35. Google/Ipsos Brand Building on Mobile Survey, February 2015. [8] Consumers in the Micro-Moment, Wave 3, Google/Ipsos, U.S., August 2015, n=1,291 online smartphone users 18+.
