Embrace the attention
economy!
In our modern media-saturated world, a few seconds’ worth of undivided
attention spells victory for your brand. Why not banish fears and prejudices
and seek attention via the social media, suggests Mike Stopforth
T
he World Wide Web, on the will – that, whether they’re aware of exceed their capacity. People are
back of a whole new generation it or not, have evolved from passive switching off to irrelevant messages.
of users, is morphing into a consumers into active “prosumers” Are you relevant?
beast far removed from the platform (simultaneous producers and Marketers need to not only
that fostered the Dot Com crash of the consumers of content online). They understand these new platforms but
late Nineties. upload photos, create videos, write get their hands dirty using them. This
i
a
From a business perspective the blog posts and link to each other. The is no scarier than when mobile phones
most intriguing and challenging trend information highway has been replaced arrived in South Africa, or, for that
has been the emergence of so-called by a throbbing, thriving ecosystem matter, when e-mail or before that fax
e
d
“social media” – a set of tools and powered by people who have became a reality of the ever-changing
technologies on the Web that have, never previously had the means or communication landscape.
in the last three or four years, done opportunity to publish, and it has long- You simply cannot differentiate
l m
a lot more than make words like established brands, and the custodians yourself on product or price anymore.
“blog”, “Facebook” and “Susan Boyle” of those brands, reeling in fear. Companies who are willing to be
household terms for you and me. But why? Why are marketers, authentic, transparent and engaging
The social media have fundamentally advertisers and brand managers so in this new attention economy will rise
changed the way we all do business. very afraid of the social Web? Why above the competition.
Let me state this categorically: you are we so intimidated by the idea of a
s
o
c
i
a
know everything you need to know digitally empowered, socially networked
|
about Web 2.0, social media, social consumer? I think it has something to
networking, consumer-generated do with our obsession with the idea
U
media (pick your buzzword), blogs, of what a “brand” is and how much a
R
wikis and even that oddly named “brand” is worth.
Twitter (www.twitter.com) thing.
U I say that because too many Are you relevant?
G
individuals whom I connect with “Brands” and corporate identities are not
assume that they need to be able synonymous. Your logo – your corporate
to write pages of code or have identity – is just that. Every consumer
some other-worldly grasp on the you engage with will have established a
technological component of these new different set of associations, emotions,
platforms to be able to understand experiences and stories around that
them and benefit from them. Social logo – and no two consumers will feel
media are not about technology – the same. Some of those stories will be
they’re about people! positive and some will, unfortunately,
Code is a commodity. Community, be negative. This collective narrative
however, is priceless. There are no constitutes your brand.
MIke Stopforth is a web
11 herbs and spices here. It is in Marketers simply cannot afford
entrepreneur, writer and speaker who
Facebook’s ability to attract and retain to spend money on channels simply
helps companies leverage the likes of
an audience of almost 200 million because “that’s the way we’ve always
Twitter, Facebook, blogs and more to
connected users, not to mention the done it.” It’s not enough to come up
engage consumers in new ways. His
precious data it learns every time those with a “big idea”, split your spend
company, Cerebra (www.cerebra.co.za),
users interact on or with the site, that across “trusted media” – TV, radio,
has helped companies like Samsung,
its value lies. print, outdoor – and hope like hell
Toyota, Microsoft, FNB, Naspers, Nike,
the odd person buys something. We
Vodacom and more to succeed in the
Why do marketers fear have transitioned from the information
attention economy. He can be contacted
social media? age to an attention economy. The
at
mike@cerebra.co.za, he blogs at
These networks are made up of problem is that the demands we place
www.mikestopforth.com and tweets at
individuals – ordinary citizens if you on consumers’ attention spans simply
twitter.com/mikestopforth.
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