It’s hard to believe that we’re already a few weeks into January. Whether you’re breaking down the holiday decorations or ditching your resolutions, make sure you consider elevating your digital promotions game. We’re offering four customizable promotions for 50% off! Keep reading to learn more.

With the most romantic holiday of the year approaching, use this as your opportunity to let your clients know what you have to offer. Go ahead, embrace the pink and red tones of the season! Our Memory Match game allows you to use pre-selected themed tiles or your own images. Are you trying to push your Valentine’s Day promotions? This option will allow your guests to enter for their chance to win a preplanned romantic itinerary, something else, or we can omit the prizes so your guests can just enjoy a fun themed game! This game can be set up for a variety of different winners and prizes such as dinners, gaming credits, spa treatments, and lots more! Try out our sample memory matching game here.

The big football game is only a few short weeks away! Whether your business has plans for the game or you’d just like to use the opportunity as a fun themed marketing event – our word search game is a great option. With this game, you can select your own words to search – like your company name, or stick to the theme with football terms. Like all of our promotions, you can select your own prizes, too – tickets to a viewing party, branded gift basket, complimentary drinks, or something totally different! Try out our word search here.

Of course, once football season is over, we have to start preparing for St. Patrick’s Day. This is a huge holiday in the hospitality industry, that’s why we’re offering an interactive picture search. You guessed it, this promotion is 100% customizable too! Use an image of your business, your product, something else, or go with one we’ve provided. You pick the prizes, we’ll make the game! Check out our sample image search here.

You might not have filled out your brackets yet, but you will be soon! With college basketball being a month-long event, it’s important not to gloss over this one. For this basketball extravaganza, we’ve put together a customizable prize wheel. Your guests can spin the virtual wheel to win a prize, which you can choose the likelihood of winning. Give our sample a spin here.

To start off, let’s answer the obvious- What does ephemeral content even mean? It may sound odd at first, but ephemeral content really just refers to media content that is accessible for a very short period of time, usually only lasting 24 hours. 

Ephemeral content can take many forms but it is mostly associated with video content, gifs, memes, live streams etc. The examples that you are probably most familiar with are Instagram and Snapchat stories, with the occasional Facebook short video and story feature. Just as the feature name suggests, it has created a new concept of portraying content dubbed “ephemeral storytelling”.

A New Structure of Storytelling

Let’s delve into the phenomenon of ephemeral storytelling. The unique aspect of this marketing strategy is that it creates a more natural  and authentic narrative to what you’re showing your audience. This form of storytelling  gives what consumers want most from brands: authenticity. 

A 2018 Forbes article written by Thomas Harding (CEO of Mish Guru), stated that a 2017 global study found that 86% of consumers say authenticity is key when deciding which brands to like and support. However, only 57% of consumers think that less than half of brands create content that resonates as authentic (T.Harding, Forbes). This can be jarring for many businesses in our current era of marketing and advertising. Nowadays, people don’t gravitate towards the cookie-cutter perfection of edited and polished content. Audiences want to see the behind-the scenes of businesses, they want to see the character and personality behind  brand voices, and they want to see that unique voice come to life through content. This is why a lot of big name companies such as Wendy’s, Netflix, and of course Snapchat have obtained their audience base and engagement.

What Makes It The Superior Marketing Strategy?

This user generated- content (UGC) feature allows increased daily engagement and enables trust to be formed between companies and their consumers in an informal but direct way. Additionally, because of the short exposure time, ephemeral content  creates a sense of urgency within the audience to participate in the viewing of the story or live stream.

To make more sense of it, using a quick example that’s a bit closer to home… If a casino wanted to increase participation on one of their platforms, let’s say Instagram, they could promote a giveaway via a livestream where winners would be announced at a specific time on that particular livestream. Of course it could be archived for followers/winners to watch later, but nevertheless it contains the key aspects of how ephemeral media is utilized: authentic behind-the-scenes interaction, a sense of urgency, and a personal aspect that connects the customers with the platform and company. You could also spice it up with the presence of an influencer, whether it be a social media takeover or just a guest appearance to announce the winners. There are so many ways to execute this feature, and the ones that get the most attention are the ones that are creative and consistent with it.

How Brands Should Utilize It 

Simply put, the purpose of this type of marketing is to maximize the volume of content and viewership while putting in minimal effort. Take advantage of what the platforms have to offer. If you post a picture of something that stirs opinion or conversation, consider placing a poll or topical GIF to let the audience interact and provide feedback. On Instagram Stories, there is even a “reaction” feature, and more likely than not, people will want to use those quick indirect symbols to show support rather than comment on a post. Engagement is engagement, there are many ways to record it, but even more ways to obtain it. So again, creativity and authenticity is key!

The continuous rise of ephemeral content will not falter anytime soon. Popular platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok will see to it that the most watched content is personal, clever, and quick. What the marketing world can do is use that to its advantage. 

Our goal is engagement. If people don’t see what we’re creating, what is the point of creating it? The best way is to constantly be adapting to the changing trends of content consumption. As of right now audiences gravitate towards the more informal, familiar and human-like content from brands who have fresh and individual voices. With ephemeral digital marketing in your tool belt, those concepts can be actualized. 

As you continue to think about what lies ahead in the marketing industry, consider reaching out to us at Shank Marketing! We’re here to help you with any inquiries related to digital marketing and social media. Our team can help you implement the latest marketing strategies to increase your engagement with your audience.

Facebook Live is a great way to grab your audience’s attention in real time. Depending on a person’s notification settings they will be served a notification when a page they are following goes live. This notification serves as a great resource to quickly build your viewership on any given livestream. Whether or not you’ve gone live before or this is your first rodeo, everyone can benefit from implementing best practices. Read on below to learn more!

Don’t Jump Right In: When you press the go live button it is hard to resist jumping right into what you have to talk about or show off. No matter how excited you are, you should always wait at least 30 seconds, if not a full minute, before starting your programming. You want to give people enough time to see that you are live and join the stream. If you do jump right into what you have planned then you run the risk of viewers missing the introduction and key facts.

Script/Talking Points: This is personal preference. When going live some people prefer to have a word for word script written down while others opt for a list of talking points. I fall into the second camp, I like knowing what I should talk about but do not like being locked into a script. It is also important to note that since people will more than likely be coming in and out of the live, to repeat your main points. That way you can rest assured that your message has been delivered and (hopefully) received. 

Join The Conversation: Another reason why Facebook Live is a great tool to use in your marketing plans is because it allows for you to interact with your audience in real time. In addition to verbally answering questions, it is recommended that you interact as your FB page in the comment section of the video. Thank people for watching, invite them to share the video, and answer any questions that they may have. It is also super important to provide booking links or other helpful website information directly in the feed.

Length: The length of any Facebook Live depends on the subject matter. In some instances, like giving room tours, these should not be assigned a time length goal.You’ll want to make sure you hit all points of interest and in a way that makes sense. I have found that starting on the perimeter and working your way into the middle of space works best.

Microphone: Unless you are going to do a professional grade voiceover in post production (see below) the use of a microphone is highly recommended. This is recommended for anyone going live but especially those that work in noisy environments, like a casino. A microphone will help isolate the person’s voice and cut down on unnecessary background noise. 

Alternatively: Pre-recording your Live video is a great option when you’re giving a walking tour of a space.You can edit the video to include any relevant information or renderings. Then you can schedule the video as a “premiere” and it will appear as if it is live.

While there are thousands of different kinds of functions that you could be planning, one thing always remains true – your audience is the most important part of your event. In addition to addressing your attendees’ needs, there are a few other key factors that will guide you to a successful event. 

Invitations

Invitations are one of the most important components of any event. Just like a “save the date” wedding invitation, these should be kept short and sweet to allow your attendees to focus on the information at hand. It’s okay to include more detailed information along with the invitation, but oftentimes this can lead to an overload of information, and can cause your attendees to overlook the main points: Who? What? When? Where? Why?

Making Your Menu

Making menu selections is usually any event planner’s favorite part! However, it’s easy to get carried away and forget to take certain aspects into account when making your menu. Don’t forget to always consider how the food will be served and how much time your attendees will have to enjoy their meal.  If you find yourself planning a formal dinner, you might want to shy away from self-serve buffets and messy finger foods, but if you’re throwing a casual birthday party, this could be your ideal setup. Have any vegetarians in your crowd? Chefs don’t always have alternative dishes prepared, so be sure to communicate any special requests with your caterers. 

Rehearsals

We’ve all been there, whether it’s in the audience or as the presenter – the slideshow won’t start, the microphones aren’t working, there aren’t enough tables, or maybe it’s something else. The best solution to these problems? Always hold a rehearsal when it’s possible. This is beneficial not only to you as the event planner, but also to some of your presenters, fellow team members and other vendors who benefit from the time to rehearse in an official setting beforehand. Of course, a full rehearsal isn’t always possible, but at the very least any equipment should be tested beforehand. 

The End

It might be over, but it’s not really over until you’ve had your post-event meeting. It’s important to meet with your team and discuss some key questions, such as: What would everyone have done differently? What went well? What didn’t go well? The answers to these questions will be fresh on everyone’s mind shortly after the event, but the longer this is put off, the less likely your team will be to share details.