Have you ever had the urge to add a bad word to your social graphic or newsletter copy?
Maybe you should’ve.
There is power in cursing, swearing or whatever you want to call the foul language that often leaves marketers’ tongues (behind the screen). It’s proven. But what happens when you put that language on paper, infuse it into your social strategy or use bad words for good to achieve your 2024 KPIs?
Consider the evolving ethos around curse words:
According to Wrike’s 2016 Work Management Survey, 67% of millennials said they swear in the workplace, and over 40% said they preferred a workplace where foul language regularly occurs. (Not your grandpa’s workplace)
Psychological Science says, “Swearing is positively correlated with extraversion and is a defining feature of a Type A personality.”
Profanity, often deemed offensive in marketing, surprisingly makes product reviews more helpful, as per a recent study in the Journal of Marketing Research.
A survey done by Preply found that Americans, on average, use profanity around 21 times daily. Gen Z tends to swear more (24 times) compared to Baby Boomers (10 times), and men (22 times) swear more than women (18 times) daily.
Attention-grabbing A******
First of all, it’s adverts. Get your mind out of the gutter. But while you’re here…
Don’t be afraid to play with your words. Strategic swearing can work.
Evoking emotions is crucial. Marketers can strategically use swearing to boost authenticity, as research suggests it enhances perceptions of honesty and trustworthiness. Mild swearing also increases message persuasiveness by adding passion and informality. Clever wordplay or humor fosters inclusion, making your audience feel connected.
Trending Now: Next-Gen Language to Use in Your Marketing Strategy
Your millennial best friend has told you they are in their “new era.”Your Gen Z co-worker said, “It’s just not thevibe.” Don’t take offense if Gen Alpha calls you the rizzler. It’s a compliment.
Beyond the bad words you know, you need to get in with these generations and ahead of their inventive idioms while you can. Otherwise, you might get ratio’d. There’s a reason why the 2023 Oxford Word of the Year was Rizz, and there’s no counting out that it might be Nyming next year. Does the term Baby Gronk mean anything to you? Well, it should.
These terms drive SEO results on social platforms, personify your brand voice and form authentic relationships that create repeat patrons.
Gen Z constitutes 30% of the world’s population and will make up 27% of the workforce by 2025. On top of that, Gen Z’s annual buying power will hit trillions of dollars in the next few years.
Common Sense Media found that 53% of kids in the United States have a phone by age 11. Many younger have tablets or other devices with internet access, or as marketers might see it, access to follow, subscribe and buy.
Do not count this young market out. While many are still trying to get careers off the ground, and many more are years away from getting their first job, you need to think about the buying power of their surroundings. People like parents, grandparents, influential friends and the constant influence of screens.
Language is Ever-evolving
From the Phonecian system to transatlantic accents and new colloquial nouns, you need to get comfortable with the language your audience uses in their everyday lives. While the science of swearing or the psychological implications of profanity is still not fully realized, we know it has become increasingly normalized and is sure to grab attention.
Using swearing and slang in marketing adds a real and relatable touch to the message, making it appealing to a diverse audience. Finding the right balance creates a dynamic communication style that connects with modern consumers and builds stronger brand loyalty.
The most memorable failed marketing campaigns were regarded negatively because of their levels of insensitivity, not because they snuck profanity into their copy. Use swearing in an intentional way to enhance your relationship with your audience, like you would your friends.
It might not be for everyone, but if your goal is to reach markets like Gen Z and Gen Alpha, you must branch out to stay above. Bend the rules, redefine the norms and create genuine relationships with your audience.
What is Engagement Marketing and why is it helpful?
Engagement Marketing strategies focus on actively involving audiences and creating positive brand sentiment, engaging in two-way communication to build unique relationships with consumers. Engagement marketing includes tactics such as experiential activations, influencer partnerships, social engagement + giveaways, loyalty programs, branded content, and PR events. Using Engagement Marketing humanizes your brand through various kinds of interpersonal interaction and helps your audience to relate to your messaging.
Because we all see marketing tactics so regularly, we often have our guards up when seeing ads. It’s important to realize that, because of this hesitancy towards traditional interruption ads, unwarranted promotion can lead to a damaged brand perception.
In response to these recent trends in consumer’s reactions, start exploring engagement marketing content that shares your brand values and combats ad fatigue.
Why are experiences important for consumers?
Now more than ever, we are constantly looking for new experiences and adventures that will bring excitement to our everyday lives. This trend informs 2024’s best marketing practices, as the average consumer feels the same way about the branded content they consume. Instead of simply viewing an ad, when a customer interacts with your brand’s content via social media or in-person, your level of brand awareness and brand recall skyrockets. Your audience wants to feel like they’re choosing you as a brand that they believe in because your product/service solves their problems, aligns with their views and makes a difference. They can’t truly believe that, or become brand evangelists, until they interact with you face to face and have a positive experience.
Expected Growth in 2024
Influencer marketing spending is expected to grow to more than $7 billion next year in the U.S. alone—a 146% increase since 2020.
In order to ensure we are creating engaging concepts and content that will generate both leads and sales, we ask ourselves the following questions:
What are our goals?
What’s the roadmap to achieve those goals?
Most importantly, how can we make sure that we’re investing in the right social platforms, brand initiatives, and influencer strategies?
Designsensory Case Studies
Here are some opportunities Designsensory found to create engagement marketing campaigns for clients, making a lasting impression on their audiences.
Gatlinburg Convention and Visitor Bureau: Influencer Partnerships
Gatlinburg Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) understands the impact of social media on its brand, having recently surpassed 1,000,000 Facebook followers. With that level of engagement, we knew implementing a larger influencer campaign made sense.
The CVB was ready to become more involved based on positive survey results. Forty percent of survey respondents said they discovered a new travel destination through an influencer; more than 50 percent made travel plans based on influencer recommendations.
Thinking outside of traditional, one-off influencer activations, our Engagement Marketing team created a campaign framework for quarterly influencer visits. We featured authentic, like-minded content creators aligned with the brand’s target audience. This methodology allowed for quick bursts of content from 22 different creators, from micro to macro, each with a unique voice from a different background. “Passion Points” made their weekend getaways specific to them and their audiences, highlighting a variety of attractions and seasonal activities.
Our unique approach used marketing pros as managers, bridging the gap between brand and creator. The results were staggering, with more than 20 million total impressions (compared to a KPI of 10 million), more than 19 million total views and 929 pieces of original content from 18 niche influencers and four hero influencers. One influencer went viral, with almost 13 million views. An influencer “reunion” event at year end further solidified relationships and garnered additional content and reach.
Conservation Clarissa – Zoo Knoxville: An Experiential Activation
Designsensory has been AOR for Zoo Knoxville for many years, and has experimented with various marketing strategies in order to create buzz around membership deals, new habitats and animals, and more.
To drive membership purchases, we decided to use Zoo Knoxville’s new membership mascot, Conservation Clarissa, as the centerpiece for our mall activation—aimed at garnering engagement to sell memberships during the holiday season.
Since membership is branded as a “passport to adventure,” the activation design began with the idea of an immersive habitat setup where visitors can come in, explore the habitat and get a life-sized look at Clarissa with the animals in their natural habitats made of 2D cutouts, specially printed for the activation.
With Clarissa at the helm of the illustrated creative, we transported passersby to Asia or Africa, told them about the animals of those habitats that live at the zoo, talked about the mission of saving animals, and sold memberships to those who want to buy in.
We also planned a scavenger hunt for guests to find hidden animal stickers and (if they got them all) win a red panda stuffed animal. The activation drove countless membership and ticket sales alongside thousands of impressions.
Regal Mario Bros Activation: Social Engagement and Giveaways
We partnered with Universal Pictures before the release of their new film, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” to create more buzz around the movie and fill their theaters. We aimed to generate national engagement in the months leading up to the April premiere.
We executed our activation with the support of Universal Pictures on March 10, 2023— written “Mar10” (Mario). To celebrate the movie’s anticipation from coast to coast, we created our “Mario Day” event with three celebrations occurring simultaneously in New York, Los Angeles, and Houston.
With a focus on influencer marketing and Regal Cinemas customer participation, we developed a large amount of materials including signage, red carpets, Mario plushies, miniature golf courses, and more. By taking over three theaters across the country, we were able to offer moviegoers a carnival-like experience centered around Mario while publicizing the movie release, with influencers dressed up as Mario and posted widely to social media. We also gave away free popcorn and drinks.
The three-city footprint brought Mario Day and the movie’s upcoming release to many different markets across the country. Partnering directly with Universal Pictures and influencers allowed us to expand the scope of engagement and increase the awareness of and excitement for the movie. This partnership garnered 1.7M+ impressions and 740K+ engagements.
Creating Your Engagement Marketing Strategy
So, what steps can you take to make Engagement Marketing more central to your ad strategy?
First, as always, it’s essential to understand and know how to connect with your audience. The most important facet of an effective engagement marketing strategy is truly knowing who you’re advertising to. Gathering intelligence on your audience is crucial in crafting strategies and tactics that will engage them effectively. Their emotional drivers, media preferences, interests, and awareness / perception of your brand are all things to know inside and out before undertaking your engagement marketing planning.
Then, put your social channels to work. You should provide real value on your social channels. Content that resonates with your follower isn’t a sales pitch; it’s entertaining, helpful, informative and worth engaging with. Activations can be a huge source of UGC (user-generated content) for any brand. Influencers and social platforms provide the tools for both partner and brand success through collab posts, benefiting both parties through added reach—or TikTok, where partner content can be sponsored easily. Giveaways and contests, on the other hand, are a great way to rapidly boost your follower count and garner massive engagement in a shortened time frame.
Finally, build an influencer network that works for you—a web of like-minded content creators who are authentic to your destination experience. These creators have a built-in, hyper-targeted platform of followers who are already aware of your segment of the market. Each influencer is ready and willing to promote their travels and experiences in a variety of destinations and attractions to aid in your promotional efforts. This Network methodology allows for quick bursts of content from a variety of creators (unique voices from different backgrounds & verticals) and provides an opportunity for long-term, ongoing partnerships.
2024 Is Engagement Marketing Year, Don’t Miss Out
In 2024, getting involved in Engagement Marketing is going to be easier than ever. Whether you decide to try out any of these strategies for your brand, or come up with an entirely new, never been done before, tactic, Engagement Marketing will be worth your while!
Give your consumers something to interact with. Create an experience for your audiences. Humanize your brand and connect with your customers. Take advantage of the new year to grow your marketing strategies to the next level!
Want to chat about how to get started? Reach out to us with any comments, questions or ideas.
As we close the chapter on this year and look forward to 2024, we’re beginning to plan our new year’s resolutions. One thing that will continue to be a priority for us, and should be for you, is accessibility. We want to ensure that all viewers have the same access to information being shared via the web. In order to do so, we should all comply with ADA requirements and follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) created by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), considering factors such as visibility (color contrast), usability, and functionality for accessibility software. Let’s dive into our top recommendations to keep in mind for making your website more accessible and creating a digital world free of barriers.
Use Headings to Organize Content
One of the first things that users see on a website is the heading. It’s what gives the viewer a starting point from which to begin exploring the page. As such, it’s essential that each and every user can easily read and understand the heading.
Headings should always be used in order from top to bottom. Since each page should start with an H1 and only have one H1 on the page, following content areas should start with H2 (then H3, H4, etc). Just like creating an outline, you can always go back up a level (e.g. start a new section with H2 after using an H4 in the previous section), but you cannot skip levels (i.e. do not use an H4 after an H2).
Example:
In general, headings should be short and to the point, and describe the content that comes next. Headings should never be used for style only, but always follow the correct structure. Finally, remember, headings can not be left empty and should not be on images.
Make Images Accessible
And what measures can we take to make sure that images, where there otherwise would not be text, are accessible to all? Users with vision impairment may not be able to see the images clearly and often use screen readers or other tools to read the alt text, helping them understand the content on the page.
To help, all images should have descriptive alt text. Alt text is the portion that a screen reader will read aloud for those with visual impairments. This text can usually be added in the media gallery, and should repeat any words in the image and give a brief description of the image.
If the image is linked to another page, it MUST have alt text which describes the linked page, such as the page title. All links must have discernible text, which does not include text as part of an image.
Choose Your Link Text Thoughtfully
Because screen readers are so commonly used by those with vision impairment, link text is always necessary outside of an image, and should always be descriptive of where the link is going. See the following examples:
Here, the user will know that the first link will take them to information about the history of the organization, while the second link will take them to a separate fact sheet. Furthermore, link text should never be the same for two different pages. In the effective example above, if there were more than one fact sheet, the link text for each would have to be different. For example, the writer can vary the text between “statistics fact sheet” and “nutritional fact sheet”.
Having good, descriptive link text helps screen reader users know where the link goes. Usually, it’s possible for viewers to get a list of links on the page, which means that the surrounding context will not be available.
As a bonus, descriptive link text can boost both click through rates and SEO!
Select Colors with Sufficient Contrast
Low-contrast colors can create a major barrier for some users. Vision impairments such as poor vision or color blindness can prevent low-contrast text and images from being readable or even visible.
Color contrast must be at least 4.5:1 for small text or 3:1 for large text (you can check color contrast here). Large text has been defined in the requirements as 18pt (24 CSS pixels) or 14pt bold (19 CSS pixels). This rule also applies to interactive elements.
It’s best to simply not use additional colors in text content, beyond what is already existing based on your design (such as heading styles). If your design colors are already ADA compliant, then this will avoid any color contrast issues.
Put Inclusion at the Forefront of 2024
In this blog, we’ve summarized a few simple tweaks that you can make to your web content and design in order to ensure that your information is available to all. As we enter into the new year, we should all strive to be as inclusive as possible, with content that is accessible and entirely ADA compliant. The value of inclusivity is limitless!
These are all pieces of a larger knowledge base that we’ve developed throughout the years. If you’re interested in learning about any of the topics we’ve discussed in this blog, especially any more specific information about the tech side of it all, please reach out to us! We’re always available for consultation.
Written by Lily Hardwig, Copywriter Researched by Cole Pawlaczyk, Intelligence Strategist
Within the past few decades, the virtual buying and selling of goods and services has become one of the most engrained facets of everyday life. As a society, we’re always looking for ways to make our daily routines as efficient as possible. One of the ways brands have helped weave convenience into our lives is through eCommerce. Think about it. If someone asked you how often you use the internet to purchase what you need, how often would you say? Every day? Every week?
Mobile Commerce
Because of our newfound appetite for uninterrupted mobile shopping experiences, retailers are progressively recognizing the need to enhance the mobile shopping journey. What is it that makes a customer more or less likely to buy their goods online? There is much to learn from different platforms’ approaches to skillful product display, search engine optimization, transaction processing, and customer interaction.
When we think about successful eCommerce, likely the companies that pop into your head include Amazon, eBay, and others. And it’s true, platforms like eBay and Amazon provide comprehensive infrastructural services and boast a substantial base of regular users. What can we learn from them? Let’s break it down.
Simplification of the Checkout Process
First, it’s been proven that customers appreciate the simplification of the checkout process, preferring fewer clicks or one-touch checkouts. No one wants to put their credit card information into every eCommerce platform. Streamlining the checkout process is essential for lowering conversion hurdles and enhancing the ease of online payments for shoppers. By streamlining the last few steps of the online buying process, companies like Amazon and eBay significantly cut cart abandonment. For example, Amazon makes the information that consumers want, such as reviews, discounts, delivery times and payment options, immediately accessible. This assuages the frustration and confusion of customers by shortening the checkout process without losing any details necessary for a consumer to make an informed purchase.
Delivery Optimization
Delivery optimization, or the redefining of traditional delivery methods, enhances the shopping experience and customer satisfaction. Innovations like parcel delivery lockers, precise delivery schedules for the working demographic, urgent drone shipments for critical items like medications, and same-day delivery options represent the cutting edge of delivery service enhancements. Logistics veterans, alongside innovators like Amazon, Uber, and newcomers like Shyp, are driving these advancements. Customers have come to rely on quick, simple and dependable shipping and handling.
Loyalty and Memberships
Because checkout and delivery processes are becoming more efficient, the market has grown saturated with competitive pricing, selection, and quality. This can make it difficult to compete and retain your customer base. As a solution, large companies are increasingly focused on fostering customer loyalty to boost engagement, purchase frequency, and basket size. By providing membership programs and benefits, sellers cultivate a loyal community of buyers. Amazon Prime sets the standard for such schemes. Nonetheless, niche players, particularly in fashion, are catching up, with Vente-Privee’s lucrative model standing out by offering membership options that makes the shopping experience of dedicated customers more even convenient. The success of Zalando Zet and Walmart’s ShippingPass also highlights the value of loyalty programs in eCommerce by increasing traffic through membership deals and perks.
VoiceCommerce
eCommerce does not only encompass buying and selling through a process of clicks. eCommerce has come to even include orders through the use of intelligent assistants such as Siri or Alexa. While VoiceCommerce is not typically ideal for first-time product searches, it is extremely useful for repeat purchases. Presuming these smart agents can learn from past orders and eventually handle a set budget, this could pave the way for a novel approach in merchant-customer interactions.
Headless Commerce
Additionally, Headless eCommerce has developed as a technology trend that empowers online businesses to craft highly tailored and engaging shopping experiences across various digital touchpoints. By decoupling the front-end presentation layer from the back-end eCommerce infrastructure, brands are liberated to customize how they showcase their offerings, whether through mobile apps, voice-activated assistants, social media platforms, or beyond. Companies such as Magento, Shopify, and Salesforce leverage headless commerce to assemble dynamic, fluid, and visually appealing online shopping experiences.
Dropshipping
Though incredibly well organized and efficiently structured, business giants like Amazon and eBay are not the only entrants into the world of eCommerce. Thanks to alternative delivery methods like dropshipping, new entrepreneurs have recently been able to break into the virtual world of buying and selling. Dropshipping, which enables sellers to send products straight from the supplier to the customer without holding stock themselves, has opened the door for small-scale operations because of its low barrier to entry and reduced financial burden.
Customer Journey
When engaging with eCommerce, each and every user has a customer journey that we can evaluate to improve the online buying experience. A customer journey refers to the path of interactions a customer has with your brand, product and services. Across various surveys, we have learned that 73% of customers prefer to use their mobile devices to participate in eCommerce, and 51% said that the driving force behind their participation is purely convenience. The platforms on which consumers most prefer to shop include Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok. Other platforms recruit buyers as well, just at a slower rate.
Holiday Shopping with eCommerce
Both Black Friday and Cyber Monday are eCommerce holidays that take place just after Thanksgiving and before the winter gift giving season fully commences. The holiday season, the season of gift giving, brings consumers from far and wide looking to order the perfect gift for their loved ones. Because of the aforementioned eCommerce trends, retailers jump at the chance to provide timely online shopping experiences that take advantage of increased site traffic. Whether the retailer is a single startup or a massive corporation, it relies on Black Friday and Cyber Monday to get a successful sales season underway.
Key Takeaways
Whether you are a business owner, a small scale entrepreneur, a consumer or even just a user of technology, it’s becoming increasingly apparent that eCommerce is going to remain central to the exchange of goods and services in our society. Because of this, it’s important that we all understand how this new system of trade works. eCommerce technology is here to stay. Once fully embraced, it has the potential to ease many of the stressors and complications in our everyday processes of purchasing goods. For ways to research, design and optimize your checkout’s User Experience, our team is here to help.
The future of sports is changing fast with the rise of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) opportunities. Only two years old, NIL has become a game-changer for college athletes, opening up new ways to connect with fans, boost brands, and empower student-athletes. Designsensory, known for innovation, is diving headfirst into this movement. We’re partnering with Opendorse and NIL Solutions to reshape the sports marketing landscape.
Meet Our Teammates
Opendorse is a leading athlete marketplace platform and NIL technology company that helps athletes ink deals. The organization serves athletes and their supporters by helping them understand, develop, protect and monetize their brand value. With a reach of over 100,000 athletes, 2,000 sports organizations and 1,000 sports agents, Opendorse has helped an impressive roster of athletes along their brand-building journeys.
NIL Solutions operates from the collectives’ end of the deal, empowering them with resources and solutions to succeed long-term. Created by Aspyre Media and Designsensory, the industry-leading team has over thirty years of experience in digital advertising and twenty-plus years of experience with sport agency and college athletics funding. NIL Solutions combines marketing, revenue growth and operational services, collaborating with national partners. Highly skilled in e-commerce, fan membership, gift funding and brand sponsorships, the company positions clients to succeed.
The Game-Changing Team-Up
Opendorse connects athletes with deals and refers collectives to NIL Solutions. NIL Solutions then empowers these collectives with resources, optimizing revenue streams for collectives. The elite combination of NIL Solutions’ broad digital advertising expertise and Opendorse’s expansive reach promises to be a dynamic duo.
“This partnership combines the extensive industry experience and wide-ranging services of both companies to offer a premium suite of services to our clients,” said NIL Solutions partner, Brea Parke. “We look forward to working closely with Opendorse to provide our clients with the best possible support and solutions in the industry.”
“Designsensory’s mission has always been to challenge convention, disrupt categories, and deliver meaningful results. We are eager to ensure a powerful alliance that is anticipated to bring a myriad of benefits for our stakeholders,” said Joseph Nother, Designsensory Co-CEO.
Coaching The Brands
If you’re wondering where Designsensory comes into play, don’t worry, we have plenty of drills to coach both teams through the NIL field. Designsensory brings branding, advertising, and digital marketing expertise to the table. We’re helping athletes and brands navigate the evolving sports marketing landscape, positioning NIL Solutions as the premier collective consulting firm. Our competitive advantage is applying industry knowledge to develop creative strategies that amplify brands’ robust capabilities. Our sports marketing agency, Spyre Sports Group, has become one of the top five collectives in the U.S.
Athlete Wins
Even seasoned college athletes can be rookies in the business field. With more opportunities and options to navigate than ever before, student-athletes are thrown into the world of PR, branding, finance and marketing. Our partnership will train them to secure deals, set trends, and explore new revenue streams like personalized merchandise and content creation. We’re empowering student-athletes to manage their image and negotiate on their own terms.
Brand Wins
As NIL is a fairly new concept, NIL collectives need support. Whether your collective is fresh to the scene or established and eager to grow, our partners will help make it happen. We connect brands with athletes who align with their values, creating authentic partnerships that boost ROI and brand recognition. Supporting student-athletes and elevating branding opportunities – it’s a winning strategy.
Conclusion
The innovative NIL space requires marketers, brands and student-athletes to make adjustments in our game plan, take advice from coaches and establish trust with our teammates. We hope this strategic partnership inspires you to not sit on the sidelines when it comes to sports marketing. Embrace new opportunities, take risks, and change the playbook. With the right team, you may even earn a few championship titles along the way. Connect with us to learn more about sports marketing and how we can help your team win! In the meantime, read more about 2023 sports entertainment trends from our research wizards over at Designsensory Intelligence.
We’ve seen the rise of vertical video, but now, new text-based platforms are entering the social media conversation. From X to Threads (and yes, TikTok, even), your brand’s social media mix should be evolving.
X’s Trajectory and Elon’s Goals
X (as we all previously knew it, Twitter) has become the topic of conversation amongst businesses, marketers and users. For over two decades, Elon Musk has been pitching and shaping his idea for an all-inclusive, versatile app that essentially combines the signature features of Twitter, Substack, YouTube, PayPal, Amazon, TikTok, WeChat and Baidu all into one platform — often referred to as “the everything app.”
The recent rebranding of Twitter paired with Musk’s vision for X as a whole, has become a conversation for digital marketers everywhere. What is the potential user base and reach of an “everything app?” And, more importantly, what are the implications for your brand’s strategy? Civic Science data reveals intriguing insights into the audience most inclined to embrace X’s current rebranding and future features:
Gender Divide: 50% of daily male users expressed strong interest in the new X branding, compared to 26% of their female counterparts.
Banking Integration: X’s future inclusion of banking features makes it an attractive option for individuals interested in switching banks. An estimated 23% of U.S. adults are considering switching banks in the near future and 18% of X users are interested in using X’s banking services.
Elon Musk’s Influence: Elon Musk has a profound influence over embracing X’s rebranding, with 80% of users expressing keen interest in the rebranding due to Musk’s association.
While your present Twitter/X strategy might not need immediate adjustments, as X evolves into a larger, more intricate platform, strategic realignments to your current strategy may become imperative.
Text-Based App Disruptors: Big Names
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, recently introduced “Threads,” a text-based platform, very similar to Twitter/X, designed to streamline online conversations. This move signifies a shift towards fostering more thoughtful and focused interactions compared to the overwhelming nature of traditional social media feeds full of photos, videos, graphics and more. From what we’ve learned and experienced on Threads, though similar to X, it still has a lot of work to be done. Users are requesting additional features such as hashtags and direct messaging, while advertisers are looking for ads and sponsored posts. Though Threads quickly became the world’s fastest app to reach 100 million sign-ups, this massive growth in users quickly declined after the initial launch as active users dropped by 75%.
Similarly, TikTok soft-launched a similar concept of text-only posts in order to diversify its content and user experience beyond just short-form vertical videos. This style of content has primarily been used on TikTok Stories, rather than in-feed posts, however, this may continue to grow as we see more text-based content across all platforms.
Smaller Players and the Shift Towards Decentralization:
Beyond the giants like Meta and TikTok, smaller players in the tech industry such as Lens Protocol, Mastodon and Bluesky are paving the way for a shift towards decentralized text-based platforms. Decentralized platforms are like any other social media app but differ from traditional platforms in that they’re built using blockchain technology, a major driver of the next iteration of the internet, often called Web3. These platforms prioritize user privacy, data ownership and content control, addressing growing concerns about centralized social media platforms. The shift towards decentralization is indicative of a broader trend in the tech world, emphasizing user empowerment and autonomy.
Our Takeaways & How to Use X, Threads, etc. for Your Business:
As text-based platforms evolve, it’s essential for businesses to adapt and harness their potential. Utilizing platforms like X and Threads for marketing and customer engagement can yield significant benefits such as communicating directly with their audience, sharing updates and providing personalized experiences, which fosters a stronger community.
New platforms can be nerve-wracking and you may be wondering how to use the platform for your business. Here are some basic ways to get started on text-based platforms to build a community.
Engage Authentically: Use X, Threads, and other text-based platforms to engage in authentic conversations with your audience. These types of platforms are very community-based, so you want to build a close-knit relationship with your audience. Share personal stories, humor, trends, respond to customer inquiries and participate in relevant discussions among your followers.
Content Marketing: Create concise and impactful content that resonates with your target audience. Threads, focusing on thoughtful conversations, can be an excellent platform for sharing valuable insights and expertise.
Promotions and Campaigns: Launch promotional campaigns on these platforms to generate buzz and drive user engagement. Encourage user-generated content, ask questions, and leverage contests to foster a sense of community and conversation.
Customer Support: Offer prompt customer support through these platforms. Addressing customer concerns and inquiries in real time can enhance your brand’s reputation and customer satisfaction.
Develop a Platform-Specific Strategy: Though your audience on each platform will differ, oftentimes, your biggest fans will follow your business on each platform. Create a different strategy for each platform. Users who see the exact same content on each platform are less likely to engage.
The Future of Text-Based Platforms: A Glimpse Ahead
As we all know, social media platforms continue to surprise us in many ways and are ever-evolving. The future of text-based platforms is exciting and promising. As technology continues to change and improve, we can expect even more innovative features and functionalities. With new technologies like virtual reality or artificial intelligence, the way we communicate and engage online is completely changing.
Navigating Social Media
The dynamic world of social media provides a vivid picture depicting the evolving digital landscape of today’s society. Businesses are consistently finding new avenues to connect with audiences and foster growth. By tackling new developments and technologies, you can navigate the intricacies of social media and text-based platforms to bring in a brighter future for your brand. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us to start your strategy.
At Designsensory, research and intelligence are our foundational keystones. Any effective communication must originate from a place of solid understanding. Understanding the audience – who they are, how they think, the emotional reward for participating in commerce with your brand, the purchase or engagement triggers, and lifestyle segment imperatives – coupled with a deep appreciation for the competitive landscape and the noise that smokescreens your message, is what drives our strategic and tactical excellence.
With sports season quickly approaching, Designsensory Intelligence (DSI), our in-house research arm, wanted to uncover how marketers can tap into the sports fan audience.
The Findings
Our team of research experts found that there’s an enriched audience of sports fans with high-income and education levels. This demographic offers a ripe market for upscale products and services, presenting an opportunity for refined targeting and premium positioning. In today’s ever-evolving digital realm, embracing platforms such as streaming, short-form content and mobile ticketing is not just an option but a necessity. These platforms are becoming the primary channels for fan engagement, and to remain competitive, one must effectively harness their capabilities. Furthermore, the increasing availability of first-party data has opened doors for unparalleled personalization in marketing campaigns. By leveraging this data, you can craft messages and experiences that resonate deeply, providing fans with a sense of connection and exclusivity, bridging the gap between brand and fan. Athletes, in this new paradigm, are not merely players on the field, but potent influencers and content creators off of it. Engaging with them for partnerships can significantly amplify your brand’s reach and authenticity.
E-sports is another frontier that cannot be ignored. Its meteoric rise offers access to a younger, affluent, and tech-forward demographic, making it a promising avenue for both brand engagement and ROI. Its surging popularity connects brands to a younger, tech-forward demographic, guaranteeing strong engagement and potentially high ROI. Additionally, unique sporting events provide occasions to captivate not only die-hard fans but also the occasional enthusiasts, crafting brand touch points that linger.
Sporting events, meanwhile, provide unique moments to capture and engage even sporadic sports enthusiasts, creating brand experiences that leave a lasting impression. In an age where authenticity and values matter, it’s crucial to align your brand with meaningful societal causes. Taking a stand not only enhances brand loyalty but also positions you as a socially responsible entity in the industry. Ultimately, this is an era of immense opportunity for sports marketers. The key lies in understanding these shifts, adapting with agility and executing with precision.
100 miles northwest of London in the heart of the English Midlands lies the land of Robin Hood, lace and industrial protest: Nottingham. In the early years of the nineteenth century, textile workers in the city began to lash out at their employers, who had taken to using weaving machines manned by untrained, unskilled workers to make shoddy products that would bring in a quick buck—or pound sterling, as it were.
It wasn’t even the machines themselves that were the problem in their eyes. No, these skilled laborers who had apprenticed and trained and spent years of their lives learning their craft—which included making handy use of these machines—were being cut out and replaced. Manufacturers had become content to hire low-paid workers to make inferior products, rather than rely on the expertise of their craftsmen.
So, as disgruntled workers throughout history have been known to do, they started causing a ruckus, sneaking in at night and bashing up these machines to stick it to The Man. They took as their patron saint a fellow machine-bashing malcontent from Leicester named Ned Ludd (he’s that handsome lad in the photo up there.)
One of the most persistent reasons that workers, especially in creative fields, are wringing their hands over AI is the possibility that, given the opportunity, they’ll be replaced. If a Large Language Model (LLM) like ChatGPT can write blogs, why hire writers? If generative image AI platforms and built-in AI like Adobe’s Firefly can generate images with a few words of prompt or just a few clicks, why hire designers? Even a decade ago an Oxford study predicted that up to 47% of U.S. jobs could be at risk due to automation. Recent estimates from Goldman Sachs suggest that up to 300 million jobs worldwide could be affected:
Using data on occupational tasks in both the US and Europe, we find that roughly two-thirds of current jobs are exposed to some degree of AI automation, and that generative AI could substitute up to one-fourth of current work. Extrapolating our estimates globally suggests that generative AI could expose the equivalent of 300mn full-time jobs to automation.
The Potentially Large Effects of Artificial Intelligence on Economic Growth, Goldman Sachs, 2023
As a writer, researcher and strategist who works alongside a cadre of insanely talented designers, developers, and other creative geniuses, quite frankly that scares the hell out of me.
And when I get stressed and in my head, I like to listen to podcasts to shift my brain to something else that’s both edifying and distracting. Imagine my utter horror to turn on my favorite podcast, Stuff You Should Know, and hear this little chestnut:
So one of the astounding things about this that it really caught everybody off guard is that these large language models, the jobs they’re coming after are white-collar knowledge jobs. Yeah. They’re so good at things like writing. They’re good at researching. They’re good at analyzing photos now. And that’s a huge sea change from what it’s been like traditionally, right? Whenever we’ve automated things, it’s usually replaced manual labor. Now it’s the manual labor that’s safe in this generation of automation. It’s the white-collar knowledge jobs that are at risk. And not just white-collar jobs, but artists who have nothing to do with white-collar or jobs, they’re at risk as well.
Large Language Models and You, Stuff you Should Know, June 20, 2023
Et tu, podcasts?
It’s easy to spiral in a cultural conversation wherein much of the conversation seems to center upon the inevitability that everyone who works at a computer will soon be rendered useless. Rather than speed headlong into catastrophizing, though, we’d do well to remember Amara’s Law, named for the late futurist Roy Amara:
We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run.
Roy Amara
That makes it doubly important, then, to understand what AI is good at, what the limitations of this technology are and how you can future-proof (as well as anyone can) your career.
The Helping Hand(?) of AI
To understand what AI is good at, it helps to have a baseline understanding of how it produces content. Take the name ChatGPT. The “GPT” stands for Generative Pre-Trained Transformer. ChatGPT and other LLMs scrape existing content to essentially predict a sequence of words that make sense together. For example, if I type the word “thank,” an AI can predict that the next word I’m likely to type is “you,” because among the hundreds of billions of data inputs it has to work with, that’s usually what comes next.
If I’m setting up a meeting with a member of my team and I type “Does that…” the AI can take a guess and finish out the phrase based on something that gets input a million times a day. So it knows that there’s a good statistical probability that what I’m about to say is “Does that time work for you?” That makes LLMs incredibly useful for spitting out a routine email at lightning speed, something I’m sure you’ve already made use of with Google’s Smart Compose feature.
Another area in which generative AI can be a huge benefit to creatives is ideation. Whereas I can put 10 ideas on a page in—depending on my caffeine intake—between 10 and 30 minutes, an AI can generate 10 ideas in three seconds. And one of them might be the spark that I need to do some deeper thinking, make some long-buried connections, and start considering something in a new way.
So, these platforms are remarkably helpful for doing low-level thinking for us. But when we rely too heavily on generative AI and LLMs to do too much of the heavy lifting, we get into some real trouble.
The Hilarious Ineptitude of AI
For all of our well-founded concerns about what AI could mean for the future of these knowledge jobs, there are some serious limitations to what it can do. And “limitations” is a generous term. We’ve already talked about how generative AI platforms are trained on extant data, and then assemble that data as a response to a prompt, in a way that is statistically likely. The biggest thing that means is that LLMs are incapable of novel thought. Well, they’re incapable of thought, really. They can only output what they can predict based on existing inputs. So you can forget about the works of Cormac McCarthy (RIP) or Jean-Michel Basquiat, or the off-the-wall menus assembled by the world’s most innovative chefs.
ChatGPT was recently asked to describe the meeting between James Joyce and V.I. Lenin. It responded dutifully:
James Joyce and Vladimir Lenin met in Zurich, Switzerland in 1916. Both men were living in exile in Zurich during World War I. Joyce was a writer and Lenin was a revolutionary. They met at the Cafe Odéon, a popular gathering place for artists and intellectuals in Zurich.
ChatGPT
Imagine being there when two of the most influential men of the 20th century met each other. Well, you’ll have to imagine it. Because 1916 was more than 100 years ago, and also that never happened. ChatGPT totally made it up.
This is a persistent problem that plagues AI, known as Hallucination. Hallucinations occur when a bot not only gets something wrong, but fabricates it completely.
This New York Times article doesn’t exist.
Pinning too much of the legwork of researching, developing and writing content on LLMs is an unreliable way to perform work that often leads to outputs that are poor quality at best, and factually inaccurate at worst. When professionals outsource large parts of their work to AI, it can have disastrous results. New York Lawyer Peter LoDuca found that out the hard way in his client’s personal injury case against Avianca airlines, when Avianca’s lawyers noted that they couldn’t find any information on eight cases that LoDuca had cited in his brief. LoDuca had enlisted ChatGPT to do the legwork for his legal brief, resulting in the platform fabricating eight legal decisions—and detailed background on those decisions—from whole cloth.
ChatGPT isn’t a search engine. It only knows what it’s been told. It then does its level best to reconstitute all that information into a series of words that make logical sense. If you can do better than that, you already have a leg up on generative AI. But, remember Amara’s Law? While we’re probably making too much of AI right now, there will come a day when we realize we’ve underestimated the impact of AI on our jobs.
Three Ways to Protect Your Job Against AI
So what can we do? Here are some concrete things you can start doing that will make you irreplaceable.
Never Stop Learning AI can only automate tasks that require repetitive, predictable outputs. Stay curious, continually upskill, and focus on developing new approaches to complex, strategic problems. We talked about how susceptible AI bots are to hallucinations, so become the real-world expert in your job. Become a holder of the real, accurate knowledge that AI is trying to emulate.
Learn Everything You Can About AI The more you understand about what AI can and can’t do, the more you can use it to your advantage. By understanding the menial tasks that AI can help you with, you can be more productive and less bogged down in low-level tasks. You’ll also be able to understand what parts of your work are susceptible to automation, and develop skills that AI can’t replicate that will make you indispensable.
Work on Soft Skills As much as AI is sure to advance, one thing that it will never be able to do is empathize. It will never be able to collaborate, be compassionate, lighten the mood or pick up the load for a team member that’s having a tough time. Engage your team, build relationships and become inimitably human.
Thanks for joining us as we continue to explore the ins and outs of AI and what it means for our advertising and marketing world. Next time we’ll dive into who owns, and gets credit for, content produced by AI.
*The content above was 100% written by a human being.
Today is National Bring Your Dog to Work Day! Designsensory has a dog-friendly office, so we often see cute pups spending the day, but today we wanted to celebrate all pets, even the ones that only work from home.
Meet the Pets of Designsensory
When Steely Dan visits with his favorite human, Sarah Monroe, he will paws-itively cheer up anyone having a ruff day!
Courtney Borgers’ pets Luna (cat) and Hildy (dog) prefer to work from home.
Sailor makes sure to supervise her human, Kate Ambos.
Pippa, also part of Kate Ambos’ family, says the floor is lava and must be touching a rug at all times!
Posey, posing so nicely for Caroline Cleveland!
Banjo, a sweet little guy who is curious and always playing, loves to sit beside Courtney Francis and be nosy when she works from home.
Ruby, Mary Blair’s new puppy, is a Cavapoo who loves watching puppy tv!
Mary Blair’s cat Oliver does NOT always appreciate Ruby’s endless puppy energy.
Barry Hilton poses with his sweet dog Ivy!
Ivy and Marci Claude’s pup Nova enjoy hanging out together.
Dash, a yorkie poo, is pretty sure that Tuyen Ho should be paying attention to him instead of her laptop!
Tuyen Ho’s bunny Day-Z knows who the prettiest one of all is (it’s Day-Z).
Huck Finn doesn’t come in to the office, but Kelley Gray hates leaving him when she comes in!
Penny Mae knows the best place to be is at home with Kelley, wrapped in a cozy blanket.
Jenna Anderson’s golden retriever, Queso, loves pizza and work from home days!
Ryan Lee’s dog, Winston, doesn’t care – unless it’s a toy, a treat, or a w-a-l-k.
Maggie (dog) and Tito (cat) love to relax while Allie Torres-Lopez works nearby.
Jack is always excited for a WFH lunch break outing with Lindsay Jones!
Kandyn Leach has three beautiful kitties! This petite gray sweetie is Betty.
Kandyn’s other two kitties – James is the black cat, and Junie is the gray tabby that looks like she hates you.
