The white bear invites you to… advertise on social media
Can the recent viral about the costumed bear on Krupówki, Zakopane's main drag, teach us anything about… social media? The clip of the bear demanding a fee for the use of its image echoed all across the internet, and countless real-time marketing posts flooded Monday's feeds, our client's included: Source: a post by the Vobis.pl brand on Facebook. The whole thing got us thinking, though: those photos with the bear look a bit like…
The clip of the costumed bear in Zakopane, Poland's best-known mountain resort, demanding a fee for the use of its image echoed all across the internet, and countless real-time marketing posts flooded Monday's social feeds, our client's included:
Source: a post by the Vobis.pl brand on Facebook
The whole thing got us thinking, though: those photos with the bear look a bit like… working in social media. Setting aside the intentions of the woman who filmed it, who in this case had no interest in a photo with the mascot at all, the point of pictures like that is usually to show off, among friends or on your own profile, an interesting piece of the folklore of Krupówki, the town's main drag. For a brand publishing on Facebook/Instagram/LinkedIn or anywhere else, the point is to show interesting pieces of its own backyard.
And how do the algorithms on those platforms behave here? Much the same way. Want to show off your content? Pay for an ad. Just as the bear charges for a photo, social platforms charge to effectively put your posts in front of an audience.
Don't pay and you won't show your friends the photo.
Don't pay and you won't show your audience what matters to you.
Sometimes, of course, you get away with it off the books. The bear in question won't notice you snapped a photo without paying, and every so often the algorithm lets through a post with very strong organic numbers. As a rule, though, the same principle governs both cases: pay to get a result.
Walking the streets of Zakopane, we'll be told that a photo with the bear is an absolutely unmissable souvenir from the capital of the Polish mountains. Posting something, we'll be told that even a modest promotion will get us in front of a wide audience.
The two situations differ in exactly one way, and unfortunately it's the one that counts against everyone working in social media: skip paying the bear and the trip will probably still be a great one, and our memories won't feel the loss. Skip paying that social media bear, though, and all the preparation goes to waste, leaving us with the bitterness of a goal we didn't hit.
AdvertisingSocial LamaTop 6 industries for influencer marketingInfluencer marketing today is a great deal more than a campaign on Instagram. In a well-run strategy it can beat paid social — provided the brand understands how context, trust and the power of a community actually work. In some industries, working with creators is already a fixed part of the marketing funnel. In others, it is still treated as a bolt-on “for reach.”READ POST
AdvertisingSocial LamaEmployee advocacy – how to talk about work your own way (and why it's worth it)Have you ever thought that your presence online could help your company reach more people? Employee advocacy comes up more and more often, but what does it actually mean, and why are more and more companies adopting it? In theory: imagine posting a photo from a team training session on LinkedIn, writing a few sentences about an inspiring project you've just finished, or simply sharing a company post with a short comment: “great to be part of this team!”READ POST
AdvertisingSocial LamaHow to write an effective marketing brief: a step-by-step guideA marketing brief is the key document that sets out the detailed information about a marketing campaign — its goals, its strategy and the client's expectations. Prepared properly, a brief lets an ad agency or a creative team get the work done efficiently and removes the risk that what the project is meant to do gets read the wrong way. A well-written advertising brief shapes the success of your campaign, keeping the message consistent and the work effective. If you want to raise brand awareness, drive sales growth or build strong brand communication, you need to make sure the document contains the key information, tailored to the project and to the specific industry.READ POST