In the ever-evolving landscape of digital marketing, ephemeral content has clearly emerged as a powerful tool for engaging audiences and driving urgency for brands. It’s wildly popular, Instagram Stories, Snapchat, Facebook Stories, the big social media brands are popularizing this trend, which allows for instant shares that disappear after a set period of time. Diving a bit deeper, there are positives and negatives to incorporating ephemeral content into a marketing strategy.
On the plus side:
Ephemeral content provides brands with the opportunity to showcase an authentic and spontaneous side. Sneak-peaks, behind-the-scenes, and real-time moments allow for a more personalized connection. This can also be viewed as a place for storytelling, as a brand can create short, captivating bursts of narratives. From customer stories to product launches, a quick story can easily resonate with target audiences.
Because it’s temporary content, it does create a sense of urgency which leads to engagement with the content before it disappears. This is where polls, quizzes, and other types of interactives that have participation components can drive higher engagement rates.
Due to its high-turn content levels, tracking analytics is even more helpful as it relates to audience behavior and preferences. Businesses can quickly track views, taps, and replies and refine strategy in real-time.
Also, good old fashioned FOMO. If it’s going to disappear, people want to act quickly, to buy, react, share, etc.
On the negative side:
Brands will spend a lot of time and budget creating content smart, engaging content only to delete/lose it in 24 hours. It becomes difficult to repurpose content or leverage long-term marketing efforts, especially with stricter budgets. It simply requires more time, energy, and creativity (from planning, filming, writing, editing, posting), asking the question, is this the best bang for my buck?
There is such a thing as too much of a good thing. The fast turnaround fills the social world with content overload, making it difficult for brands and/or individuals to stand out amidst the noise. Content will get lost in the shuffle.
While the short-term analytic benefits are clear, it’s impossible to measure long-term impact. Once the content is gone, it is no longer trackable to determine conversion metrics.