Brands Must Create Singular Experiences, Not Just Sharable Moments

The importance of sharing has in turn heavily influenced other marketing strategies Experiential events for example continue to grow as we seek more and more Instagrammable moments So much so that sharing content is the primary motivation behind everything from store design to museum launches and marketing activations The emphasis on or obsession with sharing content does not take the limitations of this strategy into account As commonplace as sharing content might be it still falls well short of representing our lived worldA real experience at its most impactful is a singular nonreplicable moment in time Singular does not mean it is a solitary or even private affair Coachella and Essence Music Festival are largescale festival events with a mass audience in attendance but the actual moments themselves are singular The feelings and emotions that create a particular moment can happen in a crowd of thousandsSharing content is a fiat experience It serves as a proxy for a real event that is either occurring or has already happened Either way it is meant to include those who could not be at the real thing It is an approximation of the real thing and suffers as a result Despite the adage quotIf you don39t have a pic it39s like it never happenedquot significant moments are happening all the time whether or not they are sharedBrands and influencers have made the de facto decision that the value in an event is directly related to whether it is shareable Fiat experiences are created enhanced and shared to imply that a singular moment is not enough Any moment can achieve elevation in status amp8212 as well as social media immortality amp8212 just by being shared Of course the individual or influencer doing the sharing also becomes part of this transcendent processStill the act of sharing and consuming a moment is only an approximation of the event itself Social media and by extension influencers thrive through approximation and brand activations are now created to maximize the ability to document and shareThe cult of approximation is the cusp of an increasingly slippery slope Maintaining a higher commitment to sharing than to reality opens the door for abuse by all parties A woman famously created a visual diary of her time at Coachella with only one caveat She did not attend the event The fact that she was able to stage a convincing copy of the festival is proof that the singular moment is indeed elusive The more shareable an event the easier it is to replicate it Influencer marketing which is already facing a crisis of fakeness stands to see the fetishization of sharing further encourage the fake narrativeMeasuring how much an event has been shared is a valuable metric to brands because sharing and engagement have become interchangeable But what does it mean to engage Are these two ideas the same Ultimately brands are seeking to measure an intangible piece of information Measuring how often something is shared and calling that act quotengagementquot is attempting to capture the essence of a deeper meaning If marketers can39t successfully measure what they really want amp8212 which is love attachment feeling deeper emotional resonance amp8212 they end up with a proxy Instead marketers will have to settle for measuring what they can which is how we devolve into the sharingengagement circular reasoning relationship amp160Singular moments are framed by emotional resonance and that is why they both defy conventional measurement and can39t truly be shared The lack of emotional resonance can lead to an uncanny valley amp8212 the familiar unsettling feeling that people get when interacting with something meant to mimic humans that isn39t entirely realistic Technological improvements attempt to shrink the uncanny valley to make it less discernableamp160Posts about an event created primarily to be shareable create an uncanny valley The best efforts of brands and influencers can39t change the tugging sense of quotnot quite rightquot when we interact with the posts The more we see these shared experiences the less connected we are to them because of the uncanny valley The staging lighting and the accompanying text and hashtags are close to what we know an event is supposed to be but it lacks emotional resonance because it lacks singularityBrands seeking emotional resonance should focus less on creating something shareable and instead create something singular You will reach fewer people broadly but you will touch those you do reach more deeplyThinking that only what is shareable is worth creating runs the risk of minimizing the most poignant exchanges we can have Brands might not traffic in the poignant but they do want to be relevant Perhaps poignancy and relevance are more related than we think and that is the uncanny valley for brands and influencers alikeClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Brands Must Create Singular Experiences, Not Just Sharable Moments

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Philip McKenzie

FEMA and the Ad Council Encourage AANHPI Communities to Enhance Disaster Preparedness in New PSAs - Ad Council InSites

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Brands Must Create Singular Experiences, Not Just Sharable Moments

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Philip McKenzie

FEMA and the Ad Council Encourage AANHPI Communities to Enhance Disaster Preparedness in New PSAs - Ad Council InSites

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