It’s no secret: the world is moving faster each day.
Just ask your grandparents, parents, or maybe even your older siblings. Or maybe you’re feeling it yourself.
Though the amount of time spent online continues to grow (it recently was reported by eMarketer.com that consumers are spending more time on their mobile devices than interacting with print media), the average time spent consuming each individual piece of content continues to fall.
A similar trend is taking place in the world of books as well. Young adults are reading 21% more than they did a decade ago, but lengthy novels and in-depth analyses have fallen to the wayside. Today, short e-books and digital downloads lead the way, with an estimated 1.2 million expected to be published in 2012 alone.
We are becoming a snapshot society, our attention compromised at every opportunity by the latest status update, email alert, push notification or direct message.
Studies have shown that “the more words you add to a page, the more people skim it.” (Catone, 2008) Chances are good that if you’re a slow reader you won’t even make it to the end of this article (it’s alright, we forgive you).
But what does this mean for your brand?
Think in Snapshots, Tell a Complete Story
Just because your customers may only catch a glimpse of the content you distribute on any given day/week/month doesn’t mean they aren’t paying attention. And it certainly doesn’t mean they aren’t connect the dots.
You have a consistent opportunity to share your story with more people today than ever before. Think about ways to share various angles, viewpoints, and departments of your organization with your fans and followers.
Brand Be Quick
Social platforms are enabling users to create, upload and share their findings faster than ever before. Take a look at some of the most popular social web platforms of the past 12 years:
This – coupled with the fact that consumers are rarely spending more than 25 seconds on any piece of content – means brands need to get smarter, more strategic, and more efficient with the amount of time it takes to produce the content they distribute.
The catch is that the quality must remain high enough to create a “wow” factor, the single most important factor when consumers decide to share or pass.
What’s your take? What is your brand doing to accommodate (or combat) this fast-paced landscape?
