“Nervous” brands who try to micromanage their social media presence can come off as “speaking a foreign language” to their audience, according to Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) radio personality Jules Lund.
While social has been around for what feels like an age, Lund said Facebook's changing algorithm has thrown brands into a tizz. He's just completed a media agency roadshow to explain what he believes SCA and other social media influencers can offer: an audience that brands can tap into. But Lund told AdNews one of the things many brands are struggling with is giving their brand identity to an outside party.
“If you look at it like a language, traditional media can at times be formal but social is slang, it's street talk, so there are a lot of brands that are nervous about that,” Lund said.
“They still like to micromanage every part of their brand and every message they send out.”
While that can be dangerous in any medium, Lund said the problem is it doesn't work in social more than anything. Especially when using influencers to send out that message.
“One of my big messages to agencies when dealing with brands is you can't enter it and be overprotective,” Lund said.
“No one knows that tribe better than that influencer. You can go in there and force them to say something different, you can force them to be formal, but you're entering that conversation and asking them to speak a foreign language. They'll say it and you'll just hear crickets.”
Lund said rather than being a bad thing, he actually sees the new Facebook algorithm as a good thing as its become a “filter for bullshit” meaning better content will rise to the fore- as long as brands know how to use it to their advantage. He said this means that brands can no longer rely on viral content from around the world to make some noise.
“If people are going to have to either pay for it or put in better content, people are just going to have a better user experience,” Lund said.
“It's not a market where someone comes up to us and says 'I want that video to go viral'. We're not having those immature conversations any more. They say 'we want reach and then we try to help deliver it.'”
SCA has invested heavily into its digital and social. Executive director of metropolitan operations Guy Dobson recently told AdNews that its social offering is so important to the company that “we actually compare ourselves to publishing companies like Yahoo.”
The station has also had a talent reshuffle which sees Lund's breakfast show with Merrick Watts and Sophie Monk replaced with current drive presenters Dan and Maz. Lund will be filling the Drive slot for the first half of 2015 until it is filled more permanently by Hamish and Andy.
For more news:
Radio reckoning: ARN vows no let up in spend or pressure, SCA touts digital, Nova smooth as ever
Hamish and Andy pull into 2DayFM drive
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