Businesses looking to take advantage of the lucrative opportunities provided through social media marketing will need to step up their game in the coming years, as a new study found many consumers are looking for fresh content from their social networks.
“Branded content needs to be kept fresh and must be able to capture people’s attention instantly,” said Brian Blau, research director at Gartner, which published the study. “The new generation of consumers is restless and short on attention span, and a lot of creativity is needed to make a meaningful impact.”
Signaling a need for new innovations, a survey of more than 6,000 consumers found that nearly one-quarter are using their favorite social media sites less frequently now than when they first registered for membership. This is not to suggest that social media is bottoming out, but rather, new approaches will need to be taken to retain the attention of social media users.
Additionally, the study found that social media use is actually growing in younger age groups. This seems to suggest that a new group of social media users is emerging, presenting a new opportunity for businesses that can successfully appeal to younger demographics.
Interestingly, a recent study from Experian Hitwise found that early adopters of Google's new social network, Google+, tend to be middle-aged suburban parents, rather than college students. Going forward, businesses would do well to keep an eye on the seemingly contradictory developments of these social networks, as different platforms may call for drastically different marketing strategies.
