Social media is an ever-changing online tool. When it first came out, it was a very basic form of socialising; but as the years went by, brands and companies started utilising it in different ways. Today, social media is known as a very effective tool in marketing. Even as a marketing tool, though, social media keeps changing through the years and adobo’s Festival of Ideas reminded us just how important it is to learn how to use social media properly in order to stay relevant even as times change.
The theme of the last adobo Festival of Ideas was “Create. Innovate. Or Die.” and all of the speakers reminded us how important it is to be creative and innovative in today’s day and age in order to not just thrive, but also to survive. While it has become second nature for people to adapt to the changes happening in the World Wide Web, the same sadly cannot be said of the brands and companies that live in it. After all, it can be hard to constantly come up with new material, let alone adapt to how social media is changing at the same time.
Melvin Mangada, Managing Partner and Chief Creative Officer of TBWA\Santiago Mangada Puno, reminded us that brands and companies need to constantly welcome changes, revisions and iterations. I have to admit that I was very hesitant to embrace change once upon a time. I always only stuck to what I knew, den so far as believing that ‘changes’ were unnecessary in the digital atmosphere. Boy, was I ever wrong!
Just take this into consideration: back in 2008, a concert with friends involved experiencing music as it was designed to be experienced. By 2014, people started to bring out their phones at concerts and most of what we see in concerts today involves other people’s phones in the air. On that note, 2015 brought out the generation of selfie photos, while 2016 brought out the generation of selfie videos.
In fact, technology is so important nowadays that the worst thing that could happen to a person is to forget their phone at home. Think about it: if you forget your wallet at home, you can still call someone to help you out or book a car home and pay for it with your credit card.
Having said that, Mr. Wan Choi, Senior Vice President and Chief Creative Officer of Cheil Worldwide, also pointed out that today’s world of marketing needs to be humanised. He said that ads can’t just be churned out anymore, but must have a purpose – a way for consumers to connect with them on a personal level. On that note, a brand is no longer what the brand says it is, but rather what the customers say it is. So, if we do not stay relevant to our customers, someone else might.
Things are moving so quickly that brands constantly need to change and move quickly in order to keep up. This was a very important reminder from adobo’s Festival of Ideas – one that I constantly need to remind myself as I set upon a renewed journey in work and in my personal life online.
