For any business to thrive, it is important for it to change the way it connects with its customers. The way to do that is by incorporating the latest trends and topics in its digital marketing strategy.
These are some of the main reasons of why it is important to integrate pop culture into your digital marketing strategy.
- Helps the business stay current.
- Humanizes the brand.
- Builds relationships with customers.
- Your website will gain more traffic
- Fills your content calendar.
Let us consider the above reasons in more detail and how they can tremendously help your marketing strategy.
Helps the Business Stay Current:
Staying relevant has never been more imperative, especially for a business that wants their name to flourish. If brands are constantly praising themselves or are frequently promoting what makes them different from other brands, they may give their target audience the impression that their way of communicating is very one-dimensional. As a result, the audience may not feel excited to know more about the brand.
Including pop culture and trending topics on a brand’s social media and web page would help immensely with making the brand sound more interesting, vibrant, and up to date with what everyone is talking about. Now with social media, businesses can have plenty of opportunities to participate in the latest conversations with their audiences and be able to share their views on relevant topics such as music, sports, celebrity news, movies etc.
Humanizes the Brands:
Businesses these days should stay away from tactics that make them look like they are a hardcore corporation that is busy counting how much it’s making. Allow your business to develop a closer relationship to your customer to show them some of your business’s personality. For example, magazines, such as Cosmopolitan, sends posts on its Instagram page with captions about having a self-care Sunday or how they are also frustrated about being quarantined and want to go on vacation. This makes them more relatable for the audience.
Builds Relationships with Customers:
Connecting with your customers is crucial for any business that hopes to do well. By incorporating pop culture and trending topics, this can easily be achieved. Brands must showcase what their customers are most interested in, which can also be done through social media. In the same way that two people find things that they are both interested in, businesses should use common interests to connect with their target audience.
For example:
Starbucks reposted a sweet Instagram post of a couple who announced they were expecting. The Instagram post had pictures of the couple with carved pumpkins over their heads sharing Starbucks coffee in one picture, and in another, they held a baby pumpkin in their hands. The caption of the post read “Trick or treat, this family has a new pumpkin to meet”. In this way, Starbucks was able to share in the joy of some of their customers in a relatable way! (link to post may be needed)
Your Website Will Gain More Traffic
As times change, so does our way of accessing information. Technology and social media have made it a lot quicker and easier for people to find out more about their favorite brands and what their views are of trending topics. To achieve this, it is important for a business to take advantage of the latest trending topic of conversation and use that to advertise their brand or service.
For example:
After the attack on the Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021, everyone was talking about the horror of that incident, Starbucks quickly capitalized on this news by posting this on its Instagram page:
“We condemn the recent violence, hate and attack on our democracy. Progress begins when we stand up and speak out. We must hold each other accountable to build a more hopeful and just future, together.”
The saying struck while the iron was still hot can be applied here.
Some other great examples are when businesses advertise during big sports events like the Super Bowl, which is the peak time for all online brands and services.
- Slack saw a 13.25% more RPS, (Requests Per Second, which represents how many times someone’s request to a site is delivered during one second), then the week prior. (Citation needed)
- Audi’s “Let It Go” ad saw a 19.46% increase on average RPS over the three-day post game in its site traffic compared to last week. Ad revenues went up to $5.6 million for a 30 second spot during the game. (Citation needed)
These examples all show how beneficial it is for any business to use pop culture trends.
It Fills Your Content Calendar
Another reason why it is important to integrate pop culture is because it adds variety into your content calendar. (You may want to explain what a content calendar is) Brands could reach a wider audience and become more appealing to their existing customers by including pop culture events.. Following, tweeting, and posting about trending moments, such as award shows, fashion shows, and sporting events would not only help brands with their advertising sales, but would also help to get more exposure for the business.
What better way for Coca Cola to promote its icy fizzy drinks then at the Olympics on a hot day when everyone at home is gathered around their television. You may also remember when Moon Pie posted a tweet about Hostess snacks during the 2017 Solar Eclipse which said, “Hostess has declared Golden Cupcakes the official snack cake of the eclipse. #SolarEclipse2017.
How Do I Know What Are Some of Pop Culture Moments and Trends Everyone Is Following?
There are various ways to find out what trend everyone is into and what hot topic everyone is talking about.
Social media is one of the most useful ways of finding out about these trends and is the most accessible way to engage in the conversation. Many brands have joined multiple social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat etc. that have helped their business thrive and be more up to date with the hottest topics and trends.
Using hashtags, memes, GIFS, filters, captions, and pictures on social media accounts would help businesses understand what their younger audiences are into and what kind of television shows, music and other material they are interested in finding out.
Sponsoring products and services of a brand could also help a great deal in expanding marketing. Today’s customers enjoy attending events and prefer to staying the loop about what is happening, hence covering mega events. Including dialogues, lyrics or a small scene in the brand’s social medial posts would make it more likely for a customer to go back to the website. Also, it keeps the business informed.
Can Using Pop Culture Help in Rebuilding a Brand?
Yes, it certainly can. Today a customer will find a brand more appealing if it is up to date on the current trends, style etc. Businesses will be able to garner more attention on their brands when they go beyond just talking about their own new products. If they incorporate the latest topics and trends that are being followed it will not only bring awareness to the brand and reshape their opinions of your company, but it could also bring light towards other issues around the world.
For example.
In 2014, when the world was introduced to the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, everyone started talking about it a participating in it including brands, such as Samsung, which quickly used the opportunity to promote its new model phone at the same time.
28% of the most successful business have featured pop culture in their marketing strategy. Sports teams have replaced their regular themes with shows like Game of Thrones, Friends and The Office. A 3-4 sentence conclusion paragraph would be good here just to tie up the post and bring everything together.
Sources: Brianne Fleming, Search Engine Land, Business Wire, Market Scale