The afternoon audience for The Future of Television conference was treated to Facebook’s Helen Black and TikTok’s Dan Connor discussing the value of social video to advertisers.
You’d have to be living under a rock not to understand the value of social media; as Connor summed it up, “Social content is the new water cooler conversation.”
However, advertisers are still trying to get their heads around how to utilise the ever-changing platforms.
Black’s explained to the audience that social media has just as much value as television to advertisers, Black said: “Just like television, millions of Australians are coming to our platform every day. The value is that we are different and complementary to other television platforms.”
However, Black was also quick to point out that Facebook and Television do have different audiences, “We reach 83 per cent of non-traditional viewers.”
Therein lies the value, Connor explained: “The value comes from meeting the needs of consumers. The entertainment landscape has changed. Platforms use to interact with people in one way. Now, consumers want to play more, interact and participate more.”
Both discussed that for advertisers to succeed on the platforms, they also need to speak to the users of the platforms.
For instance, both spoke about how advertisers shouldn’t be trying to sell different stories on different platforms. They both expressed that campaigns could be consistent while also bringing something unique to each platform.
Connor explained, “There aren’t many advertisers that are doing this brilliantly. KitKat has a “give your planet a break” campaign. Where they used and understood the behaviour of each platform, but, they didn’t tell a different story on each platform; instead, they used the diversity of video.”
Black also explained, “The simple part is, people like watching content from creators more than they like to watch ads.
“People aren’t ever going to say I want to watch more ads before I go to bed. Brands should be thinking like creators and partnering with creators.”
As Connor explained the future of advertising now is all about, “Right time; right message, right voice.”
