Branded Content: How Does Your Audience Act On It?

Branded content and content in general are being consumed by people at all hours of the day, however it may not always be the best time to post certain types of content. How well do you know your audience and their engagement levels at different times of the day?

According to a Forrestor.com study –

“53 percent of Internet users are ‘always’ online for non-work purposes after 8 p.m. and 18 percent of Internet users are ‘always’ online before 9 a.m. for non-work purposes.” And, 32 percent of American consumers online trust strangers’ opinions on forums and websites over branded advertisements.

The popularity of smartphones and mobile devices like tablets have made it possible for consumers to be almost always switched on and consuming content. The rise of social media is also playing a significant role in forming opinions and in nurturing customers in the buying process through branded content.

The study also revealed that the most effective way to get consumers to act on a call to action is through entering a sweepstakes or register for promotions on a company website. sending consumers e-newsletters and promotional newsletter as well as asking for likes on Facebook are other effective ways of getting consumers to act. However the caveat is that the content needs to be easily digestible given that for most consumers their attention span lasts for about 3 minutes, so content does need to be quite long it will need to include some form of visual stimulation like photos or videos.

Branded content also needs to cater for devices like smartphones and tablets especially given statistics like – 64% of users tend to go online while at a coffee shop or restaurant and 63% go online while in a store shopping.

According to blogger Amanda Nelson and a study by Buddy Media data, Facebook posts that consist of 80 characters or less receive 27 percent more engagement. On Twitter, shorter hashtags are more popular than the long ones.

So knowing the characteristics of each social network and that of your audience will only help get your branded content out at the right time for it to reach the most number of people.

Source