In this new era, content media has evolved from a network of “friends” into a living database of your own personal identity, tailored to the fluid way you see the world and the communities you see yourself in. The content machines now understand what you’re obsessed with and, even more impressively, what you will likely become obsessed with. Cultural zeitgeist as we know it faces an existential threat—shared monoculture is splintering into a bazillion algorithmically curated subcultures. Identity is no longer confined to where people live or what your IRL circle is talking about at the lunch table. You can now obsess over anything you want, wherever, whenever, however you want.
No clearer is this example illustrated than with the launch of Threads, Meta’s unbridled effort to take down Twitter at its weakest moment. Threads has made a remarkable entrance into the social media landscape, luring in reluctant users from Twitter and Instagram and amassing a staggering 100 million users within its first week. We didn’t know we needed another social platform, even one built as progressively as Threads, and yet we can’t help ourselves when another opportunity is provided to swipe deeper into our interests.
Threads hopes to succeed where Twitter ultimately struggled, orienting its community building around our desire to see more from creators we already follow. Only time will tell if Zuck will finally deliver Twitter’s death knell, but early signs are looking strong, and Musk is not happy—we just may get that cage match after all.
Get obsessive
What it takes to win in this new era is a shared obsession. Ask yourself: What is it that our customers are *really* obsessed with, and how can we share those obsessions in ways that will make our customers feel seen?
The opportunity for marketers is clear: Speak, create and nurture these new subcultural realities, and you’ll find audiences that want to grow and co-create with you. To communicate effectively in this new era, brands must speak truth to more specific audiences in a language they understand, sharing artifacts and beliefs that create a unified respect of the culture we share.
In our work, it looks like Nike empowering everyday athletes. For McDonald’s, it’s loving your order. For Visa, it’s ensuring that anyone can make it. For Samsung, it’s technology improving quality of life.
Gone are the days of brands simply tossing out influencer content and seeing significant engagement. You can always pay for views, but it’s much harder to convert those into likes, shares, comments, follows and fandom. There’s too much content that people are actually interested in for them to care about ads. They need to see something that moves them.
Machine learning media platforms are, ironically, forcing brands to think deeper about human connections and genuine community artifacts over automated platform best practices. Brands who know their audience and share their obsessions can show up and be welcomed in spaces where marketing is usually swiped away on sight. Creating authentic storytelling from those places is an earned opportunity they can capitalize on every day.
