How to Increase Consumer Engagement Through Compelling Content
With new social media platforms and marketing strategies that are constantly changing, it’s a whirlwind just to wrap your head around the latest in global marketing, let alone the methods to increase consumer engagement for your business. Luckily, the trends of 2022 revolve around one clear theme: consumers want to interact with an authentic, humanized brand. But with our increasingly digital world, how are successful brands striking the balance between personalization and efficiency through their global marketing efforts? Read on to learn how to align with current marketing trends, and see examples of it done right.
While you can all but guarantee that your company is the best in the business, the modern consumer looks to your values to make purchasing decisions and determine loyalty to your brand. According to Deloitte, 57% of global consumers cited a brand’s stand on social inequities as a factor for brand loyalty. This issue is even more pressing with Gen Z consumers, 90% of whom would be more likely to buy from brands that benefit society, and 94% of whom expect brands to speak on social issues.
Inclusivity also includes language that is representative of all individuals. As language around gender identities continue to change, brands must adopt inclusive language, in all target languages. To meet this expectation, brands must consider pronoun markers in specific languages and be willing to invest time and effort into thoughtful and culturally-sensitive copywriting.
In short, consumers want to see themselves and their values reflected in the brands they support. When marketing globally, it’s essential to portray representative diversity relative to the local markets. Rather than tokenizing minority groups, brands should showcase the stories of many groups in a way that feels authentic to the experiences of their target audience.
As a case in point, the Korean skincare company, Medicube, wanted to target a U.S. audience between the ages of 25 to 45. A portion of this audience are male, who can often be overlooked by the status quo set by many gendered industries. Think about the gendered marketing of deodorants, for example, where packaging colors and names of scents differ between “male” and “female” deodorants, even though the ingredients are essentially the same.
For the cosmetics industry in particular, a survey of male-identifying individuals in 2019 revealed that 33% of men ages 18-29, and 30% of men ages 30-44 would consider using makeup. As gender norms change and progress, it’s necessary for industries, particularly a traditionally gendered one like the cosmetics industry, to represent that change. Featuring authentic routines and stories of men makes for relatable content that reflects viewers’ realities.
An authentic routine of a flight attendant’s after-work routine for Medicube - BorderX.
All in all, a clear brand purpose with inclusivity as an authentic overarching component is likely to increase consumer engagement. But if your brand truly values human diversity, this trend is a no-brainer.
According to HubSpot’s 2022 State of Inbound Marketing Trends, “videos are the top content marketing media format for the third year in a row.” 76% of surveyed marketers in this report pointed to video as the most effective media method to meet their goals. Among social media content, the most effective were Instagram Reels and TikTok videos, demonstrating the trend toward short-form videos.
A whopping 90% of viewers point to video as an important factor in product-related decisions. Video is a great way to approach situations or subject matter that are difficult to understand, making it a powerful tool to teach and inform these decisions. Not only that, but a 200-300% increase in click-through rates were reported when video was included in email, and an 80% conversion rate increase was noted when video was included in landing pages. Those are some significant numbers to back video marketing.
As an example of video as a teaching tool, CTK CLIP is a B2B OEM beauty brand creation platform with access to a wide variety of ingredients, formulas, and packaging. Because of this unique concept, video was an effective tool to showcase their purpose, benefits, and processes. The video breaks the beauty product creation process down in a clear and concise way, with enticing visual representations and concise copy to boot.
An informative video laying out CTK CLIP’s clear value propositions and processes - BorderX.
When considering global marketing, localizing video content is a smart move. While creating videos for each target audience is expensive and time-consuming, finessed subtitles are an alternative that will help communicate the message to audiences in various countries and ultimately forge a deeper connection to your brand.
Finally, make sure that search engines can help connect your video to the targeted audience through translated titles, subtitles, and classifying your video appropriately. Your beautifully-crafted video will hardly make a
difference if it’s not viewed by your intended viewers.
The top emerging marketing trend of 2022 is influencer marketing. Neuroscience research demonstrates why this type of marketing is trending upwards: ads by influencers were measured to be 277% more “emotionally intense” and 87% more memorable when compared with TV ads. Because of the authenticity and personalized value that word-of-mouth marketing can add to your brand, influencers increase consumer engagement, boost traffic to websites and conversion rates, and more.
This word-of-mouth effect is crucial when you consider local influencers. Local influencers maximize your global reach through localization. Between a non-local influencer with a clinical, informative approach and a personable local influencer who discusses local hot spots along with relevant product descriptions, the latter offers more personalization. Rather than simply discussing the pros and cons of a given product, a local influencer is likely to personalize, interpret, and filter information around a product or service in a way that resonates with the local audience. Not only that, but local influencers tend to have a more fine-tuned niche and a devoted fanbase who engages at a higher rate.
Similarly, micro-influencers (with 10k-50k followers) are highly effective at building trust with a targeted, smaller audience. Which goes to show, more followers isn’t always better, depending on your brand objectives.
Tangle Angel wanted to increase influencer marketing efforts following a new product launch. Using micro-influencers that connected with the brand’s story, image, and voice, the brand achieved a 10% engagement rate on this content, where the industry average is 2-3%.
Micro-influencer marketing for Tangle Angel - BorderX.
On the other hand, mega influencers like Tati Westbrook, who garners a following of over 8.5 million supports brand awareness. A recent campaign with Medicube resulted in 4x ROI.
Mega-influencer paid ad for Medicube - BorderX.
Speaking of personalization, storytelling is an important social media trend of 2022. By telling compelling stories, brands communicate a set of ideas creatively and ask the audience to see from a particular perspective. When you study your audience and center your narrative around a key desired message, storytelling is an effective tool to influence consumer behavior.
Of the marketing trends, this one is proving to be particularly important on LinkedIn, but other forms of storytelling are also effective marketing methods, such as case studies, which are crucial to lead generation and credibility. Video content such as Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts are a good way to tell stories in short form, which can be effective in getting consumer attention in a short period of time.
Because effective storytelling involves showing how the consumer interests align with brand values, localization is essential. Brands need to consider what the customer needs, how they solve the consumer problems, and why their service or product is their best option among local competitors.
Consider our work for The Unseen Heroes campaign for CTR, an automotive parts company. Rather than dwelling heavily on terminology and technical processes, the focus was on the human aspect. The video focused on the everyday story of the average consumer (a grocery run, the journey, delivery, etc.), painting a relatable big-picture message of what the parts do (“keep you safe and moving on the road”). The story is told in a way that feels personalized and authentic, making the campaign more impactful.
A video for CTR telling an authentic story - BorderX.
While global marketing sets ambitious goals beyond borders, localization helps personalize those global marketing efforts by considering the context around specific local markets. Localization requires looking at the full picture and adjusting a number of variables like the language, pricing, design, user experience, and more to cater to the target needs.
In 2021, marketing trends showed an increased investment in creatives (352% increase in creative media and 275% increase in creative content!). Successful global brands invest in creatives that ring true to their local audiences.
Starting your research by figuring out popular social media channels in your target country is one place to start your localization. Considering the top platforms and demographics of users, you can get a good sense of how to provide the most relevant communication. Creating separate accounts for different countries, as well as differentiating the content to conform to the contexts of each country increase consumer engagement and increase conversion rates.
Take Samyang Foods for example. With separate Instagram accounts for the Canada and U.S., relatable content leads to increased engagement from the differentiated audiences, showing true localization at work. While the branding guidelines remain intact (the palette, typography, tone of voice, etc.), the content is made specific for each country. Alluding to the Canadian flag and the Statue of Liberty make the posts distinct, while the captions reiterate an understanding of both cultures.
Instagram posts localized for Samyang’s Canada and U.S. accounts - BorderX.
While each of the marketing trends of 2022 present poignant ideas for growth, it all comes back to an overarching theme of thinking about the consumer. Consumers want to see brands supporting social issues and values they can get behind. This means telling stories (most potently through video, and influencer marketing) and showing an understanding of the consumer journey from start to finish.
For brands going global, being mindful of the individual is even more pressing in order to increase consumer engagement. They must localize their content by researching the audience and learning what’s relevant to them. The top trends of 2022 show that empathy and understanding are the fastest ways into consumers’ hearts.
