Opus Creative

IS YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT BORING?

Most businesses we encounter commit the same cardinal sins with social media output. They use their competitors as a benchmark and generate the same type of content.

This is depriving your brand of the one thing that separates you from your competition - being unique!

You might sell the same products or services, but that is not what defines you as a brand. Every company has different strengths and weaknesses, different beliefs, different motivations and a very different story. Lean into to these, they are the very things that make you stand out.

CONTENT MISTAKES:

- Posting about your products or services
- Hard sales
- Promotions or discounts
- Ads disguised as content
- Mass follows in hope of business
- Mass unfollows influenced by sales
- Begging for business

THINK OF HOW YOU CAN HELP?

People on social media don’t want to be sold to or treated as potential customers. They want to be treated as people. Think of things that motivate people, that can help them, that entertains them or can illicit an emotion response.

- Make them laugh
- Entertain them
- Make them think
- Educate them
- Inspire them
- Give them value
- Help them relive an experience
- Make them feel something
- Encourage them to share their experiences

Think of connections you have made in the real world through being sociable. Would you ever push a hard sale on a person you met at a wedding or dropping your kids off at school?

They would think you are agenda led instead of being a genuine person.

Social media is for building trust. If you have the trust of your audience they will know who to turn to if they need a product or service!

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HOW I GREW A 5k FOLLOWING ON FACEBOOK

So, I recently hit a nice milestone with my side art project Ray Hurley. In less than two and half years I have grown my audience on Facebook from 0 to over 5,000 followers.

What started off as a hobby has slowly become its own business entity alongside my work at Opus Creative.

HOW I GREW MY AUDIENCE?


1. CONSISTENCY

If you want to achieve growth then show up for your audience. Even when I had a handful of followers I treated the page as if there were millions of people. I held myself accountable and found time to plan my posts.

2. TESTING

I regularly look at my analytics. It teaches me what content works with the algorithm, engagement and times to post. By studying the data I was able to tailor my content to be as effective as possible.

3. COMMUNITY

I respond to every comment, request and message. I even respond to bots!!! I think it’s very important to build a connection with your audience. I found my followers to be the funniest, most sincere, and engaging people. Being nice to people doesn’t cost you cent and the feeling you get from genuinely helping a customer, contemporary or a stranger is hugely rewarding.

4. BE YOURSELF

To quote the great Oscar Wilde, “be yourself, everyone else is already taken”. Take the word ‘media’ out of ‘social media’ and you’re left with ‘social’. How would you greet a stranger, talk to old friends or engage people in conversations is the exact route to follow.

5. FACEBOOK ADS

Organic reach on most platforms except Tik Tok’s brilliant algorithm is tough starting out. I used ads at the start as an exercise to build an audience and convert sales. Ads force you to identify your buyer persona and attract like-minded people. Facebook ads are still relatively cheap and Facebook still has the most active users out of all the social channels!

6. REELS

All social channels push video the most with their algorithms. They do so because reels keep people on their platform for longer and make more advertising revenue for social media companies. This is one area that I have to improve on and by testing, I’ve found each reel I’ve made has a superior audience reach than even my most popular static posts.

7. PLANNING

The biggest challenge for most companies I work with through is planning. If you want to shape a narrative or remain in a sphere of awareness, you need to have a structure. Posting daily for the sake of it is redundant. If you can post carefully thought out content that engages your audience twice a week, it’s better than posting content that bores people seven days a week!

I hope the above can inspire you to fire up your social channels and think of social media differently. It can be very rewarding if you think of social media as an exercise that you want to do as opposed to something you need to do.

I’m happy to offer any help in the comments. Don’t be shy… it’s SOCIAL media 😉😀

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WHEN “WOKE” TURNS BROKE

In 2019 Victoria’s Secret decided to alter the course of it’s brand to become “a group of trailblazing and diverse women”.

They ditched the supermodel only collection of lingerie angels and as their then head of business, Martin Waters said, “we need to stop being about what men want and be about what women want”.

This statement in itself had positive intent. It embraced inclusivity and championed diversity of body types, transgenders and female empowerment.

PUBLIC REACTION

However, the online backlash was severe. The public saw this move as disingenuous and a cynical attempt to position the brand as something it had railed against since its formation in 1977. The brand’s links with unsavoury characters from the ‘Me Too’ era, history of blatant misogyny and complaints of worsening quality of their products all led to losses of $1.2 billion dollars in sales from 2020 to 2023. Victoria’s Secret simply failed to convince the public that they really cared about them or diversity.

BRINGING “SEXY” BACK

Victoria’s Secret’s response to these losses has seen leadership changed, a strategy to bring back the Victoria’s Secret Angels and to pivot from “Woke” to their traditional “Sexy” roots in a desperate act of self-preservation.

WHAT CAN WE LEARN ABOUT BRANDING?

Don’t pretend to be something you are not! Values of a company can not simply be changed overnight and ignore a long storied culture. Own your past and embrace change if that’s something you truly believe as an organisation.

In the case of Victoria’s Secret, I would have approached it differently. As both a brand strategist and a person that respects women, I would have suggested a strategy of rehabilitation of the brand. Show the public ‘WHY’ Victoria’s Secret’s beliefs have evolved, own up to past mistakes and empower women within the organisation to lead the charge!

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IF YOU BUILD IT THEY WILL COME?

Most startups I have encountered in almost twenty years in business continually make one big mistake. They believe that a brand is a logo, website or some signage.

NO, IT’S SO MUCH MORE!!!

A brand is about eliciting a response - influencing a person’s gut feeling about a company, product or service. It’s a gut feeling because people make decisions based on emotion and trust.

Jeff Bezos brilliantly described a brand as, “what people say about you when you’re not in the room”.

Think of all the companies you champion. You probably think they are the best at what they do. In reality, that is just your perception. They may or may not be the best, but they have still garnered your support.

THINK OF HOW THEY WON YOU OVER?

The answer boils down to what you value in a service or product or people.

I always visit the same butcher in Dublin. Is it because their meat is amazing? No, I could get similar quality elsewhere. Is it their prices? No, I could find cheaper meat elsewhere.

It’s their customer service. They are friendly and always give my seven year old daughter a free lollipop. So, they value the happiness of my daughter. That’s my perception, so I will remain loyal to them.

Can you think of brands you trust and tell me why you trust them?

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No One Cares About Your Services

Think about the lost hours you have spent marketing your services and their features on social media. Has it brought brought in many leads? Be honest.

The majority of people use social media as a form of escapism. They want content that entertains, educates or illicits an emotional response.

I recently watched 'BECKHAM' on Netflix on the recommendation of two female friends who don't have any interest in football, but they loved the documentary. After watching 'BECKHAM', I understood why they liked it so much. The filmmaker focused on storylines instead of football. They injected humour, suspense and drama to draw the viewer in. You didn't have to be a fan of sport to be invested in the story. It was accessible.

Your brand is no different. Like Beckham, your brand has a story, a supporting cast of colleagues and clients. You have personality, aspirations and beliefs. You have adversities to overcome and insights to share. These ingredients make you unique and illicit interest - not a list of services that people can find on Google without any emotional connection!

Do you think that service based content is the right way to build a brand?

Ray Hurley,
CD, Opus Creative

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Johnson & Johnson Rebrand

Having worked with Johnson & Johnson in the past with Opus Creative , I’m shocked to see that they have rebranded.

The J&J brand identity is 135 years old. The design was based off of the founders cursive signature. It is an iconic design that is recognised globally and in my opinion they did not need to drastically change.

Why they Rebranded?

1. Functionally, they think cursive writing is on the way out and they need the name to be legible to future generations.

2. They are worried how the logo mark sits on mobile screens for spacing & legibility.

3. They’re following the tech and fashion trend of having a Sans Serif as the prodiminant typeface.

4. They’re restructuring their business to focus more on healthcare uniting both pharma and medtech.

My Opinion:

From a design perspective this has the finger prints of “a data driven process” all over it. They have been influenced by the UX (user-experience) mobile platforms data, at the tech world’s trend of using cleaner sans-serif tyfaces and J&J have succumbed to group think.

This trend kills individual design identity and ensures the design we are surrounded by daily is dull and indistinguishable. Imagine going to a comedy festival and every joke is a variation of one topic. Each comedian is dressed the same and they shape their public persona to be the same as the act that follows.

Does everything have to be bland?

Brands like people have personalities. J&J is an older personality that is trusted by generations. Imagine Santa ditched the boots, coat and big white beard for a tuxedo, clean shave and a chiselled six pack. Would Christmas still be as magical to you?

Be Unique

Brands need to be unique and celebrate why they are unique. If your brand looks like everyone elses, then why should people expect any different from your products or services!

&Johnson

Absolutely love seeing our work in the wild. I was in Kinsale at the weekend and loved seeing the amazing display by for the Kinsale Giftware brand we helped create. It was at night so ignore the shutters 🫣 Really lovely seeing our work front and centre in such a great shop 😍

Love seeing our branding and packaging work on the shelves in SuperValu Ireland. Both the Chocolate and vanilla flavours are delicious 🤤

Delighted to see Céin and Padraig of playing a blinder with their line of vegan and protein packed m*ilk 💪🏻👏🏻

Try them both… my favourite is the vanilla, but my family are partial to the chocolate 😀

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Just some of the logos we have had the privilege of creating for our clients over the last ten years 😀

Which one is your favourite?

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