Crystal Clear Communications Blog

How does the user experience impact content?

A marketer from TD Ameritrade posed this question, one of the Top 100 Questions on content marketing.

Due to COVID, the marketing strategies for 2020 went out the window a while ago. Robert Rose suggests that marketers “stop posting for a moment, sit back and architect the right strategy for your business. Then lean in heavily and execute it brilliantly.”

As you start planning marketing for 2021, you need to adapt to customers’ new media habits – and make sure brand messages remain relevant in changing times.

COVID unravels: How does the user experience impact content?

The COVID-19 crisis is teaching marketers a tough real-time lesson on how fast users can change their habits. Marketers can’t deliver the customer experience in person, as you used to.

You can’t count on traditional marketing playbooks to address customers via live events, trade shows, entertainment venues, tourist attractions, billboards, or retail stores. These tactics have lost impact.

The more time people spend at home, the more their content consumption habits change. The upshot: Marketers are scrambling to replace everyday human interactions with digital, virtual, and physical experiences.

Americans are spending hours aboard on-demand video platforms such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Hangouts – not only for business but also to keep up with friends and family. Zoom customers have increased 354%!

But the digitalization of life comes with a cost: People miss seeing friends, neighbors, and co-workers face-to-face.

“Oh, boy, I get to spend 8 hours on Zoom today!” said no one, ever.

The switch from in-person to digital wasn’t easy for audiences or presenters. As a presenter, I need to work extra hard to drive interaction with audiences, and I miss learning from face-to-face feedback.

Without normal human interactions, it’s hard to keep paying attention in online meetings. The serendipity of running into someone and having a chance conversation gets lost.

Many people report Zoom fatigue. To beat it, here are tips from the Harvard Business Review.

Everyone’s media habits changed

Americans now:

• Consume more Wi-Fi and less mobile data since many are working at home. In a reversal, Americans are using more data on laptops and tablets than on smartphones.
• Use mobile phones to make voice calls. AT&T reports mobile voice minutes are up 40%.
• Text more, with peak text rates up 53%, says AT&T.
• Use social media more. About half (46% to 51%) of US adults say their social media usage has increased, says the Harris Poll.
• Engage with influencers more. Shareablee says social media content from influencers rose 21% from March to July, while engagement with that content more than doubled.
• Watch an average of 4 streaming video platforms such as Netflix. That’s up from 3 platforms before COVID-19, says Deloitte. But subscription fatigue is growing.
• Play more video games. Almost half of Americans (48%) participate in video gaming, Deloitte says, including 69% of millennials and 75% of Gen Z.

The pivot to video speeds up 

The COVID crisis is accelerating media changes that were already underway, such as the pivot towards video. About 4 out of 5 people would rather watch a video than read a blog or social media posts, says a Livestream study.

Primis found that video views are up about 20% since the COVID crisis. What’s more, engagement — people clicking to turn on the sound, go to full screen, share, or comment — is up 67% through July, Ad Age reported.

Among physical media, direct mail can help brands improve results compared with email, says Nick Runyon.

In 2021, marketers need to continue adapting to changes in content consumption and to pivot brand messages to ensure they stay relevant and resonant.

Here’s more on how to pivot marketing to adapt to COVID, from Ariana Nikitas in her blog, How to preserve the customer experience during times of change?

“How does the user experience impact content?” is one of the Top 100 Questions on content marketing. Here are the answers.