#practical value

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Aesthetically Etsy

So, not going to lie, I’m a sucker for this thing we are seeing everywhere called “aesthetic.” There’s a type of content out there that revolves around this and honestly, I wouldn’t say there’s any practical value, story, emotion or so forth. BUT what pulls me in is how it’s actually pleasing to look at. Etsy does this well and has pulled me in and holding on until they empty my wallet. If you don’t know what Etsy is or know too much about it, Etsy is a P2P (peer-to-peer) e-commerce site and app with a specialty in handmade and vintage items and supplies along with some unique factory-manufactured items. There is something for everyone there and if you can’t find exactly what you’re looking for, many sellers offer custom items as well! I’m not sure if this applies to anyone else, but just looking at their social media is giving me all sorts of ideas of decorating my apartment, Christmas gifts to give and the occasional “aww.” Now to me, that has practical value and emotion but that could just be me! Who knows! It could also just apply to those who are like me and find value in this type of content. But! Their blog DOES have practical value as it offers many posts under a plethora of topics such as gift guides, DIY’s, decorating ideas, wedding planning and much more. Shown below are a variety of some of the posts you can come across on their blog. Honestly, I didn’t really know much about their blog until I started writing this so now I have a new blog to binge read and will probably go broke over trying to redecorate my apartment.

The social media site that Etsy definitely strives on is Pinterest as that is exactly what Pinterest is all about. On their Pinterest, you can find just about anything you need and any idea. Entertaining, pets, gifts for him, inspiring workspaces...it’s all there! It is constantly updated with new content added all the time. You can easily spend all day scrolling through their thousands of posts. And on top of the content that the posts are linked to, even the photos themselves are so aesthetically put together that it just screams “look at me!” in a minimalistic way. I actually started going through and observing their Pinterest posts and compiled my own list of DIYs I want to try out in the future. I also got some Christmas ideas for Dad! Shown below are some examples of their Pinterest boards you can spend all day searching.

Next social media site I want to go ahead and take a look at is YouTube. For a company that excels at DIY content, you can bet they have a great YouTube channel. Their YouTube is so interesting to go through and has so much to watch. You have your classic DIYs and how-tos but there’s also a playlist for how to get started on Etsy as a seller, the processes sellers go through to make their items and more. The videos themselves are done in such a professional manner that are compelling to watch. You can also tell they know their audience 100%! Everything they post appeals to the typical Etsy user. From upcycling to raspberry cosmos, they’ve reached their target demographic extremely well which is comsehting I can’t say about many companies who try too hard to appeal to every person out there and losing touch with their main demographic. They constantly appeal to the latte-loving, aesthetic and vintage connoisseur of the world. Check out one of their YouTube videos below about what makes Etsy, well, Etsy and if you’re like me, you’ll be hooked.

Granted, they could update their YouTube more often as they’ll go through spurts of uploading multiple video of the same topic, then nothing for a while. I personally like to keep exploring new videos and new ideas so it would definitely be nice if they kept up with that. At least I have Pinterest which is constantly updated!

Overall, Etsy’s social media is fabulous and makes me want to start crafting and even open up my own Etsy store! What shall it be? Cat sweaters? Macrame jewelry? Time to keep searching Pinterest until I get an idea!

On another not Tumblr fans, this will be my last post to this blog as my assignment is coming to an end! A post might arise from me every once in awhile as I’ve been getting a knack for this but my busy schedule might make that difficult!

Goodbye for now,

Cierra

[nataliereadsbooks-blog]

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If Social Currency is about information senders and how sharing makes them look, Practical Value is mostly about the information receiver

Jonah Berger, Contagious

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CHAPTER #5: PRACTICAL VALUE

“Useful things are important. People share practical valuable information to help others. Offering practical value helps make things contagious.”

- Jonah Berger, Contagious

Image: Uldissprogis.com

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Principles of Contagiousness

Principle 5: Practical Value

Image: McDonald’s

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Practical Value

I read about this video of Ken Craig and his amazing corn shucking viral sensation in Contagious before i watched the video. In theory, I understood how this could have gone viral but when I saw the video, the culinary dork in me gasped when I saw how effective his technique was. My first reaction was that I needed to share the video on Facebook. Jonah Berger reminds readers of one of the most obvious reasons why things become popular - practical value. Practical things become popular because we need good products in our lives and we like to pass on practical information.

I think the best part of the Ken Craig video is when he laughs. It’s a sweetly authentic moment that emotionally connects me to this man. Would this video have been as popular if a teenage boy was shucking corn? Doubtful. This type of virality is truly like catching lightning in a bottle. There was no motive to become a viral sensation and it shows. Creating practical value may be easy but making it “catch on” is a whole other matter that must employ many of his other STEPPS. Practicality is not necessarily the main driver of popularity but certainly helps.

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Tactics that can help make your social content stand out

Worried about whether or not the social content you share is boring ? In this article Ross Simmonds breaks down the different things that make for better social media content. 

First, he answers what factors make a post boring? Thanks to a study by York University, they found that two primary factors could affect boredom in relation to marketing. 

• The environment – The environment offers thousands of distractions, as digital marketers, we are competing with different distractions. Phone notifications, thousands of apps, millions of content. 

Psychological energy – Stimuli, the environment is saturated with it. Stimulating distractions allow users countless opportunities to keep them entertained. 

These factors determine how high the bar is set when it comes to driving good content. The challenge, when it comes to being a marketer, is standing out and creating positive influence and getting positive interaction from users through your content. In this article, Simmonds offers four analytical and research-driven tactics that you can use to create better content and stand out. 

High Arousal and High Valence Content 

People are more likely to interact when they are emotionally connected to something they see online. This comes from the concept of emotional granularity, where emotions can be mapped out on a chart based on the degree of valence and arousal; valence being the positivity and negativity of an event, and arousal ranging emotions from calming to exciting. High valence and arousal tend to spark emotions such as happiness, pleasure, excitement, and motivation. Simmonds mentions that we should strive for high valence and high arousal, driving impact. I’ve seen a lot of this in some of the best content profiles on instagram.

Nike uses images/videos with captions to induce some type of emotion from the viewer. Here we see the Women’s USA soccer, erm international football, teamhuddled in the middle of a crowded stadium. The emotions that come up are inspiration, motivation, pride, adrenaline. 

Disarm the Reader’s Cost-Benefit Analysis 

As we scroll aimlessly through our social platform feeds, we determine what kind of information we want to consume. This tactic can be seen frequently with articles on facebook where we only spend a couple of seconds to determine whether or not we want to continue consuming the information. When it comes to your own content, you want to give a reason for your consumers to keep consuming. Simmonds recommends that offering the viewer what they are going to get, would “filter out those who won’t be interested.” By providing exactly what the viewer or reader is in for, They would be fully engaged because they are  actually interested in the content. 

Some people would probably choose not to check out this article (esp. people who don’t like Kanye). I personally am fascinated by how open he is, because of his personality, he drives emotion, which is a marketers dream. This makes a perfect example of filtering out those who may or may not be interested in reading the article. 

Include Images or Video To Maximize Engagement 

It’s not surprising that this is one of the most effective ways to engage a viewer. As Simmonds simply puts, “It’s because people connect with visuals.” He also points out that educational studies have shown that after three days, people retained only 10-20% of written or spoken content but almost 65% of visual content. And that tweets with photos have a retweet percentage of 35%. 

Not everyone is familiar with Van Gogh’s painting, “Bedroom,” So If there was no picture, then the tweet wouldn’t have been as effective. 

Create Content That Is Useful or Entertaining 

Lastly, This tactic is important, in which it would be the deciding factor in whether or not a post will be shared by those who see it. Is the content valuable? Or as Author Jonah Berger puts it, does it offer “Practical value”? "News you can use"? In Contagious, he elaborates on this concept and analyzes what makes something go viral, why do people want to share content? Helpful information gets shared. Things go viral because such useful information, or things that can invoke certain emotion (like happiness) can “offer value to the lives of your audience and their connection."