How To Survive The Ever Changing Social Publishing Landscape

​By Joshua Brennick

It’s been known for a while that content creation is very important to a brand’s online marketing strategy which is why that it’s become very obvious that brands need to create helpful, amazing content to engage audiences. What makes the task challenging is that audience behaviors are changing rapidly, especially as more millennials and Gen-Zers join the consumer-demographic pie. Younger viewers aren’t easily impressed, either. They can be considered one of the tougher demographics to crack when it comes to digital marketing. 

Social media platforms, user preferences and communication practices are vastly different from a generation ago. For example, more than 700 million emojis are used daily on Facebook. This was not even a thought ten years ago. With that said, it’s vital that all business owners and marketers speedily adapt to the fast pace of change. The whole cliche, “ya snooze, ya lose” applies greatly to this subject. 

Attention is monetization now a days, but grabbing it is anything but. People scroll down their phones at hyper-speed, skipping most messages (including sponsored content), but here’s how businesses can adapt to the new social-publishing landscape.

1. Publishers are becoming all-in-one content platforms.
Back in the day, communication platforms such as newspapers published simply news articles, cartoons and crossword puzzles. Today on the other hand, new-media publishers get traffic from videos, streams, blogs, tweets, memes, comments and (intentionally unfortunately) controversial content. Editors and publishers like stirring controversy because it provokes readers and promotes discussion on their site. Also known as “click-bait”. 

This is because google and social media platforms have algorithms in place that are structured to incentive social publishers to create and share content that receives that maximum amount of engagement. This is because engagement improves visibility on search engines while Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other networks increase with impressions, comments and shares.

Business owners have more options for brand placement beyond written press releases and articles unlike back in the days. It’s a constant search for sources of traffic to a brand’s website. Business owners and marketers can experiment with trending topics, videos, hashtags and even memes, since these can rapidly spread online.

2. Publishers must cater to skimming eyeballs.
Readers are becoming rare and attention spans are decreasing. We live in an age where eyeballs zip through device screens like it’s a race. A Microsoft study a while back found that the average human attention span has shrunk to eight seconds. A recent study by the University of Denmark finds that people have more info to focus on. Thus, the info overload has led to a decline in our collective attention span.

Business owners must understand stand this and account for how content is consumed today. Most device screens are extremely small, and that gives short, digestible content a big advantage. Bold text, subheadings, bullet points and highlighted remarks are often what (skimming) readers focus on, skipping everything else. 


3. Social publishing is here to stay.
Social publishing gives people the info they want to consume and share. The younger crowd likes playful photos, videos, emojis, memes, tweets and comments that get to the point. Meme marketing is a new but growing trend, and early adopters will gain plenty of benefits. As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, and Instagram, one of the most popular apps of the decade, is a testament to that. 

Business owners and brand managers must fully accept and adapt to the fact that language is becoming informal. In a way, “likes,” retweets, emojis and memes are new ways of communicating. It’s vital for businesses to experiment with playful content that has the potential to go viral where they get massive exposure for a fraction of the cost. 


JBrand Media was founded in 2013 by Joshua Brennick, 2019 recipient of  The Nashua Telegraph "40 Under Forty"  award, with the purpose of helping educational institutions and businesses utilize digital marketing to achieve their marketing and sales goals. Since the launch in 2013, JBrand Media has provided successful services to many clients in various industries ranging in size from small to large.