I went to the waterpark with my siblings and my boyfriend the other day, we all had a blast. The many slides, giant wave pool and the hyperness we all experienced at some point made for a pretty spectacular day together.
I came to the conclusion that the waterpark shares some similarities with social media.
For starters, you are surrounded by all types at the waterpark. There are the other girls in cute swimsuits you wish you owned, the large group of rowdy young adult males, the elderly that are taking the stairs better than you, the parents who wished they didn’t even try bringing their children to the water park, the crazy kids and the creeper.
Social media is the same. The picture perfect girls on Instagram, the people who share every opinion they have ever had (those groups can get a little rowdy too), there is the grandparents who will post about how great their grandkids are constantly, the parents who share every moment of their busy lives, the crazy kids and the creeper.
It is odd though, the waterpark is full of many people’s fears. Heights, giant slides, deep water, crowds, the potential to see someone you don’t want to, potential harm or embarrassment. Yet the waterpark is always full of excited people. The water park obviously has more fun features than fears for the average person. Some people love the crazy slides, maybe heights don’t scare them, crowds exhilarate them and seeing old friends sounds like a pleasant surprise.
There is definitely both sides in social media as well. Some may love the ability to be connected to everyone they could ever want to connect with and love the ability to influence the masses with their words, pictures or embarrassing videos. This is all while other people could hate the idea of these experiences.
All of these comparisons are important because they adjust the temperature or vibe of a trip to the waterpark…
It can be freezing outside but the temperature in the waterpark is 31 degrees Celsius. Then there is a temperature change again when you only get slightly wet on certain slides, then you dry waiting in line, get soaked, go to the hot tub then the wave pool then back to the slides… your body experiences all these changes even though you are in an atmosphere of 31 degrees and the weather outside is -15 degrees.
A grumpy lifeguard or dropping your soft pretzel can lower the ‘temperature’ of your experience, while a short line to a water slide and a free tube for the wave pool can make your day — raising your ‘temperature’ or vibe.
I mention temperature because Facebook is the same. Maybe the overall feel, vibe, or temperature of your feed is mainly positive posts, funny videos and full of your favourite people (warm and sunny). But then the country can be hit with political issues and your feed will then have upsetting posts in the mix (icy).
Later you see that your friend from high school is getting engaged and the proposal was adorable (warm and fuzzy). But the next post is your aunty letting friends and family know your cousin is sick in the hospital again (cold). Then you see an advertisement stating that your favourite store is having a sale (warming up). But your brother’s dog died and he wrote the sweetest post about him (chilly).
Temperature changing in seconds is exhausting physically, mentally and emotionally. In most cases, we can’t do anything about the changes.
This comparison reminds us that we have a big water park to play in (Facebook/Instagram), with a wide variety of people (tired moms, awkward teenagers, proud grandparents etc.) this means that targeting your market is important.
The tired mom and the awkward teenager cannot be reached by the same ad campaign. It is essential that your business sells itself to the correct demographic in the way that they can be sold to.
What is the temperature or vibe of your marketing strategy? Are you going to display the amazing benefits that your product or service can provide your audience? (Warm.) Or is it valuable for your ad campaign to reveal the obstacles your customers will face without your assistance? (Chilly.)
At Panda Rose we can help you identify the different audiences you need to target, how to market to them and how to do it efficiently. We look forward to hearing from you.
Tess Houcher
