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Are Our Attention Spans Shrinking? What Does That Means for Digital Marketing!

The sudden access every individual has to far more information at once than has ever been available has empowered us and changed the way we process and consume information.
This is a fairly lofty way of saying that our attention span is shrinking.
We have to sift through a stream of information that grows larger and more fast-paced by the minute.
Those who have grown up with the internet more or less always around don’t have the patience, energy, or inclination to give too much of our mental bandwidth to what is, a stream of fleeting information.
We need to focus on evolving digital marketing trends for 2024.

For this reason alone, 2024 looks to be no different regarding digital marketing trends amplified, in its need to up the ante when capturing an audience’s fleeting and discerning attention.

Are you still with me?

Why is there a rise in the popularity of bite-sized content?

tik tok

Bite-sized content, not that long ago, used to mean around 10 minutes or less, but with the rise of social sharing sites like 9Gag and TikTok, that time limit has shrunk down to no more than 12 seconds.

The kind of media being consumed on the go is truly bite-sized, mere tasters lasting a handful of seconds before viewers move on to the next gourmet slice of content.

More and more influencers are broadcasting through TikTok thanks to its easy-to-create and easy-to-consume content that only lasts a couple of seconds for the most part.
87% of influencers claim that TikTok generates the most engagement by far.

SENSATIONALISM & CREATING MICRO-MOMENTS

Sensationalism has never been a term used particularly positively when describing any type of media, but when you have to compete for so much more with so much less time and concentration, sensationalism is about as important in digital marketing as any marketer would never like to admit.
Good products sell well.

Epically life-changing products that create moments you will never forget, make you the most desirable, bring utter satisfaction, change the world, or do any of those other exaggerated things, sell brilliantly.
In an ever more competitive marketing environment where audience attention spans are shrinking, sensationalism is key to being memorable.

And this age of smartphones and online marketing, opportunities to create an organic form of sensationalism through micro-moments, are easier than ever.
What are micro-moments? They are those little moments in the day when you (at this point almost instinctively) whip out your phone or go online from anywhere to learn, do, discover, watch, or buy something. When you choose to take a moment to interact with a type of media.
They are moments where you decide to interact with a message, rich with intention, you make yourself open to persuasion, to sensationalism…
And everybody does it.

Doubling down on marketing through the channels people interact with during these micro-moments is becoming more important than ever, by creating small memorable interactions that both empower and persuade your audience.

Why should you FOCUS ON USER-FRIENDLY WEB CONTENT?

idea

While a lot changes in the world of online marketing and audience behaviour, some things don’t, and the way that users find, evaluate, and use information is becoming more of what it is as time goes on.
I’m speaking particularly about websites here, places where users find themselves either purposefully, or by being directed there.

A website visitor generally has one thing in mind, to find the thing they are looking for (whether that be information, a product, or a service) and they don’t have all the time in the world to do it.

As audience headspace becomes increasingly valuable in retail, ensuring that web content makes things easy to find is important for ensuring an enjoyable and productive experience for the user.

Remember the three-click or less rule, which means that you should be able to find what you need on the site in 3 or fewer clicks.
Also, make sure web content is succinct, easy to read, and simple to navigate.

How does marketing that respects the viewers’ limited time benefit businesses?

content

All the above points essentially boil down to one important one, and it has always been a component of marketing regardless of its format.
Advertising, in all its forms, needs to respect the viewer’s limited time and attention.

That is to say that it needs to say what it needs to say as effectively as possible, as simply as possible, and unobtrusively as possible (a difficult balance to get when you also need to use a bit of sensationalism).
Many years ago, Master Lock aired an ad at Superbowl that was less than a second long.

Take a look…

I’m not even American, and I’ve never watched a Superbowl, but I know the ad even though I must have seen it just once well over 10 years ago. That is the power of something that knows how to respect the audience’s time. Remember that people rarely purposefully choose to engage with an ad. An ad is something that is, at least for the very first impression, something intrusive.

It needs to have the decency to make that intrusion worthwhile for the viewer, or at the very least, to be as unintrusive as possible.
So, with any ad your business makes in 2024, make it short, make it sweet, and make it obvious what the ad wants people to do.

CONTACT RCM DIGITAL SOLUTIONS FOR DETAILS

There is a lot to think about when marketing any brand online, and in an age where information is constantly vying for our attention, getting it right and making your efforts effective and potent can be a challenge. By staying in the know of the latest digital marketing trends for 2024, you will surely enhance your marketing efforts.

That is why you should work with a digital marketing agency that has the experience and know-how to keep your brand competitive in a changing world. Be sure to visit the RCM Digital Solutions website today to find out more about our digital marketing services and packages.

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