Increasingly, social media users are looking for different ways to connect. Social platforms, as we knew them and were raised from the beginning, were intended to allow us to create and share content to socialize with friends, family and acquaintances. But this changed.
The increase in the number of people who use social networks as search engines and not so much as a connection space is evident. This change in the way of use puts the focus on the concept of social validation since the loss of trust and the growing need for authenticity make consumers want to live tangible and real user experiences.
This represents a reversal of what social networks were created for and opens the way for a reinvention of how people and brands are going to start using them in the increasingly near future.
The era of competing for the most likes o followers It ended, especially, after numerous investigations showed that social networks and hyperconnection generate emotional distress, anxiety and depression, added to the fact that they are also a breeding ground for fake newscyberbullying and social polarization.
With this panorama, brands are beginning to rethink how they use these spaces and a question arises: should a company, which has a defined purpose, have a presence in social networks to increase its positioning and sell its products or is there still a lot to do outside of it? they?
Some time ago in another column I talked about Lush, the British cosmetics brand, which invited its followers to spend their time on things other than being connected and abandoned its Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp and TikTok accounts, until that these platforms can be a safer environment for those who use them. And they stuck with YouTube for video sharing, Pinterest for inspirational content, and Twitter for customer support.
This withdrawal from the main platforms was tied to its purpose and, in accordance with that, seeing that social networks are not designed to take care of people’s health, but their products are, they implemented a policy that made it clear which platforms to be on, in which not and in which they chose to be, how to do it. In this way, Lush became “antisocial”, but successfully.
More than a year after that decision, its brand positioning remains strong. But how do you connect with your customers, announce launches and create brand value without being on social media? Through other channels and with niche communication strategies and more focused on collaborations with other brands that share similar values and have strong fan communities; generating unique experiences not only to put their products on sale but also to allow them to see their customers how they are produced, for example, with activations in physical stores; exercising corporate activism through the fight for different causes related to animal protection and welfare, climate justice, mental health; and partnering with NGOs to support various initiatives. These messages and actions are disseminated through the platforms on which they decided to remain present as well as through their newsletter and website, but they also developed their own digital platform, a app the one they called Bathe designed to track and maximize the benefits of bathing, accompanied by sounds and guided meditations.
Although the decision adopted by Lush is not viable or conforms to the reality of all brands, what can no longer be ignored are the harmful effects of social networks and the saturation of users that, as I told you in the column above, more and more are inclined towards a detox digital. So what Lush has achieved, moving away from a large part of social networks, shows that the time has come when brands should consider what they are on social platforms for or at least rethink how they use them. Especially at a time when more and more people choose to be associated with a brand, purely and exclusively, when it aligns with their values, needs and expectations.
