Down the road from me is one of those old school advertising hoardings. It’s been there for many years and must have done a great promotional job for the companies who have used it.
Lately, the advertiser has been a local supplier of classic cars, to avid collectors.
The artwork and products are fabulous but it got me thinking…
Out of the thousands of people who pass by each day, how many are in the market and with the space and financial means, right now, for a classic car?
It’s probably very few.
The modern version #
However, wouldn’t it be an advertiser’s dream if the hoarding could read the minds and movements of those passing by? They could present us individually with items that are of interest to each of us.
Wait a minute, such an advertising hoarding does exist and it’s this rectangular thing we spend so many hours each day peering into. The hoarding resides in our computers, tablets and phones and is powered by the social media platforms we engage with or pass by (to complete the analogy).
Through clever use of code and algorithms, social media operators take into account a range of factors to determine who sees what posts on their platforms.
The topics, people, and types of posts an individual is most likely to engage with determines what their feed will look like.
And it’s no easy task.
Content selection #
For example, LinkedIn has 810 million members and counting. The algorithm processes billions of posts per day — all to make the newsfeed as interesting as possible for every user.
More importantly, it is up to us to make our content interesting to those people passing by who may be potential clients, advocates or team members.
It is also up to us to make sure our promotions are fresh – no peeling paper or washed-out colours allowed here 😊
Thank you for reading.
