Does your content provide an omni sensory experience. What the heck does that even mean? I asked myself that question when Brian Fanzo   (@SocialFanz) hit the stage at Social Media Week Lima 2018. 

I’d never heard the term before, but soon learned Brian would be talking about the how and why of creating different kinds or types of content – how it has changed over the years and what we need to know so we can go with the flow and stay up-to-date. Before Social Media, we got our content from the news, radio, the newspaper. While those media platforms are still a very viable part of many peoples lives, In today’s digital world, we Consume 99% (my own gestimate) of our content online. Everything has changed regarding how we think about content, consume content, and even the control the consumer has over that content.

Times have changed, and Brian believes the main drivers of change have been social media, mobility (our phones), analytics  and the cloud. He believes so strongly in this that he created a podcast called S.M.A.C. Talk (Social/Mobile/Analytics/Cloud) because these are the ways we consume, create, and even think about technology. Look at Facebook Live, SnapChat, Periscope …

Facebook has been, and is continuing to change the way they do things. They are trying to bring back meaningful engagement. They want to bring the social back to social media. It’s now about building social relationships, being social, being human. The great thing about Live Video is there are no do-overs – you are human and everyone sees it.

Brian made two statements that jumped out at me.

1. “Perfection is a fairy tale” Awesome! There is no perfect, so stop striving for perfect copy, perfect videos, perfect anything.
2. “Control is an illusion.” Hmmm … imagine that!

Everyone learns differently … audio, video, blogs, hard cover books, paperbacks, Kindles, you name it. So instead of insisting our audience consume our content the way WE want to create it, we need to start creating it in ways THEY want to consume it.

We need to start embracing the fact that there are so many different ways to consume content, and that we are human. We need to create human-like experiences online. 

We have to create content in an omni way. If you create a video, don’t just leave it at that. Turn it into a blog post, and then rip the audio from the video so people can listen as they drive into work. Today’s consumer wants to consume content “where they want it, when they want it, and how they want it.” Are we giving them these options?

There was so much talk about live video during the conference that I’ve added it to my social media strategy on a daily basis. I have been walking every morning, so decided it was the perfect time to do a live video … walk and talk. I am very, very human in it as I am walking, and sweating, and don’t always have a great look on my face. But I’m doing it. I’ve done it consistently for about 10 days now. So my task, will be to take the videos I’ve done and strip the audio out to be used elsewhere (not really sure where yet). I’m also going to have them transcribed and see if I can turn them into a mini blog series. Whatever it is, I’m going to do my best to repurpose them so they are in multiple formats.

Brian is a fast talker, and covered a lot of great information. There are so many other things I could share, but I’ll stop here and leave you with these last nuggets.

• “Press the Damn button” (One of Brian’s signature quotes!)
• Listen more than you talk.
• Be where your customers are.
• Be timely, relevant and relatable!

My question to you is … are you providing your content in multiple ways to meet the needs and wants of your target audience and ideal client? It’s definitely something I have to work on myself, so would love to know your thoughts!