We are facing a highly challenging, uncertain time. For businesses, things are moving quickly and it’s essential that action is taken quickly.

As business leaders, we need to be as transparent and supportive with our teams, customers and partners as possible. It’s a time for agile, authentic communication - without creating more fear.

In the days following 9/11, Rudy Giuliani set out a communications framework that can be useful in the COVID-19 situation we face today:

1. With total transparency, tell them what you do know.
2. Tell them what you don't know and what contingencies you are thinking about.
3. Be human while showing strong leadership.
4. Ask for calm and collaboration, by providing clear action steps.
5. Give hope and show a sense of resilience.
6. Let your audience know when you will be updating them again on the situation.

These wise words have helped the team at 3rdspace devise an agile communications response strategy, to help our clients through this time.

3rdspace now offer an agile, virtual production resource.

In response to the rapidly changing situation, we have upped our resources to help our clients create agile, in the moment content, through a virtual production strategy.

We have enlisted a PR crisis expert to work with our clients on tailored, phase-by-phase messaging, allowing for a range of contingencies for both internal and external customer communication.

An editorial team available 24/7.

In these uncertain times, we’ve taken action to ensure we’re here when, and if you need us. Our editorial teams are available 7 days a week. 3rdspace are now working on a split roster basis across Australia and the UK to provide 24/7 support for our clients. To ensure their wellbeing and safety at this time, all of our team members can work remotely.

Talking the talk.

Film is a powerful, emotive way to communicate your brands actions. That’s why we have developed a safe plan to create quick turn-around film, utilising graphics, voice overs - recorded remotely and a vast array of footage libraries to create film in more responsive agile ways. Plus, our team of creatives and editors are working remotely to ramp up as the situation changes.

This will allow brands to create up to date videos and editorial content for channels such as EDM, social media and traditional platforms to inform customers of the action you are taking as the situation changes across the globe.

Our podcast studio is also set up to record audio and voice overs off-site.

At this stage we also have an in house crew who have not travelled in the last two months to direct, shoot and edit in a manner that is in line with the NSW Department of Health so they are aware of their responsibilities.  

It’s a time to reassure, not ignore.

While we are finding new agile ways to communicate day by day, it’s also a time to hold true to your brand’s purpose, maintaining a long-term view. During periods of isolation, customers and potential customers will likely be spending more time online looking for both practical up to date information and escapism.

From a brand perspective, while the first reaction may be to cut back on your marketing and content creation, it’s important to consider the benefits of dialling up your content presence. By holding true to your tone of voice and the product attributes, your brand content can serve as a much-needed tool to reassure and remind consumers that things will get better.

 It’s a time for innovation and demonstration.

Times like these can be incredibly unsettling, but they can also lead to sparks of innovation. Use this time to think about how you can do things differently. Is there anyone you can collaborate with? Are there any ideas you’ve previously discounted that might work now? Are there any innovations in the pipeline that you could fast track that could help individuals or communities today?

Stay on purpose.

Now is the time for dialling up why your business exists - its core purpose. One of the best approaches to surviving uncertainty is to set yourself apart and dial up the value that your brand offers – the thing your business is most famous for. A fast and cost-effective way of doing this is to create compelling, authentic content that brings that purpose to life, reminding customers and potential customers that you are still here and very much still in business, so when the time is right you will be at the top of mind.

We hope these thoughts help in uncertain times.

Please get in touch if you think we can help you in any way.

Rob Logan
CEO and Founder
0419 722 151
+61 2 8354 1527

Change is inevitable. It’s what has shaped every aspect of life as we know it. Whilst change can seem scary at first, the most successful people are those who take opportunities for change and use it to their advantage by forcing themselves out of the comfort zone.  

 Establishing and enforcing new process and ways of thinking can seem unnecessary and resource inefficient – particularly when current processes are working. However, it is important to remember that failure to change means that your business will be left behind.  

At 3rdspace we’re always looking to reignite our purpose, learning from our wins and most definitely our mistakes. Here’s three key drivers to fostering an open-minded, change-centric culture.  

ONE: Just because it works for you, it doesn’t mean there isn’t a better way of doing things.  

We’re all guilty of it. We have a strategy, a way of thinking or one route that gets us to where we want to go. But what if there was an express route? Starting small and considering new perspectives will harness your change-centric mindset and allow you to personalize whatever it is you chose to apply this mindset to. From a content perspective engage in thought provoking conversations with specialists in the field to understand the perspectives and processes of thought leaders and gain knowledge to shape your content strategy to drive greater results.  

TWO: Foster a data-centric culture.  

• 

Almost every single day, we hear about the importance of data. However, it isn’t the data which will benefit your business- it's the way in which it’s used. Analyze data and use it to establish and shape the identities of your audience personas. Determine who your audience is, not by assuming from industry, but rather, understanding who is engaging with your content, on what platforms and how that engagement is nurturing new clients for your business.  

Adobe pledged to stay ahead of the game, implementing the concept of the ‘subscription economy’. Whilst most businesses neglected change, Adobe has taken advantage of an eager market hungry for doing things differently and its sales skyrocketed. Fostering this data centric culture allowed Adobe to understand the value of this investment assisted by data backed forecasts. The results speak for themselves! 

THREE: Look at the scoreboard. 

It’s easy to think that our ways are the best- at least the best for ourselves. It’s not uncommon to hear businesses preaching about their great strategy or product that you need. From a content perspective brands often get caught up in vanity metrics. We need to be thinking about results results results, How those engagement metrics and brand building content campaigns are also nurturing new data – new leads and new opportunities for the business. 

In 2020 it’s one of the most exciting times in content marketing, so if you’d like a fresh opinion and some more information on what we see happening in the world of content, we’d love to chat about how your content can provoke consumer action  

Talk to us here

It’s been an exciting 2019 for team 3rdspace, with 2020 fast approaching, here’s three ways we have brought our clients content missions to life.

We’ve helped ask inspiring questions and started new narratives for our nation. Guided by our friends at EY, we’ve learnt all about asking better questions. In two content series, we’re asking better questions to build a vision for a national digital transformation through LinkedIn and Digital platforms:

We’ve addressed the digital culture change, including the shift toward artificial intelligence and generating sustainable climate change responses. The personal skills needed to facilitate this change were also challenged. All in all, we’re collaborating to build a vision for a national digitaltransformation.
https://www.ey.com/en_au/oce-digital-transformation/conversation-with-the-nation

In series two, we simplified what this digital culture change means for the next generation. To talk to the future in the flesh, we invited some dynamic duo’s to discuss this in a segment we like to call CEO’s and Teens. Making this digital transformation a reality, we worked together to answer the hard questions.
http://ey.com/nextgeneration

Working alongside the team at NEC, we’ve facilitated a B2B content marketing solution to drive greater awareness of NEC’s Let’s Play to win mantra. Even as one of the worlds leading tech companies, NEC has celebrated the power of inspiring and compelling content. Teaming up with their sponsored sporting ambassadors Dylan Alcott and r Joseph Deng, we launched series of seven high impact films, a microsite and an opportunity to meet the stars and a training session.
https://vimeo.com/344941077

2019 also brought disruption to the world of travel agents where we hosted the first ever, live Globus Game Show. Pitting travel agents against each other to test their travel and product knowledge. Reeling in Globus partnered travel agents from around the nation to crown the first ever Travel Agent Champion! In a world-first B2B content marketing experience, 3rdspace have set the bar high, bringing to life the brand’s tone of voice like it has never been done before.

2020 will be a year where the amount of content from brands will almost double. So with the New Year coming up, here are a few things to start thinking about.

1. Quality is King

While there is a lot of discussion around lessening dwell times due to more and more content being created by brands… quality content that relates to the audience will not only stop thumbs, it will have people leaning in and getting involved.

2. Influences- micro or mega

At 3rdspace, we continue to prove that a systematic approach to social media influencer marketing is the best way to enforce this category. 2019 showed us that 95% of businesses adopted an influencer marketing strategy (Starita, Nov 2019). As the metrics on social platforms continue to change in 2020, it’s about defining a strong content strategy and defining what the brand wants to communicate, collaborating with influencers to co create a single minded evolving story that reflects your brand to provoke consumer involvement.

3. To Tik Tok or not to Tik Tok

While the numbers on the platform are open to a lot of questioning, tapping into the zeitgeist for millennial audiences with tactics that engage the audience to create their own content and post is a great way to build time with brand on this platform. Big ups to Fanta’s Cauldron Challenge’ for Halloween.

Tapping into the moment that saw Tik Tok influencers encourage their followers to unleash their creativity by making bold and imaginative Halloween costumes and sharing them on the platform.

4. Purpose matters

In two surveys conducted by the Huff Post America and Canada, consumers were said to buy brands that reflect their personal values and beliefs, and are staying away from brands that don’t. In Canada, this represented 55% of consumers, and 64% of American consumers. As we all know, Aussies are a lot more discerning, so we estimate a figure of around 70%, but will be conducting our own research in 2020.

5. Customer experience will matter more than price and product

Right now, high quality products are more feasible than ever. To stay in the game, customer experience will make or break your business and sway consumer choices to support your business, with 60% of consumers willing to pay more for a better experience. So more than ever from a content perspective think about the long tail in your content strategy, what is the content you are delivering to them not only through awareness, consideration and reason to purchase but what content are you delivering to highlight how much you value them that adds value to their lives to create brand love?

If you’d like to chat about your 2020 content plans, we’d love to have a conversation with you.

Connect here.

“There has been more content generated in the last 2 years
than in the history of mankind”
(Forbes).

This statement is truly mind blowing. It’s also scary to think that the amount of content produced is expected to continue to grow exponentially each year.

Take a minute to ask yourself these questions;

• Why are you creating content?
• What is it doing for your brand?
• How are you differentiating from your competitors?
• How is your audience reacting?
• How is your content provoking action?

If the answers aren’t entirely clear, perhaps your brand is simply getting caught in all that content clutter? To cut through, brands need a well-defined content strategy.  

Recently, 3rdspace joined forces with LinkedIn Marketing Solutions to share key insights with over 60 marketers about the importance of the right content strategy.

Content strategy starts with your core purpose and your audience at the heart. A well-defined strategy will align your audience with your brand around shared values. It will help define how your brand adds value to your audience’s lives. It establishes your brand’s tone of voice and helps differentiate your brand from the competitive set. The right content strategy will ensure your brand is on a mission to provoke action.

Building the right content mission is the key to a successful content strategy. A content mission is not the creative solution, it is a ‘guiding light’ for the content which you create and helps determine exactly what you want your content to achieve. It defines how will it involve the consumer in an engaging way and most importantly, how it will provoke action.

If your brand doesn’t have a well defined content strategy and you feel that you’re simply getting lost in all that clutter, you should talk to 3rdspace! contact us here.

OUR TOP 5 CONTENT ENGAGEMENT TIPS

 
As a LinkedIn Marketing Partner, 3rdspace recently joined the LinkedIn Marketing Solutions team to share key insights with over 60 marketers,helping them to unlock their brand’s potential on the LinkedIn platform. If you weren’t part of the presentation, never fear…here’s our top 5 content engagement tips.

1. Develop a well-defined content strategy

We can’t stress enough the importance of a well-defined content strategy. Creating and posting ‘content for content sake’ is simply adding to the clutter. Great content strategy starts with your core purpose and your audience at the heart. It will sperate your brand from the competitive set and ensure your content is on a mission to provoke action.

Is your brand getting caught in the content clutter? Perhaps we can help!

2. Leverage the voice of your customers or employees

Great content strategy is human at the heart. Leveraging the power of the people behind your brand or your consumers gives your content authenticity, makes your content more believable and is a powerful way to bring your tone of voice to life.

In this powerful campaign for Study Gold Coast, 3rdspace placed students at the heart of our content to demonstrate how they celebrate and embrace cultural  diversity while studying on the Gold Coast. The students are clearly the stars.

See the content here https://3rdspace.com.au/portfolio_page/study-gold-coast/

3. Use high impact visual images with a clear call to action

Visual images are the new headlines and can be the biggest factor in determining engagement. Differentiating from the crowd by using real people or unexpected high-impact visuals, imagery and graphics will help ensure your content grabs immediate attention in the feed. You can also mix it up a little by A/B testing different imagery to optimize results, while ensuring all your content has a consistent brand thread, reflective of your tone of voice. It’s also important your content has a clear call to action and that you leverage every opportunity to provoke an action, which could link to further content, more engagement or the capturing of data.

4. Include hero films to bring your brand to life

Don’t underestimate the power of film content to drive deeper levels of engagement. Powerful hero films deliver impact and inspire trust and confidence in your brand. The power of storytelling has the ability, to generate deep emotions, move your audience and provoke action.

Here’s an example of how 3rdspace delivered a hero film content campaign for NEC which brought their brand value to life.

https://3rdspace.com.au/portfolio_page/nec-lets-play-to-win/

5. Make your content a two-sided conversation

One of our most important engagement tips is also one of the simplest - ask questions. Social platforms are made to enable a two-sided conversation. The simple role of posing a well-defined question to a targeted audience about a thought-provoking topic can drive deep levels of engagement around your brand.

3rdspace recently developed a powerful thought leadership campaign for EY which called upon business leaders to take part in the conversation. The campaign successfully drove engagement from senior business leaders including CEO’s, c-suite and board members.

See the campaign here https://www.ey.com/en_au/oce-digital-transformation/conversation-with-the-nation

 If you’d like to learn more and make your content more engaging, you should most certainly talk to 3rdspace! contact us here.

Aussies love a bit of a skirmish - that’s why we love sport.

If we look at why we love sport, there are some insights that can help brands cut through with their content marketing strategy.

Be brave - Be bold

We’ve just come out of 2 weeks of football finals. The teams that made it to the grand finals were the ones who not only had a strong strategy, but also were prepared to pivot if their game plan was being blocked.

It’s very relevant when it comes to a content marketing strategy - months out, the plan may have looked solid, but when it goes live, it’s not ticking all the boxes you wanted it to. In sport they are AB testing all season - the same goes with your content. If you are having viewer drop off or not getting the involvement planned - be bold and not only AB test but ABCD, re-edit, re-design... and also try things that are not considered “best practice”, as the commentators don’t know everything.

Take it up to the opposition

A bit of friendly heckling will cut through.

As much as we love the skills of the players, we love it when there is a bit of friendly heckling - and when things are not right the fans let the umpire know.

When we ran an audit on the LinkedIn platform of the most engaged content over 3 months, on top was a piece talking about Aldi smashing Coles and Woolies, proving audiences even in a business environment love a bit of a stouch. If it’s done with humour even better; for example, the way Burger King take it up to McDonald's in Europe - but for some reason in this territory, everyone wants to play so safe.

Going up against a leading brand is not for the faint hearted , but if you have the proof points, it can be a way to reposition a brand and cut through with a challenger content strategy very quickly, and if your content is speaking a truth, people will pick up on it and share.

Celebrate your stars 

Yes there is the contest; but sport, like content, is all about establishing who your stars are, whether they be the leader of the business, a personality/influencer, a great piece of creative, your staff or a customer. It’s all about not only highlighting them but also the back story and why they are so relevant to your brand, like the story of Marlin Picket debuting in the grand final for Richmond... it almost became as big as the win itself.

Build a culture that supports the fans and involves them in the game experience

The legendary Kevin Sheedy is a coach that does this better than anyone else, with initiatives way back, like the mums supporter group, that was all about creating community events for mums away from football at the club. I’m sure you can think of a piece of content in sport where a star has taken time to do more than sign an autograph. Make sure your content really works hard to involve the audience, but make it look and feel effortless and genuine.

Admit when you screwed up

A great coach and team will admit when they got the play wrong, as in content marketing. A day in social can be like a lifetime, so if something does go wrong, own it, apologise for it and take immediate steps to fix it. This one may also be useful for a certain referee who called six again on Sunday night...

 

We can talk content marketing and sport all day, so if you’d like to chat contact us here.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll already know that Instagram recently started removing the ‘likes’ count from its in-app experience, coming as a shock to Insta-lovers and influencers alike.

Now Facebook, Instagram’s parent company, is following suit by also testing the removal of the likes count, starting this month in Australia. Much like the Instagram change, soon Facebook users won’t be able to see the total number of likes on posts other than their own. This change is aimed at making the platform ‘feel less like a competition’ – demanding a re-focus on Facebook’s purpose of personal content-sharing, rather than posting content for the sake of driving popularity.

The decision to trial the removal of the like count on the Facebook platform comes from “a positive overall trend across both of the platforms” and to “help people focus less on likes and more on telling their story” says Mia Garlick, director of policy at Facebook ANZ. “We want to see whether removing the visibility of the likes and reaction count increases the value that people find when they’re connecting and sharing on Facebook. So do people find that this helps them focus on the quality of the interactions, rather than getting distracted by the quality of likes and reactions?”

Since the emergence of social media in the mid-2000’s, ‘likes’ have quantified our popularity across social platforms almost as much as a brands’ follower count or subscriber list. The linking of the two - popularity and likes - has become a visual representation of an influencer or brand’s validity and trustworthiness – the higher the number of ‘likes’ on a post, the more ‘social credibility’ the user has won. Data derived from ‘like’ and engagement metrics may indeed mean that content is great or highly engaging, but this isn’t always the case. Time and time again we’re noticing content out there that isn’t great but has a lot of likes. Why? Well, it’s no secret that services that enable buying likes and followers exist – in fact, so many people and businesses seem to be doing it, that ‘like’ metrics have largely become unreliable measures of a post’s true traction. This is no doubt one of the reasons at the forefront of Facebook and Instagram’s decision to remove the metric altogether. 

But what does the removal of the likes count mean for content creators? The hope held by Instagram and Facebook is that by removing the emphasis on likes, users will be encouraged to post more “authentic” content, without worrying about how many likes it gets. For content creators, the removal of the like count may mean an increased frequency in posting and activity on social media platforms due to less “posting pressure” to only post content that’s likely to garner likes. Where we once lived in a world that only rewarded truly engaging content with a double-tap or a thumbs-up, we can now throw all caution (and care) to the wind and post content that we truly want to post – regardless of whether we think it will prove to be popular with the likers. Does this mean brands should start posting five times a day, no matter how valuable the content? Absolutely not. 

Successful content creators know that when it comes to sharing content, quality will always trump quantity. Just because your audience can no longer keep an eye on how many likes your posts are accumulating certainly doesn’t mean you should post every BTS photo your business can produce. If anything, the removal of the likes count should come as a signal for brands to focus on posting quality content with purpose that is really going to resonate with the audience they’re trying to reach. With ‘likes’ becoming such a casual vanity metric (think of how many times you’ve ‘liked’ a post without looking at it for longer than 3 seconds), it’s no surprise that Instagram and Facebook are nudging content creators to consider moving beyond the ‘like’ metric in the hopes that they’ll strive to achieve results with meaning. Moving forward, considering the engaged audience’s demographics and rate of click-throughs will become powerful indicators of a content campaign’s success. 

At the end of the day, content creators need to remember that behind that ‘like’ button sits a human being who is physically engaging with their content. Beyond the ‘like’, businesses need to be considering what value their content adds to the lives of their audience. We can hope that as a result, we start to see a reduction in the amount of ‘engagement-bait’ posts – “double-tap if you agree!” – and an increase in content that actually makes social media a good place to be. 

Do you believe in life after likes?

One of the reasons we focus on our client's purpose is this: when a value or belief resonates from the inside out it has the power to define, unite and propel a business to great growth. Purpose doesn’t need to be charity or cause marketing, but it needs to encapsulate how the business adds value to people’s lives and it needs be owned by the senior team and the board of a business.

The best brands we work with know their purpose and live it through every part of the business. They use that purpose not as an advertising strap line or a content campaign burst, but as a guiding light for everything they do.

We’ve been working with the team at The NRMA for almost five years and the reason the content we create with them resonates is because it lives their purpose.

Rohan Lund, his talented team and the board make big decisions around their purpose: “To keep people moving”. This drives their major acquisitions, from investing in holiday parks to the Manly Fast Ferry service. It also helps us, as content creators, generate a content mission and relevant content-led campaigns.

Whether it be an internal welcome clip for new staff:

or a content-led campaign that highlights the work they do in the community.

The P word in Europe

This year in Cannes the P word came up a lot. And the notion that when you’re running your business and telling your purpose story, you can’t be partly committed.

Unilever CEO Alan Jope wrote a blog that called out brands for cause-washing and woke-washing, which pollutes purpose.

"It’s putting in peril the very thing which offers us the opportunity to help tackle many of the world’s issues and, in doing so, to build our brands,” he said. "What’s more, it threatens to further destroy trust in our industry, when it’s already in short supply. Marketing has a titanic trust problem." 

The proof is in the numbers. On June 11 in London, Big Al announced that their purpose-led, Sustainable Living Brands are growing 69% faster than the rest of the business and delivering 75% of the company’s growth. Addressing the Deutsche Bank conference, Alan said:

“Two-thirds of consumers around the world say they choose brands because of their stand on social issues, and over 90% of millennials say they would switch brands for one which champions a shared belief or cause... Purpose creates relevance for a brand, it drives talkability, builds penetration and reduces price elasticity,”

Unilever’s commitment is so strong that in the future, he says,  every Unilever brand will be a brand with purpose.

Back in our patch

In a catch-up I had last week with the CMO of a big FMCG group, he mentioned the Purpose word had become over used – probably owing to some marketers and agencies giving it lip service and then serving up tactical price-point or product-proof solutions.

Personally I believe you have to nurture your purpose, live it through every action the brand takes, and tell the story in a way that is compelling and relevant to your audience, so they want to get involved and join your brand’s crusade.

So have a think about your why, how it aligns to your personal values and the cultural context of your customers. Then ask yourself whether you’re nurturing your brand purpose to its full potential, or just giving it lip service.

Our goal at 3rdspace is to help more businesses define their purpose with our content mission process. If you’d like to find out more drop us a note.

---

Rob Logan is the founder and head of content at 3rdspace - The Content Company

All across socials last night were images and tributes to Robert J. Hawke.  

Why?

Because Bob had purpose.

Bob was plugged in to cultural context and had great insight.

Bob had a distinct personality and tone of voice.

Bob was a person of action and courage.

Like a good content strategy, he and what his team set out to achieve was to tell a story and create positive change in the world.

Unfortunately, I’m not sure if the main contenders for this election, will have the same impact and unfortunately the parties behind them are surrounded by very un-purposeful tacticians, that have got trapped into a lobbyist way of thinking.

In a nutshell their model is:

What do we stand for?  A good start.

What will they say about it and us. (= fear)

What will we say about them (=The lowest hanging fruit for campaigning)

Unfortunately, the “leaders” are letting the highly paid and insight-less tacticians run their race - including social tactics using micro influencers with negative, foundless smear content.

In an age where brands, leaders and political parties have so many fantastic personalised resources available to them – they treat their audiences with a lack of respect and resort to the most basic of messaging and lack of imagination in telling their story.

All we can hope is that the memory of Bob inspires new potential leaders to step up and have a go, with a focus on what our culture and community needs. Hopefully having a clearly defined purpose to create positive action in our country.

If you can find them on Saturday, I think you may have to look outside the brat pack.

---------------

The views of the author are the views of 3rdspace.com.au