Unfiltered, unpolished, unapologetic. Could the age of the carefully crafted Instagram feed be coming to an end? As marketers and content creators, we sure as hell hope so!

The aesthetically pleasing “Instagram look” has saturated our newsfeeds for years now, with brands, influencers and everyday users bearing the burden of living up to these impossibly high standards.

You know the formula: the camping scene featuring a guy with headlamp and glowing tent; a “candid” capture of a woman looking pensively out from her glamping teepee; and the couple perched atop an infinity pool overlooking a dramatic backdrop. Craft a quippy caption and you’ll have social media gold– or so we thought.

Businesses of all sizes have agonized over their Insta grid and infused significant amounts of cash into content creation to meet the demand. The result has been a fixation on perfection and polish, rather than authenticity; an aesthetic checklist rather than an authenticity gut check. The common result of this obsession has meant that individuals and brands new to social media were intimidated to jump in, for fear of not producing gleaming content.

But, the tides are changing. The “Instagram look” is no longer capturing attention the way it once did.

Alas, there’s a new no-fuss generation emerging and they are not falling for the painstakingly twee social media feeds of the past. The style of content produced by this fresh new crop of influencers like @Double3Exposure, is raw, grainy and perfectly imperfect. And, waiting in the wings of this 20-something Generation Z, is an onslaught of youth with bigger fish to fry. The generation that started the Extinction Rebellion, they charge forward with role models like climate crisis influencer Gretta Thunburg and school shooting survivor, turned anti-gun warrior, Emma González.

It’s just an assumption, but perhaps people are waking up to the fact that there are more important things to worry about than spending hours capturing the perfect Instagram photo.

“Culture is a pendulum, and the pendulum is swaying,” Matt Klein, a cultural strategist at the consultancy Sparks & Honey, told the Atalantic in a recent interview. 

And thus, social media is slowly inching back towards its old school roots– lo-fidelity content. Handcrafted video, unfiltered images and raw, real-time storytelling make up a growing wave of “ugly social” that has taken our digital feeds by storm (again).

What’s different this time around is that we have better tools and more robust platform features to bring the lo-fi story to life than ever before. Smartphones have amazing cameras, there are countless apps can help us produce cheap and cheerful videos and Stories are pervasive. In fact, Facebook has confirmed that Stories feature will overtake the Newsfeed as the primary posting medium in 2019.

But, one question remains: In a world of lo-fi, what role does high quality video and professional photography play? For a brand, it is still important to have a balance of the two. Should we continue to invest in inspiring video and brand photography? Yes, but use it strategically and thoughtfully to tell big stories and connect with your “why”. Should we worry if our Instagram grid isn’t perfect?  Absolutely not.

Be real, be authentic, share your story! Embrace the lo-fi renaissance.

Need help getting started with your social media program? Get in touch and let’s chat! 

Depending on who you talk to, 2016 was a bit of a rough year. But, there was one silver lining: visual communication – spurred by the growth of mobile usage – continued to flourish. And, there’s no better form of visual communication than the emoji. After all, the Oxford Dictionary’s 2015 word of the year WAS an emoji.

While the emoji is nothing new to the Internet, 2016 marked a great evolution in the visual sets produced by Unicode, the company that is responsible for developing and licensing them.

So, you’re probably wondering why we’re talking emojis when there are many other societal concerns worth sharing: climate change, civil rights, war, politics and equality. Well, if you look closely you’ll find that the evolution of these visual icons in 2016 speaks to the cultural zeitgeist of our time. So, without further adieu, here are top emoji trends from 2016:

1.Playing with our food

Capturing photos of our dinner has been a thing since smartphones hit the scene back in the early 2000’s. Emojis simply complement the content by adding some colour commentary. But, sadly, the emoji selection has long been a sparse variety of sugary treats, a few veggies and couple sushi rolls.

This year, Unicode made great strides in developing emojis to reflect the world’s varied tastes in cuisine. In particular, the taco, bacon and hot dog made their debuts this year for the junk food lovers out there.  But, our collective hearts truly rejoiced when iOS’s latest update FINALLY introduced a selection of healthy produce, including carrots, a potato, and even a salad. The latest release also heralded the launch of the avocado – likely in honour of the avocado and toast phenomenon. There’s now even a farmer in the professionals category.

It appears our obsession with good food – and now healthy foods – continues to blossom.

2.Bridging the Gender Gap

 

 

 

In the original Unicode set, many of the “people” emojis were predominantly male – most notably the athletes and professionals. Women were merely represented in stereotypical roles like bride, dancer, or information desk girl .

However, with dialogue around female empowerment and equality having picked up steam due to high profile proponents such as Hillary Clinton, Malala Yousafzai, and Sheryl Sandberg, the public now demands that women are reflected more equally in all forms of media – including emojis.  The feminine hygiene brand, Always, even ran a campaign to demand more girls in the emoji suite through their #LikeAGirl campaign.

And just like that, we now wonderful selection of female emojis to choose from –  including a scientist, a doctor, a police woman, wrestlers, a surfer, a runner and much more!

What’s even more amazing, is that this diversity goes both ways, with new options for males to express their feminine side as well.

3.Self Expression

 

 

 

From face palms to selfies to mike drops, 2016 was ripe with colloquialism and gestures that have now become common ground amongst millennials and boomers alike. As emojis continue to grow in importance, the diverse offerings continue to expand too. This year, the launch of the “facepalm” emoji generated the most buzz of the year.

While, we are not always the most grammatically correct, by God we are honest and expressive. All that said, one word we could probably do without is “selfie”.

4.Finding Our Inner Unicorn

 

 

 

Despite all of the doom and gloom in the news towards the latter half of this year, imagination and mystery are not dead – and 2016’s varied emojis reflect that. In fact, the integration of mythical creatures like dragons  and unicorns (as well as a new selection of lesser known, but majestic animals like the red panda and owl) proves that now more than ever, the public wants to believe in and fantasize about something bigger than themselves – something outside the confines of our daily news cycle. And there’s nothing like a male and female David Bowie to remind us that we can be heroes – just for one day.

Needless to say, the hidden meanings of our 2016 emoji releases hold the key to a much more positive narrative – a hopeful one that offers great promise and optimism for the year ahead.

From our team to yours, we wish you an amazing New Year.

As we head into a busy holiday season and start planning for  a fresh new year in 2017, it’s time to set social media content goals for the year ahead. Having a solid social media strategy that ladders back to your business goals is one thing. But how do you execute your content marketing day to day?

Here are our 5 go-to planning tips to help you build richer, more insight-driven content.

1. Facebook Insights Portal

Facebook has really stepped up their game over the last few years in terms of arming marketers and content creators with research and trends to help inform their content development. Go down the marketing research wormhole with the Facebook Insights Portal and learn about seasonal trends, consumer buying behaviours and other fascinating info that will help you turn insights into action.

2.Google Search Trends

A healthy content calendar has a mix of evergreen and more timely, relevant storytelling. Get your finger on the pulse by visiting Google Trends daily. Mine insights across a variety of topics, including business, entertainment, technology and sports. This helpful tool can also break these trends down by country, which can be helpful if you have a global audience.

3.Historical Website Data

It’s stating the obvious, but sometimes you have to look back to where you were to determine where you want to go. That means reviewing your website analytics and top performing landing pages or historical blog posts is crucial to understanding the behaviour of your audience. Often times you can predict the seasonal interests of the audience based on performance from previous years.  Create a Google Analytics dashboard to give you a window into top performing past and present.

4.Ask Your Audience

Take the guesswork out of content planning and come right out to ask the audience what they want to see. You can be overt about it by doing a survey or a poll, or run a series of content tests to see what category they engage with the most. Use these insights to fuel your content and you will see your content performance jump in leaps and bounds.

5.Aggregate and Curate What’s Trending

There are about a bajillion places to mine and curate ideas from. Depending on your industry, you’ll have go-to blogs and news sources. Aggregate them using Twitter lists (yes, Twitter is still sort of a thing) or Flipboard so you can get all your trends, news and information in one place. And don’t forget about the folks who are attuned to the heartbeat of the Internet! Here are a few sources I check on a regular basis to see what’s trending:

• Reddit AKA “the front page of the internet”
• What’s Trending – a news site that specializes in top trending content
• Twitter Moments – a one-stop-shop for all things trending on Twitter

Do you need advice on planning your content calendar? Get in touch with us!