Mixed Emotions Live 2023: the key takeaways

How do you ensure that your story makes a lasting impact, and how do you thereby enhance the sustainability of our message?

On Thursday 28 September, two content marketers from Traffic Today attended Mixed Emotions Live, organised by Emotion Apeldoorn: a Marcom festival focusing on trends, advertising, marketing, interaction and sustainability. We’d like to share our key takeaways from this event with you.

We’ve forgotten the story

In today’s fast-paced digital world, it seems we have lost sight of our story: the message your company wants to stand for. We have become fixated on attracting consumers one step at a time. As a result, you may well lose sight of the core of your business. Yet this is precisely what is so important when it comes to conveying your story. This situation is therefore largely caused by digitalisation, which has swept us up in a whirlwind of fleeting emotions rather than deeper feelings.

Digital paradox

Digitalisation has taken hold of us. In an era where emotions are often fleeting – much like swiping on Tinder – we seem to be neglecting feelings of deeper connection. So the emotions are there, but they fail to make an impact. That is why we must ask ourselves: how can we bring a lasting connection with our consumers back into our stories and messages? Fixating on specific aspects of marketing can hinder our message and jeopardise its spontaneity and authenticity. Playfulness, openness and flexibility are the key elements to making our message sustainable.

Brain-friendly content

How do we translate these concepts into written content? Make your text brain-friendly: use headings and subheadings that capture emotion, keep text blocks short and in clear language, avoid jargon, and keep sentences to an average of 12 words. Make your story flow by varying sentence lengths and avoid weak words such as ‘hope’, ‘will’ and ‘may’. Don’t forget that visitors shouldn’t have to think; they want to have a human conversation with you, not read a Google search result. In this regard, we can still learn from Robert Cialdini’s principles of influence and persuasion, which centre on genuine human interaction.

The ABC method for short videos

Social Media is evolving rapidly, and short-form video content is becoming increasingly important. Platforms such as TikTok bring people together based on shared interests in content. It is no longer just about socialising with friends, but also about socialising and connecting with strangers who share the same interests in content. Algorithms determine who goes viral, and the workings of these algorithms can sometimes seem elusive.

So how do you respond to these ‘elusive’ algorithms? By using sustainable content to drive KPIs such as watch time, saves, shares and followers. To create sustainable content, you can use the ABC method: Grab attention by tapping into what interests people, offer strong content (Body) and finish with a compelling Call-to-Action (Closure) to encourage engagement. This way, you can leave a lasting impression. And don’t forget: whatever works on TikTok often works on other channels too, such as YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels. So don’t be afraid to cross-post.

Rediscovering our story

We must therefore once again recognise the importance of emotion, authenticity and human interaction in our messaging. In doing so, we create a lasting impact, ensuring that the story is not lost in the whirlwind of digitalisation.

Would you also like to make your message more sustainable? Let our content marketers know and we’ll be happy to get to work for you!