Context is King: Samira Hrach, Havas Germany

da India Fizer , AdForum

Havas Germany
Advertising/Full Service/Integrata
Düsseldorf, Germania
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Samira Hrach
Social Media Consultant Havas Germany
 

Havas Germany's Social Media Consultant, Samira Hrach, on the importance of truly understanding your audience's needs in navigating social media's rapidly evolving landscape.


How has the pandemic affected the way consumers use social media and which platform is the most relevant to your agency?

In times of social distancing caused by the global pandemic, social media platforms and people’s usage behavior as well as motivation have changed quite a lot. This change in usage is not only expressed in screen time spent, new platforms sprouting from the ground, or how often someone opens a specific social media app per hour rather than in the ultimate focus on content. New discussions about mental health and social problems have massively impacted today’s social media content, its dynamic, and eventually the individual usage of platforms.

I’d say there are two crucial types of trends that we can observe on social media platforms: The first one is attitude – openness, activism, and taking a stand. The second one is the craving for entertainment and variety. While relevant social topics like climate change, racism, the German “Querdenker” movement, or the mental impact of the pandemic have created a new need for authenticity and activism on social media platforms, the social isolation that comes with the pandemic has given social media platforms simultaneously a new vibe of entertainment and “senseless consumption”. Almost compared to zapping mindlessly through different TV channels, TikTok videos, Instagram Reels as well as YouTube shorts serve that kind of modern entertainment need that is able to fill the everyday void caused by missed experiences during a pandemic. If we cannot experience things ourselves, we want to have the simulation.

As an agency working for client-centric brands, it is the most relevant to understand and finally master balancing acts and human tensions like these. To create meaningful content in the most entertaining and authentic way – true to a brand’s core, meaningful to the individual and the situation they’re in and distributed where they are.  That’s why I wouldn’t hop on the bandwagon and say “TikTok it is” because context is king. Still, TikTok is non-deniably on the rise and a great opportunity for brands and agencies as well.

 

The rise of social media platforms has made them key to brand recognition. In what ways does your agency utilize social media to inform/engage your audience and how do you see that evolving?

For us and for agencies in general, I see a huge evolvement towards entertainment and authenticity. To inform or engage our audience, we serve different platforms with customized content to certain objectives and target groups. One of our latest projects for example involved setting up our corporate TikTok account that emphasizes our expertise in topics relevant for creative agencies and talents in the industry. To be authentic and recognizable, we plan on bringing our own talents and their profound knowledge into focus on this platform.

 

To what degree does the innovative use of media by agencies and companies shape the way new media evolves?

From my perspective, we need to reflect upon this oppositely. Especially in the field of social media, it is crucial to constantly observe the target group, its pain points, and its behavior on social networks to stay up to date and go with the newest trends. On social media platforms, it is about understanding the needs of the audience and seeing how marketing activities can fit in to achieve the biggest outcome. The usage of social media platforms by the audience needs to shape marketing activities and not the other way round. The hardest part about this is to adjust towards the fast-upcoming trends by analyzing quickly how they can be integrated into the social media strategy. A huge tolerance towards testing different options and being open to failure and revision is fundamental.

 

What contemporary forms of new media are you planning on using to reach audiences?

As a creative agency, video content has always been a focus in our daily work. But due to the already demonstrated changes in social media consumption, this kind of content is undergoing a change that will most likely continue to evolve in the future. All social media platforms – notably of course TikTok – show a huge focus on short-form video content that can be consumed fast and easily. This development shaped the way how stories are told in social networks nowadays. The dramaturgy of social media content needs to adapt towards this and therefore social ads designed by creative agencies as well. Video content requires simple but effective storytelling with visually appealing images and native transitions. To reach social media audiences in the best way, short-form video content will maintain a strong focus.