Are You the Content or the Commercial?

We get to choose.

Though, for most businesses, the choice wasn’t clear at the beginning:

“I want people to see me on Instagram, so I must run Instagram Ads.” This is a half-truth. It’s true that some people will see you on Instagram if you run Instagram Ads. But do they want to see you? Do you tune into your favorite TV shows for the commercials, or the content?

“I want to serve people where they are, for my audience that’s Instagram.” When you’re the content, not the commercial, something special happens. If most of your audience is on Instagram, if you’re genuinely being of service, even those who don’t normally use it will visit your profile, just for you.

We go to the content that serves us, whenever we can. We go away from commercials that distract us, whenever we can.

Commercials serve an important introductory role in many campaigns for many important bodies of work. But is the goal to be a perpetual distraction, or a place they go out of their way to visit, just to spend time with you?