#BizTrends2024: Jordan Major - Instead of trying to do everything, do the simple things exceptionally well

Image supplied. In his second #BizTrends2024 piece Rapt Creative’s strategy lead: culture & innovation, Jordan Major, says instead of trying to do everything, do the simple things exceptionally well

As my skills continue to mature in the kitchen, I find myself less enticed by the allure of a trending TikTok recipe, or some new creation by the likes of Ottolenghi.

Instead, I gravitate towards the more classic and uncomplicated dishes where quality ingredients and bold flavours meet harmoniously.

Just as food seems to inspire my personal life, I am discovering how such a philosophy around simplicity appears to be influencing my profession as well – particularly when it comes to social media.

Brand storytelling an increasingly arduous task

The complexity across platforms and sheer scale of content available in today's landscape has made the role of brand storytelling an increasingly arduous task – and created new challenges to match.

Solely organic content no longer has any significant reach.

Influencers, who were once an admirable addition to any social strategy, are now content creators who are a necessity for most campaigns.

Paid social which was leveraged to amplify organic creative, is now increasingly shifting to meet more performance marketing objectives.

And the list goes on.

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Shifting towards a brand- and community-building channel

But with the right perspective, these challenges can become opportunities.

For the year ahead, the ideology I hope more strategists adopt is good old KISS* – doing less in much more impactful ways instead of attempting to do everything with varying degrees of execution.

The shift begins with being decisive in what stories not to tell, to define and to create the best stories for the brand.

It is a shift from the perception of social media (especially organic) being a de-facto channel to communicate anything and everything happening in a business, shifting towards a brand- and community-building channel.

To some, this may seem controversial – doing less intentionally in a market space dominated by more of everything.

But in our line of work, we find ourselves in the unique predicament that specific situations call for specific solutions.

Intentional in more audience segmentation

Unfortunately, unlike coffee, sunlight or sex – creativity is subjective and doesn’t make everyone happy.

And in line with this philosophy of being more intentional in the role, that (organic) content plays in the overall digital mix, being more intentional in telling fewer overall stories for greater overall impact, we need to be especially intentional in more audience segmentation.

Against the backdrop of this more intentional approach comes the question of the ‘bigger picture’.

If the role of social should pivot towards a very intentional brand and community-building one, how do we leverage more performance-focused tools and strategies?

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Find a balance

The solution is to find a balance between brand and performance where a unified strategy between creative and media takes channels and content into consideration.

It should also be intentional around the touchpoints most appropriate for the brand versus those fit for performance.

This unified approach of creative and media under a single, consolidated offering makes for greater efficiencies in addressing commercial challenges through creative solutions.

If history has taught us anything for our business, it is that the past can enable us to shift from the present to the future.

In the words of television’s favourite adman Don Draper, “Make it simple, but significant.”

*KISS, as we all know, stands for Keep It Simple, Stupid.