On January 25, the Film and TV Industry Club in a special collaboration with the Marketing Club hosted their first event of the year on “Social Media’s Entertainment Era.” Guest speakers at the event featured Silvia Velasco Praga, the CEO of Be a Lion, Luis de Val CEO of YouPlanet and Jaime Pérez-Seoane, the managing partner of Grupo Go.
The event, resembling a panel discussion, saw a representative from the Film and TV Industry posing questions to speakers. Topics covered included social media, TV, branded content, producing relevant audience-focused content, marketplace of attention, and varied media consumption habits—subjects explored in this article.
How is social media replacing TV?
After introducing the guest speakers, the discussion began around how more people are switching from TV landscapes to browsing social media. The students shared their personal experiences with watching TV and only two people raised their hands when the moderator inquired about the current prevalence of TV viewership. A significant portion of the students prefer consuming movies and TV-based content on such platforms as Netflix and YouTube. Additionally, all the students agreed on being active users of social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok, where they watch content of all sorts.
All of the guests agreed on the fact that the TV industry is not just experiencing a decline in viewership, it’s also facing a loss in advertising opportunities, which is a significant revenue source. Companies are now more relying on influencers on digital platforms to advertise their products rather than on channels. The main reason is that TV’s target audience is transforming from traditional media to digital, where they seek various advertisements. The influencers are the ones who advertise the product in a variety of ways to benefit the partner companies.
How to stand out as an influencer?
During this event, another crucial topic explored was the different strategies for standing out as an influencer in the digital world. The guest speakers shared their personal opinions regarding this topic and they mostly agreed on such aspects as being unique and producing relevant content. Standing out by being unique ensures that the audience stays consistently interested in the content produced by the influencer.
Another important aspect discussed was to produce relevant content that is interesting for the audience. To ensure that an influencer needs to explore the audience’s interests and connect the content with them. As the speakers emphasized, “Information can be everything” stressing the importance of effectively connecting this information with the audience.
One interesting question posed by one of the participants was about reaching the local audience in the new country they had recently moved to. The speakers mostly agreed on collaborating with local influencers in a variety of ways and reaching local audiences. It is worth mentioning that collaborating with influencers is key to reaching diverse groups of people and ensuring trust with the audience.
How to be unique in promoting?
The concept of branded content was an important common thread throughout the discussion. The guest speakers drew the participant’s attention to such important aspects as being viral in promoting different products. The key point of being viral is to produce short TikToks or short videos on YouTube. Nowadays, people do not spend a lot of time watching one single video, and influencers have a limited amount of time to catch people’s attention.
Moreover, effectively engaging in a variety of branded content forms guarantees reaching more people. An influencer has to ensure that the content is relevant and promote it through various creative and engaging methods, including short videos, effective storytelling, live sessions and other similar types of interactive content.
The “Social Media Entertainment Era” event was a success, bringing together people from a variety of backgrounds, including both successful influencers and beginners. The event’s format, as well as the audience’s questions, made it truly interactive.
Photo by: Jakob Owens
