Shifting the Direct to Consumer View of Social Media

Social media is widely seen as an online platform to communicate with friends and family, along
with taking in news or sharing moments of one’s personal life. Many people around the world
use these social media apps and websites for such personal purposes, but excessive use can lead
to addictions of the media, causing problems such as “Zombie Scrolling Syndrome” (mindless
scrolling on platforms), depression among younger users due to comparing themselves to people
others who they think are “above them”, taking in misinformation, and even leading to physical
problems such as back pains and eye problems. But this can be a tool rather than a burden and
this engaged audience can be open to positive advertising messaging from direct to consumer
marketers who offer products and services which solve problems.

Mindless scrolling and irrelevant information intake are a huge contrast to what can be achieved
when taking advantage of social media and its power. Instead of worrying about Tom Holland’s
thoughts on becoming Spiderman, think about teaching and learning and entertaining by
advertising properly to certain audiences, creating d2c relevant outreach, forming connections
with people of similar interests/passion, and working with positive promotions for people. All of
these things can be done on social media, and the tools and information necessary are there.
Insights, analytics, campaigns, collaboration are incredibly useful tools which are provided by
social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, etc.

Using Social media advertising to enhance people’s lives rather than contributing to the zombie
scrolling can contribute beneficially to the consumer in addition to hopefully turning them on to
products and services which can help make their lives better.
Many direct to consumer marketers realize the value of these tools and concepts, and utilize them
to the fullest extent, while also conducting their own research on things relevant to them (e.g.
hashtags, platform algorithms, etc.). Smaller companies can compete with companies many
times their size in social media by simply keeping consistency with things like posting at the
right time, advertising their products to the right audience, collaborating with other business
owners, etc.

In the end, it is the user who chooses how they use social media, whether it’s to benefit
themselves in a variety of ways, or to be swallowed by the media. The tools to enable good
outcomes for all can benefit both consumers and marketers alike.