A Take on Relevancy

From funny cat videos to product offers, social media has quickly become the go-to place for many businesses and people alike. 
People like to share things about themselves for others to see. It has become something most of us keep up with on a daily basis. 

With the rise of social media platforms, the term relevancy becomes often used. Many people use the term to describe things that are “in” the moment, conversely the term irrelevant has also been used to describe things that are no longer popular. 

Relevancy on its own may often be thought to be one of the keys to keeping names and business companies alive among their audience, it is a way to polish their brand or personal image, connect with customers and make sales. This is easier on paper as staying relevant in practice is harder than it looks. Relevancy in itself is fickle in nature as new trends tend to come and go very quickly.

When dealing with the mass media, it is simply not possible to always stay on top, often people will experience bouts of fame before having something else take that spotlight from them, from which the cycle will only repeat. So the question now is, how do we remain relevant in the eyes of the people? There are a few factors that might come into play;

1. Flexibility

It is important to be able to adapt and evolve your content or marketing that follows the current trend. Those who are not able to customize their content to the trend will get left behind as people will become less and less interested with each new trend. 

It is essential to be able to grow with the people to stay relevant. For example back then, for entertainment, people were into watching videos that sounded more personal, in response, during that era content creators began to pander towards videos like storytimes, Get Ready With Me videos, and many more of the such. Soon after, the trend changed into shorter videos containing interesting and eye-catching content. 

Creators such as David Dobrik then rose to fame with his 4 minute long videos which documented often exciting events. On the other hand, people who couldn’t keep up with the change of trends were soon forgotten. Those who could manage to keep their content up on the trending page, garnering millions of views per video. Another example would be how nowadays, there seem to be more and more vegan restaurants opening. This too shows what the people are looking for. As a result, many previously meat-only restaurants now feature a vegan menu in an effort to adapt. 

2. All publicity is not good publicity
The saying “All publicity is good publicity” is often used when dealing with boosting a name on top of the trending list. But is it that good of a move? When bad publicity stunts are associated with a person or a brand, their names will most likely be making front pages on many different media outlets, but the negative light also has the risk of permanently damaging someone’s image in the eyes of the public.

Although some brands can recover and stay popular, many have also fallen into scrutiny as their public image becomes forever tainted, this especially becomes harder for smaller businesses who will find it harder to bounce back after a scandal. Trust and being seen in a good light is essential when running a business as well as it is when building your personal branding, so is it worth the risk?

3. Accountability 
In this era of digital media where it seems like your every move online can be easily tracked and viewed by anyone and everyone on the planet, it becomes harder to escape a scandal. It is not uncommon to see brands as well as celebrities or influencers getting in trouble with the public. With this said, the ability to take accountability becomes something important in order to redeem yourself after making a mistake. One wrong move can leave you on the bad side of the internet which could be fatal seeing as how the internet has become a huge part of our lives.

Source: https://www.relevance.com/how-to-stay-relevant/