Chamber member Elliott Cockett from TDR Studio explores how shifting social media habits are reshaping marketing and why businesses need to adapt if they want to reach today’s audiences.

We know social media is a powerful tool for businesses, but the way people consume content is changing faster than ever.

If you had asked someone 10 years ago to imagine what would change in their life some 3,652 days later, you would expect them to say all the typical things: job advancement, life partners, home owning, maybe a small dog. 

What you wouldn’t expect to come out of their mouth is that they would spend a large amount of their day, week even, scrolling on their phone repetitively, looking at content they probably aren’t even half interested in. 

My screen-time tells me I spent 12 hours on social media last week. Oops. 

Out of roughly 84 waking hours a week, that’s about 14% gone. Once you knock out a 9-to-5, nearly a quarter of my free time is spent on social media. 

For people aged 18-55, the average is estimated at 17.5 hours a week. That’s 35.7% of their free time, over a third. 

I don’t intend to talk about why social media is bad. In fact, for a business, those numbers are less a warning and more like a broker getting tomorrow’s stock prices. 

30 to 40% of the content you scroll through on Facebook, Instagram and Tiktok is estimated ‘stealth marketing’. Consider this the “wolf in sheep’s clothing” of social media. It’s organic content that brings entertainment value to its viewer, but is actually from a business’ account with an agenda. 

The truth is the budgets have shifted, but the marketing itself has not. 

It’s still about content people actually want to watch. It’s product placement. Hang on, we’ve seen this before. 

The 80’s were packed with product placement. Turns out E.T. loves Coca-Cola. Marty McFly travelled to 2015 and ordered a “Pepsi Perfect”. 

The key difference here is that whilst fizzy-drinks giants can afford to spend the big bucks getting on the big screen, it’s now possible for smaller companies to achieve similar recognition and reach from a far smaller budget.  

Why does this matter to you then? Remember the figures I gave you earlier.

18-55 is a typical demographic for most businesses. You now know your key audience spends over a third of their free time on social media.  

Here’s a strategy to follow with your marketing. 70/20/10.

70% organic reels for entertaining, 20% for community content. 10% strictly boosted ads for your business. Get that mix right and you’re not interrupting people’s scroll. You’re the reason they’re scrolling.

And if you haven’t the time to make it, that’s where we come in. 

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