Watching the promotional video for a friend’s new product recently, I found myself really engaged. It was a beautiful piece with vibrant imagery. Whomever produced the video worked hard and the finished product was well worth watching. It was compelling, visually. It was a piece of art.
Great art alone never sold anything
But nothing in the piece told me what the product was, why I might use it or how I can even buy it.
Great art serves a purpose. But great art alone never sold anything. For that, you need great copy.
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Great advertising can often be found at the balance between art and science. Compelling creative drives curiosity. Testing optimizes response. Revised creative drives action. Rinse and repeat and you’ve got yourself a pretty successful campaign.
The same is true for social media communications. Whether it’s content in the form of a blog post or Tweet, video or mobile application, the creative — either copy or art or a combination of the two — elicits the initial response. Measurement and testing, like with compelling advertising, should then be implemented to ensure the audience is responding in the intended fashion. The creative can then be revised and optimized, often through multiple iterations, to ensure the communications goals are being met.
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