Think context before content - A Nando's example

Photo by Anaya Katlego on Unsplash.

Context is king. Content is the prince

We’ve all heard the saying that content is king. But is it really? If content marketing was simple, everybody would get it right. How many other brands do you know that has a huge active social media following? I’m not talking having a million Facebook likes but 30 comments. I’m talking about having 1000’s of retweets and engagement because your content is simply engaging. What makes Nando’s content strategy so simple is that they speak to people as people and don’t have that David vs Goliath or Company vs Customer type relationship. All this can be attributed to context.

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To succeed with content you have to make sure you understand the context in which you are communicating. For example, Twitter is a platform where everybody feels they can have an opinion. Sometimes people post things just to be funny and not because they are truly concerned. A few months ago a customer went to Maps Maponyane’s Buns Out restaurant, ate her meal, even took a selfy with the guy.

I don't have a problem with the negative review. But I find your approach mischievous.

1, You met @MapsMaponyane , u didn't complain. Then u come here and complain��.

2, you started your review with 'yall really hyped buns out'. Your issue was with food... Or the Hype? https://t.co/knsFwZ7lAY

— DMs closed... (@anelisa_tuswa) November 27, 2019

Everybody knows that things like these don’t fly when it comes to Nando’s. They are quick, witty and bold enough to call out the B.S! They understand the type of personality they need to have in order to use every tweet and conversation as an opportunity to further brand themselves. It’s very evident that they focus more on context instead of obsessing on content. Their strategy is simple. They understand South Africans and speak to them as South Africans.

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The key factors to understanding context with content

Timing
Nando’s always speaks on relevant topics, whether it’s current affairs, politics, sports… you know they always have something smart to say. Timing is everything. They have their finger on the pulse. So even though they use every tweet as an advert, it’s not so obvious because it’s more conversational. It’s not the same as a “Get the streetwise 2 today for only…” randomly as you scroll through your phone.

Audience
Understanding your audience is super important. It seems like something so simple but you’d be surprised how many people get this wrong. Living in a country so diverse, it’s so important to understand that there are a vast amount of cultural cues you can use to your advantage. When you look at Nando’s tweets, you can tell you are speaking to a person. Most importantly that person feels like a friend. Someone you might know. Not a corporation.

Location
Even though you might not be speaking to your customers physically, you have to try and understand where they might be and the platform you are communicating on when you put out content. Don’t always think of content like videos and images that were professionally crafted. Sometimes simple dm’s and comments are part of your content too. That beautifully shot advert might be running on the wrong platform at the wrong time. You may save costs by simply being as approachable as Nando’s.

I don’t know if you picked it up, but the above answers 3 of the 5 marketing communications questions. Who (audience), Where (location) and when (timing). Now your job is to craft the right messages to answer what (objective) and why you are communicating in the first place.

Most content online sucks because there’s no real goal beyond trying to get more followers. This is why big brands just spend huge budgets to run sponsored ads that don’t achieve anything for them. Content isn’t new. However, with digital, the context has become more important than the actual content itself.