Why Black Friday Matters and How Brands Can Stand Out with Authentic Content
Black Friday has become one of the most critical sales periods of the year, where customers flock to find deals and brands compete to grab attention in a crowded marketplace. But why is Black Friday so crucial, and how can brands make the most of it?
The Importance of Black Friday for Brands
- Consumer Spending Boost
Black Friday kicks off the holiday shopping season, often accounting for a significant portion of yearly revenue for many brands. Shoppers are primed to spend, motivated by discounts, and looking to complete their holiday shopping early. - Customer Acquisition Opportunity
With heightened interest, Black Friday is a golden chance to reach new audiences who may have been previously unaware of a brand or waiting for a reason to buy. Offering valuable deals can convert these potential customers into long-term followers. - Creating Brand Awareness
With an increase in shopping activities comes a surge in online traffic. Black Friday campaigns, if crafted strategically, can increase visibility and enhance brand recognition, creating an ongoing impact well beyond the sale period.
Standing Out with UGC-Style Content
With the fierce competition during Black Friday, it’s not enough to simply promote discounts. Shoppers today are looking for authenticity. They’re more likely to engage with brands that resonate with real, relatable experiences over polished ads. That’s where user-generated content (UGC) comes in.
UGC-style content brings a level of trust that’s hard to achieve through traditional advertising. It presents your products or services in an approachable, down-to-earth way that feels more like a recommendation than a sales pitch. Especially in 2024, audiences crave this authenticity—they want to see how a product fits into real life, not just how it looks in a studio.
Melbourne Social Co’s Exclusive Black Friday UGC Offer
At Melbourne Social Co, we know the power of authentic content. That’s why we’re offering a special Black Friday deal on our UGC-style videos: 10 videos for $2,500, a 50% discount on our regular rate. Our team collaborates with a trusted network of UGC creators who align with your brand, making content that’s both relatable and effective.
By booking this package, you’re ensuring your brand shines during the holiday season, standing out with content that consumers are excited to engage with. Limited packages are available, so don’t miss out—book before November 30th to secure your spot.
Let’s make this Black Friday unforgettable for your brand with the authentic, engaging content your audience loves.
Want to chat to our team about your holiday content strategy? Get in touch today.
Want to see what UGC style looks like? Check out a mini showreel of our work for Adairs, Lifely and Lululemon here.
Why Brands Need to Be Targeting Gen Z as Part of Their Social Media Strategy
Gen Z: they’re the generation that’s rewriting the rules of social media, shaking up digital marketing, and reshaping how brands connect with consumers. If your brand isn’t already focusing on this dynamic group, you’re missing out on a powerful audience that values authenticity, creativity, and innovation.
At Melbourne Social Co, we work with clients every day to help them understand and connect with Gen Z. Here’s why we believe they need to be a central part of your social media strategy.
1. Gen Z is the Future of Consumer Spending
Let’s start with the numbers: Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012) is quickly becoming a driving force in the global economy. They’re entering the workforce, making their own purchasing decisions, and influencing their families’ spending habits.
If you’re not engaging Gen Z now, you’re not just missing out on today’s sales—you’re losing out on building long-term brand loyalty with tomorrow’s biggest spenders.
Tip: Start by understanding what matters to Gen Z and tailor your messaging to align with their values. Don’t underestimate the impact of building relationships with them early on—they’re likely to stick with brands that resonate with their ideals.
2. Authenticity is Everything
Gen Z doesn’t just want to buy products—they want to buy into values. Unlike older generations, who might respond well to polished, aspirational branding, Gen Z craves authenticity and realness. They’re not interested in perfectly curated ads or traditional marketing tactics; they want to see brands that are transparent, socially conscious, and real.
This generation is skeptical of anything that feels too “salesy” or staged, and they’re quick to call out brands that don’t align with their values. Whether it’s social justice, sustainability, or mental health, they expect brands to take a stand on the issues they care about—and to do it in a genuine way.
Tip: Make sure your brand’s messaging is authentic and transparent. Share your values, show behind-the-scenes content, and most importantly, live up to the promises you make.
3. TikTok is Their Playground (and Brands Should Play Too)
If there’s one platform that defines Gen Z, it’s TikTok. With its raw, unpolished content and endless stream of trends, TikTok has captured the attention of Gen Z in a way no other platform has. It’s not just about watching content—this generation is creating and engaging with it on a massive scale.
What does this mean for brands? It’s time to get on board. TikTok offers a unique opportunity for brands to connect with Gen Z in a fun, creative, and highly engaging way. It’s not about traditional ads—it’s about becoming part of the conversation through authentic, viral content.
Tip: Get creative on TikTok! Use challenges, trends, and authentic storytelling to engage with Gen Z where they’re already spending their time.
4. They Value Community and Connection
For Gen Z, social media isn’t just a place to consume content—it’s where they build and participate in communities. This generation values connection and wants to engage with brands that foster a sense of belonging. They’re looking for two-way conversations, not one-way advertising.
Brands that want to resonate with Gen Z need to focus on building community and offering value beyond just products. Whether it’s through interactive content, user-generated campaigns, or meaningful collaborations with creators, creating a sense of community is key to winning their loyalty.
Tip: Make sure your social media strategy isn’t just about broadcasting—it’s about engaging. Encourage user participation, respond to comments, and build a community around your brand.
5. Short Attention Span, Big Expectations
Gen Z has grown up in a world of instant gratification, and their attention span reflects it. Studies show that you have about 8 seconds to capture their attention online, so your content needs to be quick, engaging, and to the point. But here’s the thing: once you’ve got their attention, Gen Z is incredibly loyal to the brands that deliver value.
This means that your social media strategy needs to focus on high-impact, visually engaging content that resonates right away. Whether it’s a short, snappy TikTok video or a bold Instagram Story, your content has to be eye-catching and meaningful in a very short time frame.
Tip: Focus on bite-sized, impactful content that immediately grabs attention. Don’t be afraid to experiment with new formats like short-form video and interactive posts to keep your audience engaged.
Gen Z isn’t just another generation—they’re a cultural force that’s transforming how brands connect with consumers. Their values, preferences, and behaviours are reshaping the future of marketing, and brands that want to stay ahead need to start incorporating Gen Z into their social media strategies now.
By focusing on authenticity, embracing platforms like TikTok, building communities, and creating content that resonates, brands can build long-lasting relationships with this powerful generation.
If you’re not already targeting Gen Z, now is the time to start.
Reach out to our team today and we can assist with a social media strategy for your brand.
Social Media News - January 2023
We're back with the latest Social Media News in 2023!
There is quite a bit happening in Instagram at the moment. Here's a quick rundown.
- Notes - Now you can share your thoughts with friends with up to 60 character messages of just text and emojis!
- Add Yours - Easily jump on ‘Add Yours’ trends, by inviting friends to participate in 'Add Yours' by tapping pass it on when you see a prompt that reminds you of them.
- Candid Stories - It’s all about keeping it real on the ‘gram these days and the new candid story option is no exception. Capture what you’re doing right now in a story that’s only visible to other friends who also share their candid update.
- Group Profiles - The new update will allow you to create and join a new Group Profile where you can share posts and stories in a seperate dedicated profile that is only visible to the profile and members.
- Collaborative Collections - Connect with friends who have the same interests by saving posts to a collaborative collection in your group or DMs!
How will the latest social media news affect business?
All of these new updates reinforce Instagram’s focus on supporting connections and private interactions on the platform.
The Group Profile update and Collaborative Collections features are of particular note to businesses, who can begin to think of new ways to engage their audience.
Group Profiles could be a great way to promote community building and interaction for your brand, by using this new feature to encourage members to share additional content such as behind the scenes content or UGC (think things like recipes using your product or users #OOTD featuring your brand).
The Collaborative Collections feature further entices brands to ensure content that is being posted is of high value so it is more likely to be saved in a collaborative collection group / DM.
Do you want to discuss the latest social media news or your social media strategy with our expert team? Get in touch today.
Want to keep up with our latest business news on LinkedIn? Follow us here.
Is it time to BeReal?
By now, you've no doubt heard about BeReal. BeReal is a photo-sharing app that prompts users to post once per day, at the same time as all of their friends. There is no opportunity to add a filter, or edit the image, which is taken by both your front and back camera at the same time.
Launching in 2019, it was mid-2022 when the app really took off. As of October 2022, it was the top social networking app on the App Store and has been installed over 29.5 million times.
BeReal's key demographic in Australia:
- Female: 98.7%
- Male: 1.3%
- Age:
- 16-25: 90.7%
- 26-44: 2.1%
- 45+: 7.3%
Are brands on BeReal?
Well, some are. Brands like Chipolte have cleverly used the app to post a different promotional code each day, building hype and anticipation for the once-a-day post to go out. Moreso, we are seeing the dual-camera format being replicated on other apps, as a meme that is directly relevant to key target demographics in the 16-25 bracket.
Why is it so popular within this age bracket? "This is what Gen Z wants from social media: unfiltered, uncurated content that doesn’t ask you to buy anything or make you feel bad about your life. It’s a fun place to be. And at the end of the day, that’s all that matters." - Hootsuite
It's also important to keep in mind that both TikTok + Instagram are working on BeReal features within their own apps - which speaks to BeReal's true power in 2023.
Do you want to discuss BeReal and how it could be integrated into your social media strategy with our team? Get in touch today.
Want to catch up with us on social media? Visit us on Instagram.
A guide to nailing social media trends
Every social media strategy in 2023 needs a pillar dedicated to social media trends.
While every business’ approach will vary, an awareness of trends and ability to adapt quickly to platform changes is so important in todays’ landscape.
Some key tips to nailing social media trends within your content strategy are:
💙 Make sure you’re staying on top of what’s trending every week. (If you subscribe to our Social Media Trends Report, this will magically land in your inbox weekly - no scrolling required!
💙 Identify when trends are relevant to your business. Some trends will work for your brand and your objectives, and some wont! There’s no need to try to jump on every trend that emerges - be selective and utilise trends that work best with your authentic tone of voice
💙 Act on trends quickly. There’s no time for a 4 week approval process here - if you’re not acting on a trend within 48 hours, you’re too late
💙 Create and edit your content within platform where you can. Stats are suggesting that native content created within app outperforms content designed and edited elsewhere
💙 Remember that trending content doesn’t need to be perfect. While it can be challenging for brands to move away from slick, professionally designed content that has been through months of revisions and approvals, we know that the audience today is craving authenticity. Not every piece of content you share needs to be perfect - it just needs to create positive sentiment with your audience
If you are keen to update your 2023 social strategy to include authentic, fast moving, native or trending content, subscribe to our Weekly Social Media Trend Report.
When you sign up you’ll receive:
💙 A report of trending content, magically landing in your inbox each week
💙 Actionable content prompts to tap into trends
The cost? $10 per week. No scrolling required, no minimum sign up, cancel anytime.
Sounds pretty good right?
Click here to learn more and subscribe!
Social Media News, September 2022
Here is the latest Social Media News this month.
A Hootsuite and We Are Social study has found that in the last quarter of 2022, a major slowdown of social media growth has occurred —an expected finding in the post-pandemic world. Social media user growth is continuing to level off, leaving us with an incremental increase (1.0% to be exact) that signals we’re moving back to a period of slow and steady growth.
Tiktok continues to grow, grow, grow! Over half a million new users joined the platform every single day last quarter, with the number of people using TikTok for news doubling since last year. The report also found that people spend more time on TikTok each day than any other social app, meaning brands have a great opportunity to engage audiences in a fun, entertaining, and educational way. Key takeaway: Make sure Tiktok is a part of your social media marketing because its power is WILD.
Reels are here to stay. Consider this your reminder to continue sharing Reels on Instagram because they aren't going away anytime soon! The ad audience for Facebook Reels has increased by a massive 279% in the past 3 months, which means you can now reach 473.5 million users. You can also reach a staggering 754.8 million users with Instagram Reels ads. So what can we takeaway from this? This is proof that short, entertaining, less polished videos are an unbeatable way to reach your audience on social.
Whilst Facebook might be the grandad of social media networks, it drives a whopping 75.27% of all website traffic generated by social. Why? Because links are currency on the platform. The takeaway? Where possible, drive traffic to a website via links in posts.
We hope you enjoyed the latest social media news.
Want to chat to our team about managing your social media platforms? Reach out today.
Instagram News, July 2022
Another month, another Instagram update! Here is the latest Instagram news.
Instagram Pin Feature
Instagram has a new feature allowing you to pin posts to the top of the feed. We see this being useful for highlighting the following:
- Competitions: Keeping competitions at the top of your feed
- New Launch/Product: Having a new product launch at the top of the feed
- Top performing posts: If a reel went viral you could pin it to the top of the feed
This feature will be beneficial to many brands and we are eager to test it out on our client campaigns.
In other Instagram news, engagement rates are trending down on traditional feed posts
Based on a Later study of 81M Instagram posts, the average engagement rate for feed posts in 2019 was 5.16%. By the end of 2021, this number decreased to 2.88%.
The downward trend is consistent for all traditional feed posts (images, carousels, and videos).
Traditional video feed posts saw the greatest decline year-over-year on average, while carousel posts consistently performed the best in terms of engagement
Why have traditional Instagram Feed Posts seen a decline in performance?
In a nutshell: The introduction of Instagram Reels in August 2020.
It’s no secret that Reels are a priority for the app, and as such, other post types have taken a back seat.
In order to boost engagement on the app, it’s important to include Reels and also carousel posts in your social media posting schedule.
Do you need assistance in staying across the latest Instagram news and managing your social media channels? Get in touch with our team today.
Want to stay up to date? Visit us on Instagram.
Want to chat to our team about Instagram Reels content creation? Reach out to our specialist team via email, [email protected]
Melbourne Social Co Celebrates Our 10th Birthday!
This year, Melbourne Social Co is celebrating 10 years in business.
I’m so incredibly proud of our business journey, from humble beginnings to now being recognised as one of Australia’s leading content-driven creative agencies.
I started Melbourne Social Co from my spare bedroom, as most start-ups begin, with one client and a lot of determination. As a person in my mid-20s at the time and of course, pre-kids - I loved working 60 hour weeks and throwing myself into the entrepreneurial game.
My client list quickly grew, and then so did my team, with my first hire being Rebekah Pickett, who has stuck with me (thanks Bek!) and now leads the team of 15+ creatives both here in Melbourne and around Australia. We’ve had 3.5 offices, a few different logos, many office plants (that sadly have not survived the journey) and an incredible predominately-female team of creatives over the journey. We have worked across almost every state in Australia (as well as a few ventures into NZ and Singapore) and have produced incredible work for household names like Fitbit, PETstock, BiC and more.
We’ve worked with SO many different businesses over the journey, from start-ups to global powerhouses, with both ends of the spectrum being equally rewarding.
While I understand that for many business owners, 2020 and now 2021 have been incredibly difficult, I am so proud to say that our team has gone from strength to strength over the past year in particular. Not only have our team adapted to working predominately remotely, but they have upskilled, hustled and continued to deliver incredible results over the pandemic period for our clients. In addition, we have on-boarded some of our biggest campaigns to date this year and are so excited to be working with some really great brands, such as Koko Black, Sass Clothing and Jenny Craig.
I’m so proud of our female-lead business, where we have been, where we are now, and where we are headed. Here’s to an exciting next 10 years!
Shelley
Latest News - Support Small Business
Hey guys, Shelley here.
Like many small businesses, we’re already seeing the effect that the current climate is having on the economy and in-turn, our business. And while we’re not sure what the short term future might bring, what we do know is that for small business, now is not the time to fall silent. With more and more Australians spending time on their phones consuming news and social media content, now is the time to capture this audience with thoughtful, engaging content - not only to let your consumer know how you’re handling this crisis, but to stay front of mind and to encourage them to shop local and support your business.
While we understand that many businesses need to look at where they can scale back costs at the moment, marketing, and in particular social media content creation and distribution, needs to be viewed as business-critical. Your social media communication is now more important than ever - it is the most effective tool you have to promote your business in these highly reactive, times of uncertainty.
With that in mind, our agency is offering a range of different packages and resources to support your business through this crisis. I’ve created a coupon code upskillathome to offer you 70% off our online training resources, should you be looking to upskill in social media management, strategy or content creation during your time at home. You can access our online courses here: courses.thesocialco.com.au
We’re also offering reactive content packages to help you craft the right messaging for your consumer, and are able to quickly turn around graphics, copy, video and imagery to get the message out to your audience in a professional and timely manner. If you’d like some more info, please reach out to me - [email protected] and let’s pencil in a chat.
I’m personally supporting as many small businesses as I can at the moment, and I urge you to as well. We’re all in this together!
Quality Instagram Content Over Vanity Metrics
If you run a business or work in marketing you've no doubt heard the news - Instagram has removed visible 'likes' in Australia, in a new trial to combat mental health issues, making the sharing of high quality Instagram content more important than ever.
What does this Instagram change mean for business?
Don't worry, it's not the game changer you may think it is. Take a step back and remember why you're marketing your business on social media. Is it so that others can see how many likes you have? No, of course it's not! It's to promote your brand, and achieve your business objectives, such as driving traffic to your website, sharing your company's culture, and selling your product and/or service.
Instagram content is still king.
When it comes to digital strategy, we always encourage our clients to focus on high quality, engaging content, over chasing vanity metrics such as cheap likes or follows.
Yes, your stats may look like they've gone down a little this month. We have seen a bit of a drop-off in engagement across the board following this platform change. But that being said, we're still seeing strong conversions across our portfolio of clients. The things that really matter, such as taps through to website, purchases on shoppable products, story views and more are as strong as they've always been.
Is removing visible ‘likes’ actually a positive for business?
It may be too early to tell, but the general consensus at Melbourne Social Co HQ is that there are some serious positives we can take from this move, particularly for small business. By removing the ability for people to see how many likes a post has achieved, smaller accounts will be able to better compete with established accounts that have built up large followings already. The focus will now shift back towards the quality of your Instagram content, and the real conversations you create with your community. Your business will now no longer have to compete with businesses who buy ‘fake’ likes for appearances sake, and you'll be able to request more transparency with the influencers you engage with, by potentially having access to their back-end analytics.
Want to chat to our team about the latest social media trends and what they mean for your business? Get in touch with our team today.
Want to learn how to master social media marketing from the comfort of your couch? Check out our social media masterclass here.