Here at Notch Communications, we’re in the business of content marketing — the act of creating unique and engaging content with the goal of attracting leads and generating business for clients. But why do we go to all the effort of creating high-quality, high-impact content pieces when we could just stick a few ads up on Google or LinkedIn and call it a day? 

Well, as you likely know, while adverts are very important in marketing, they are just one piece of the puzzle. Ultimately, marketing can be boiled down to one simple goal: helping people make decisions. When it comes to helping people make decisions, content is incredibly effective. That’s because we all engage with content every day: to learn, to be entertained, and yes — to make decisions. 

Decisions, decisions, decisions

Think about the last time you had to make a big purchase. Maybe you were in the market for a fancy new coffee grinder (guilty), or perhaps a friend of yours was extolling the virtues of their air fryer and you simply had to jump on the bandwagon. How did you decide what to buy? 

This process can be complex. We want to understand the options that are available to us and weigh them up according to what we deem important. Furthermore, buying decisions are rarely a simple rational choice. Purchases are often wrapped up in emotional factors that can sway decisions more than we’d care to admit. Consequently, decision-making can feel daunting and messy. As content marketers, it’s our job to simplify the process.

Business decision making, career path, work direction or leadership to choose the right way to success concept, confusing businessman manager looking at multiple road sign and thinking which way to go

Navigating the buying landscape

Though decision-making is obviously more complicated, we can break it down into two main phases. The first is information gathering. In this phase, we aren’t weighing up specific options yet but assessing the lay of the land. What features do you want? Which options can you expect within your budget? What does an air fryer even do? The purpose of this phase is exploration, learning about what’s out there and gathering enough information to support the second phase: evaluation.

Once we’ve gleaned enough information about the landscape around the product, we now need to evaluate the different options. During this phase we’re explicitly comparing products, weighing up pros and cons, and making judgements about value. This air fryer has an automatic shut-off feature, but will it look ugly on the countertop? The new model has all the bells and whistles, but should you just get the previous iteration that’s now on sale?

Now, these days your first port of call for decision-making will most likely be the internet. If you’re anything like me, when you need to make a purchase, you jump onto Google and start trawling for useful resources, consuming anything and everything you can find. Blogs, reviews, videos, podcasts — you name it. In fact, a quick Google search for the term “air fryer” throws up a whole host of articles with enticing headlines, such as: What is an air fryer and how do they work? or 15 best air-fryers of 2024, tested by our reviews experts.

These two articles perfectly represent the different phases of decision-making. The first is targeted at information gatherers, providing a general summary of air fryers, diving into how they work, and listing features to look for. The second is for evaluators, with an explicit list of different models, descriptions of features, and links for where to purchase. These results are examples of, you guessed it, content marketing.

Making the link between content and marketing

Businesses know that consumers are looking for information to help them make decisions, so this can be an incredibly effective way to capture potential customers. The first article is actually from the KitchenAid website, and you won’t be surprised to hear that they sell air fryers. With this article, they are hoping to engage consumers who are in the information gathering phase. By doing so, they are putting their name on the map for when these customers move onto the evaluation stage, during which they might now make a purchase from KitchenAid.

This is where us content marketers come in. We take our knowledge of our clients and their industries and combine it with our content creation expertise to develop effective content that can achieve their goals. Our job is to craft content that — when delivered to the right people, at the right time — guides customers towards purchase. 

B2B vs B2C

So far, we’ve focused on consumer-based marketing, as it provides a clear an accessible example of the power of content. But at Notch, we describe ourselves as a business-to-business (B2B) marketing agency. This means that instead of marketing our clients’ products and services to the general public, which is known as business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing, we are marketing to companies and organisations. 

There are some significant differences between the two, but in either case it holds true that an individual person — a decision-maker — is going to be engaging with the content. This person needs information to help them with their decision, whether that’s for themselves or their business. 

The importance of standing out

So, we’ve covered how content can be a powerful tool in a marketer’s arsenal by engaging decision-making customers.  But in today’s landscape of information superabundance, feeling confident about buying decisions is harder than ever. So, in order to achieve our clients’ goals — be that guiding a customer to purchase or improving general brand awareness — we need to be strategic in our approach.

At Notch Communications, we specialise in more than just crafting content, we create compelling narratives that resonate with target audiences. Our process is rooted in understanding our clients’ businesses, industries, and unique challenges. From there, we develop content that not only informs and engages but also strategically guides customers through the decision-making journey.

So, if you’re looking to build brand awareness, nurture leads, or establish thought leadership, our team of experts in science and B2B marketing can ensure that your content stands out from the competition and makes a lasting impact.

Ready to make a big difference for your brand? Get in touch today to discover how we can help your business.

Ask anyone that knows me, and they’ll tell you that I love podcasts (and that they’re sick of my endless recommendations). I think that the immediate and intimate nature of the format makes podcasts a unique vehicle for powerful storytelling and you can often find niche topics explored in a depth you can’t find anywhere else. All you need is your phone and a pair of earbuds, and you have instant access to more than 2 million different podcasts, totalling 48 million episodes, available to you while doing the dishes or catching the bus.

I’m not alone in my podcast obsession. In 2020, 485 million people listened to podcasts worldwide and weekly audiences have doubled since 2017. Additionally, not only are there more listeners than ever before, but those listeners are more diverse. This is a testament to the accessibility of podcast production: anyone with a microphone and some editing software can create and publish across all the mainstream platforms. The popularity, accessibility, and flexibility of podcasts — facilitated by advances in smartphones, speakers, and laptops — has driven the phenomenal growth of the industry, with the global podcasting market estimated at $11.5 billion in 2020.

In 2020, there were initial fears that the pandemic would damage the podcasting industry, due in part to changing working habits and fewer commutes. However, audience listening behaviours quickly adapted to the new normal and business is better than ever. Weekly podcast listeners are consuming 30 minutes more per week than before the pandemic, and the global market size of podcasts is expected to keep growing by around 31 percent every year.

Utilising podcasts in the post-pandemic marketing landscape

So, podcasts are clearly big business, but why is this important for the life sciences industry? COVID-19 has expedited a digital transformation in almost every business sector. With the heightened spotlight from the pandemic, many companies have recognised the true importance of their online presence and digital offering. As a recent Deloitte report on the life sciences industry stated, a “digital transformation is no longer a buzzword, but a strategic imperative”. In other words, it is now vital for businesses to maintain an online presence. An ideal way to do this is through digital, content-driven marketing and thought leadership, and podcasts can be a key piece of this puzzle.

Used appropriately, podcasts can be a powerful tool in the content arsenal and the ideal medium for demonstrating thought leadership. The flexibility of the format allows for more specific and relevant topics to be explored. The direct and intimate engagement with the audience—coupled with the relaxed, informal nature of podcasts—can lower barriers between listener and host, and help build those all important customer relationships. Podcasts can also be a great way to drive your audience towards other content, products, or services, break up text-heavy webpages, or encourage dialogue and engagement when shared on social media. In a crowded competitive field, a podcast can be a great, dynamic form of content that will help your business stand out.

Although it might seem daunting to release a podcast, there are some easy wins to be had. For example, interview-based podcasts, while being the simplest format, are consistently the most popular with listeners. Each guest brings their own unique thoughts, opinions, and ideas which can stimulate fascinating conversations, and guests will often cross-promote within their own networks, expanding your podcast’s reach.

Podcasts are also a versatile format where you can successfully try out many different styles and approaches. All good hosting platforms allow you to glean insightful metrics, so it is easy to experiment and discover what works. Most importantly, podcasts can help to humanise your brand in an increasingly digital marketing landscape. In a time when developing and maintaining a relationship with your customers is more important than ever, podcasting can be invaluable. And if you aren’t sold yet, setting up a podcast has never been easier, with a huge array of podcasting platforms and editing software available. All you need to do is make use of the resources and expertise that your company already has to showcase your unique position in the market.

The podcast advertising boom

As well as being a beneficial addition to your content portfolio, podcasts can also be a great way to advertise products or services directly to listeners. This is for two main reasons. Firstly, audio continues to form more of the content that people consume online, with podcasts increasingly dominating this landscape. In the US, mobile time spent listening to audio content is greater than time spent on social media, videos, and gaming, and podcasts’ audience share of ad-supported audio has nearly tripled since 2016. Secondly, listeners tend to be more receptive to ads on podcasts than on other platforms, and are more likely to remember and follow up on them too, especially if they’re a long-time listener. This is because podcast ads are often read by the hosts, making them feel less intrusive and more trustworthy.

All of this makes podcasts a very attractive prospect for marketers, so much so that the biggest players in the audio streaming industry are desperately vying to control the space. The current market leader, Spotify, has continued to heavily invest in their all-encompassing advertising platform, which will allow advertisers to make their own highly targeted custom ads and obtain detailed real-time metrics on ad delivery, performance, and listener engagement. They will be able to reach the whole of Spotify’s listenership, including their own podcasts and those published on Spotify-owned hosting platforms Megaphone and Anchor. This is different from the title-by-title basis that has typically been how marketers have placed podcast ads, and until now has limited the scale at which they could be distributed.

The push into the advertising arena by Spotify and other streaming giants indicates a step change in the perception of podcasts as an advertising platform over the last few years. In a survey by Westwood One and Advertiser Perceptions, it was found that between 2015 and 2020 the number of marketers who said they would likely advertise in a podcast nearly quadrupled. Podcast ads are going to keep expanding, with estimates that advertising spend will hit $1.7 billion dollars by 2024 — an annual increase of almost 20 percent. Clearly, now is the time to be investing.

Time to harness the power of podcasts

The podcast industry has seen phenomenal growth over the last decade, thanks to increasing accessibility and huge popularity. For the life sciences, podcasts provide a great opportunity to better engage with their target audience, either by utilising podcasts as a vehicle for thought leadership in an increasingly digital marketing landscape, or by leveraging the latest advertising technologies to reach and understand those audiences better than ever before. I think it is time for the industry to jump aboard the podcasting train, because it isn’t slowing down any time soon.

If you enjoyed this blog and would like to learn more about podcasting in science, look no further than our in-house podcast channel, The Scientific Podcasting Network.

Marketing in the B2B sector has always been a different animal, one with no fluff, but ‘tough skin’ and an analytical, creative eye, especially in the Biotech, Life Science and Chemical manufacturing markets. Since the pandemic, there have been some significant changes to the way B2B marketing has changed, turning the traditional ways of working upside down for good. Spotting trends early and adapting your strategy to capitalise on them is crucial for success, but what trends can you include in your 2023 B2B marketing strategy to get ahead?

In this article we set out three macro trends in marketing we are seeing here at Notch Communications from closely with our clients in the B2B sector and how they will impact future marketing strategies for 2023 and beyond.

1. Embracing the omni-channel buyer – seller dynamic:

The Omni-channel buyer and seller approach is here to stay. The pandemic has fundamentally altered the way we do business and to stay relevant, marketing must move with the demands of the buyer-seller relationship. When building a B2B marketing strategy for 2023, businesses need to anticipate and integrate these demands. In a recent study by Mckinsey of 3,500 senior B2B leaders, it was found that:

  1. There is an expectation now for the buyer to be able to interact with the seller via remote, virtual or via self-serve solutions. Two out of three B2B buyers prefer remote human interaction or digital self-serve from sellers, especially when it comes to placing an order/re-ordering, as well as searching, researching and weighing up different suppliers.
  2. The sales lead role is becoming hybrid. Sales teams across the board are now only spending 50% of their role doing more traditional sales activities.
  3. Eight in ten B2B leaders say that Omni-channel is as or more effective than traditional methods—a sentiment that has grown sharply throughout the past year—rising from 54% at the start of the pandemic to 83% in February 2021.

2. Marketeers in B2B are increasing investment in digital marketing:

This B2B marketing trend has been around for some time. In fact, some of our clients have already increased their digital spending by up to 93% in this year alone! This should be a clear sign that B2B marketing trends are going digital, and that this change is here to stay.

In the ‘State of marketing’ study by Salesforce, covering 35 countries and over 8,270 marketeers, it was found that there were 5 main channels B2B marketers would be committing more investment towards in the coming year. Taking joint top priority with the highest number of votes was Video and Social Media, (82% of the respondents), followed closely by digital content (78% of the respondents), digital ads (74% of the respondents) and finally website/ app investments (65% of the respondents)

At the moment, almost 60% of B2B brands choose to outsource their marketing and content requirements, whereas 41% keep all their marketing in-house. With this in mind, there is a talent battle of strategic digital marketing expertise across both B2B and. So, as well as increasing investment in digital marketing, we are also seeing a need to upskill both marketing and possibly sales departments to become able to support this shift and support the omni- channel sales journey.

3. Targeting challenges narrow the digital channels and LinkedIn becomes the place to be.

As technology providers and governments place tighter restrictions on targeting abilities, the landscape is becoming more challenging to operate within.

Some specific changes that are coming about include:

  1. The Google third party cookie ban and their replacements that have been deemed either too intrusive or not good enough for marketers. (Google is introducing a new “topics” based targeting which is too broad and random.)
  2. Meta choosing to drop interest-based targeting, making it more difficult to focus on definitive audience.
  3. Microsoft’s shutdown of LinkedIn in China.

Because of these restrictions, marketers are looking for partners, like Notch Communications, with the expertise to navigate these novel challenges and build up lead generation strategies that can help drive first party data, their followers and their reach. In 2021 alone, 38% of marketers increased their use of Customer Data Platforms to help with the management of first party data collection.

What does this mean for your B2B Marketing Strategy 2023?

Understanding these trends is only half the battle, we can’t take a blanket approach to strategy without first understanding where the business priorities are, meaning that you will need a bespoke strategy for 2023 that draws in both traditional and non-traditional marketing elements like big events or some traditional sales elements. However, on the surface, it is clear that Digital marketing and the customer’s digital journey is at the forefront of a lot of client’s minds.

At Notch our team are made up scientists and marketeers, specialising in life science, biotech and chemistry marketing. To learn more about how Notch’s creative B2B marketing communication solutions can help you in the science and technology space, click here to get in touch.

Meet Rasha

Rasha El-Shirbini is our head of strategy as well as a CIM regional board member with over 14 years of marketing experience. Rasha holds varied sector experience over finance, health and beauty, retail, FMCG and technology with many blue-chip clients. A senior leader working across digital, content and marketing departments, pulling in insights, analysis and research, as well as setting metrics and strategic marketing objectives for our client projects.

If you found this article insightful, be sure to follow Rasha on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Launching a new product or service is filled with potential for a business, but it also comes with a lot of pressure. After so much time, effort and money has been poured into the development of an exciting new offering, the stakes are high when it finally comes to launching it. For this reason, an effective marketing strategy for your product launch is vital to its overall success.

A well-planned product launch campaign features several stages, and the whole project – from development to implementation and continued management – can easily span a year or more. To shed some light on how to make the best use of this time, here are our five fundamental steps that make for an impactful and effective product launch campaign.

1. Product knowledge

Before all else, and truly integral to a successful product launch, is understanding the product itself. Doing so ensures both a relevant and effective strategy, and should include the following:

  1. In-depth understanding of the product – at a basic level: what it is and what problem it solves, and then more specifically: understanding its USP and differentiators.
  2. Defining the target audience and their needs – knowing what types of customers this product would be useful to, what job roles they will likely work in and what challenges they may face in their jobs that the product could help to tackle.
  3. Awareness of the wider market – what are competitors offering? What similar products are available? Which brands tend to be favoured by customers? Are there industry trends that could affect the need for the product?

By building the campaign around this foundation, you can make sure the product’s value is communicated clearly throughout.

2. Strategic campaign planning

The next step after taking a deep dive into the product and its place in the wider market is to develop an effective marketing campaign strategy through in-depth planning. This involves developing a tactical plan that will resonate with the target audience and meets the project requirements.

Understanding your timelines and budgets will support the creation of an achievable and successful tactical plan. In addition to setting a realistic budget, establishing project requirements and quantifiable goals for the campaign at this stage can help keep the project on track. With careful planning, even smaller budget product launch strategies can garner powerful results. With shorter timelines, for example, it can be beneficial to focus on launch and post-launch tactics rather than developing a teaser campaign, while prioritising activities that deliver the best ROI will get the most out of a limited budget.

When planning tactics, utilising appropriate approaches and channels is key to reaching your target audience and communicating with them in a meaningful way. Taking advantage of the latest marketing trends can make your campaign more effective. Digital marketing, for example, has rapidly become a central part of any marketing campaign. Keeping your tactics up-to-date with industry trends and pushing their boundaries can make your campaigns feel fresh, genuine and relevant to the customer. Tasks can then be mapped to a timeline that takes the project from planning phases through to delivery. This timeline should be continually reviewed and updated in line with any changes to the project.

3. Stand-out creative and messaging

In the life science industry, there is a lot of scope to do things differently and push the boundaries beyond industry standards to grab the audience’s attention. As a full-service marketing agency, developing effective messaging and creative concepts is a key part of what we do. These aspects provide a great opportunity to think about ways to make your product stand out, to attract attention and differentiate it from competing offerings.

In terms of messaging, by defining the way you talk about and present the product – even down to the name of the product itself – you create a clear, recognisable identity and cohesion throughout the campaign. The creation of a value proposition and key messages that will resonate with customers are a strong backbone to any messaging strategy.The visuals that accompany the campaign play a big role in how a customer notices and perceives the product. It is therefore important to develop a creative concept that conveys the product to the audience in an eye-catching way, whilst still tying it back to your brand. This can include developing bespoke visuals and taking inspiration from B2C marketing trends, which can then be applied in a B2B context.

4. Tactical plan delivery and management

Following the careful planning and creation of the product launch strategy and assets, implementing the final campaign still requires in-depth management. From generating excitement throughout the teaser campaign to an impactful official launch and maintaining interest in the product afterwards, executing each phase of the tactical plan is vital.

  1. Pre-launch, the goal is to build up momentum through a teaser campaign featuring the creative and messaging, hinting at product features and details to generate anticipation and interest. Managing teaser activities across social media, search engine marketing (SEM), videos, email marketing and ads with third-party publications can build excitement.
  2.  When it comes to the official launch date, full launch messaging and collateral can be released across all channels simultaneously. Coordinating an integrated campaign with a multi-channel approach – where messaging and visuals are tailored to each one but are cohesive – provides more touchpoints with the target audience, helping to increase impact and make them more likely to remember the product. How-to videos and other descriptive content can be used to great effect here, providing useful and relevant information to the audience.
  3. Post-launch, tactics should be designed to maintain a buzz around the new product and implementing strategies for retaining new customers. It’s important to ensure a consistent stream of assets are being promoted – for example, through social media, email campaigns and marketing automation plans. Scheduled content marketing is a great way to showcase a product whilst keeping valuable content flowing to customers throughout the year.

Keeping each of these phases on track is a key part of managing the tactical plan. With the tactics mapped to a timeline at the start, updates can be made in response to moved dates or changing needs throughout the project, helping to provide visibility of how each aspect will be affected.

5. Measuring success

Measuring success is an ongoing process that will allow campaign adjustments to get the best results. SMART goals – goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound – can be used to assess how the product launch campaign is performing. These goals will tend to focus on metrics such as leads, sales or new customers, although specific goals will vary for each campaign and channel. By regularly checking progress towards these in the weeks and months following the launch, you can identify any campaigns that aren’t performing as well as they could be and make changes to maintain impact. This can be easier for digital activities like SEM, pay-per-click (PPC) or paid social media, as they can be easily analysed in real time.

Analysing the impact of tactics such as word-of-mouth marketing can be more challenging, requiring an indirect approach like social media listening. Measuring success is an ongoing process within an effective product launch strategy. Once the campaign is complete, reflecting on what did or didn’t work well can provide valuable learning to take forward into future product launch campaigns.

Bringing it all together

With these five fundamentals in mind, it’s possible to create a marketing strategy that will unleash the full potential of your product. As audiences become increasingly aware of when they are being marketed to, there is an opportunity to develop clever and original tactics, such as informative content that also builds trust in the brand. There is a lot of potential to explore this in the life science industry in particular, and approaching campaigns creatively can set new standards for product launch marketing. This is something that we always strive for at Notch. From marketing campaign planning and implementation to full messaging and creative development, always backed by a deep understanding of your product and brand, we can provide flexible support to meet our clients’ needs.

Get in touch for support with your next product launch strategy here.

Emojis are everywhere. That’s an undeniable fact. Currently, 3,521 emojis are out in the wild, with the latest update in September 2020 bringing us 217 new ways to emote. There’s a lot we can learn from our use of emojis, such as how our use of positive emoji faces declined by 5.63% in the last year. Depressing yet interesting statistics aside, there’s whole branches of science looking into how emojis are changing us, which – besides being pretty neat in general – has some interesting implications for B2B marketing.

Emojis are creating brand new brain patterns

Humans are generally pretty good at subconsciously mimicking each other’s’ emotional states. It’s called ‘emotional contagion’, and we’ve recorded it in other primates, dogs, and even chickens. There are a number of suggestions as to why it evolved in the wild, but one common theory is that it helped animals that live in groups to avoid predators, as they would respond to each other’s reactions upon sensing a threat.

Rewind back fast forward back to the 21st century and emotional contagion is the basis of human empathy and a big factor in how we build relationships. It’s easy to read the intention and emotion behind someone’s words when you can see their face during a conversation, or even the tone of voice on the phone. But strip that all back to basic text on a screen and emotional contagion becomes a bit more difficult.

This is where the original emojis come into play. In 2014, scientists showed 20 participants a number of images of a human face, as well as the text-based emoticon: :-). They discovered that the same parts of our brain that fire up when we look at a human face also activate when looking at emojis. And as you might have guessed, similar effects ensue. Not only might our mood alter to reflect which emojis have just passed our glance, but we might also alter our own facial expressions to match them.

What’s even more interesting however, is that when scientists inverted the text-based emoji to be upside down compared to its traditional format, the brain failed to recognise the emoji as a face. This reinforces the idea that an innate neural response to emoticons does not exist. That is to say, a baby wouldn’t recognise the text-based emoji as a face regardless of which way up it was presented. The fact that we’ve learnt to recognise the punctuation, and emojis as a whole, as a face shows a culturally-created neural response.

Emojis are changing the way we speak

There is significant evidence that emojis are also impacting our vocabulary as well. In an in-depth study into emoji use on the platform, Instagram monitored the text habits of four groups of new users chosen between late 2012 and early 2014. In these groups, Instagram observed the percentage of text posts using emojis and the number of posts using internet slang such as: “xoxo”, “omg”, “lol”, “haha” etc.

All four groups showed similar patterns. Initially, the number of posts containing slang or emojis were relatively close to each other. As the years went on however, a strong negative correlation was observed. As users started using emojis more, reaching around the 40% mark of all their posts by the end of the study in 2015, slang dropped dramatically, to as low as 5%. And while we know correlation doesn’t necessarily mean causation, it certainly gives us quite striking food for thought.

Should we use emojis in B2B marketing?

So, after all this the question remains: should you use emojis in science marketing? Luckily for us, there have been ample studies, both small and large, and the evidence is pretty overwhelmingly in one direction.

One simple A/B study ran two ads with exactly the same content side-by-side on Twitter with one ad including emojis and one without. The results were pretty telling. The emoji-containing ad saw 25.4% higher engagement and 22.2% lower cost per engagement.

Another study looked at including emojis in email subject lines and found some interesting cultural differences. While some mainland European countries, such as Spain or France, did not particularly alter their open rates with the inclusion of emojis, with France actually taking a small dip, the UK and the US were a totally different story. The study found that, on average, Americans were 43% more likely to open emails with emojis in the subject line, growing their open rates to 27-29%, depending on the emoji used, compared to a 19.5% control.

There’s one more study that is of particular interest to science industry marketing, however. After analysing four billion push notifications for emoji use, a 2020 study found that industries that one would consider more conservative actually benefited the most from emoji use. While B2C-focused industries such as Food and Delivery saw a net increase of 45% in their click-through-rates, B2B industries like Business and Finance saw a net increase of 128% to their click-through-rates, rising from 5.46% to 12.45% and proving once and for all that emojis are not just for consumer-focused businesses.

It’s always worth running some A/B tests to see if content featuring emoji use will work for you and your unique audience, but hopefully the above studies have at least given you some drive to try it out. Pharmaceutical marketing, similar to the financial industries in the study above, has been slow to adopt these new trends, yet a lot of potential awaits early adopters.

So yes, use emojis in your B2B scientific marketing until your heart’s content.

If you enjoyed this blog and want to learn more, get in touch with @JoeyRelton and @NotchCom to learn more, or check out ‘The Everyday Science of Emojis’ podcast on The Scientific Podcasting Network.

The last 18 months has provided us with a huge series of challenges, but as with everything, when you look hard enough you can always find a silver lining. For me, one of the greatest things to happen last year was that the nation’s sweetheart (and a personal hero of mine), Sir David Attenborough, joined Instagram. However, in true 2020 fashion, he left again after just two months – but it was good while it lasted!

So, why did he do it? Despite not being active on any other social media accounts, in his first post on the platform, Attenborough explained, “we’re running this account because we believe that we can create change and save our planet”. With around 27 million Instagram users in the UK alone, he definitely found the right podium to reach the masses. Breaking the world record at the time, he became the fastest user to reach one million followers in just 4 hours 44 minutes. Although this record has since been broken again, it clearly demonstrated that there was an audience on the platform that were excited for another way to keep up-to-date with his rallying calls for climate justice.

Alongside finding another platform to spread his message, it is also possible that this foray into social media was used as a marketing tactic. On the 28th of September 2020, his series ‘David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet’ was released in cinemas and available to stream from the 4th of October on Netflix. Unfortunately, the account has been inactive since the 31st of October – although the content is still accessible for users to rewatch. He’s since explained in interviews that he was persuaded to do a message on conservation, but he found it too hard to keep up with this new form of media. It’s likely that he really did prefer connecting with his viewers via post; however, it is also probable that his team saw the power of social media to stir up a marketing buzz around the new documentary release.

Social media in marketing

Globally, there are around 1 billion Instagram users, and over 70% of that demographic is aged 34 and under. With 63% of its users logging in at least once a day and spending an average of 53 minutes online, Instagram and other popular social media platforms present a powerful and free marketing opportunity for everyone, from small businesses to established brands.

There’s no cost associated with setting up an Instagram account, so once you’ve managed to capture your target audience, it’s easy to ‘influence’ those followers. In terms of more traditional marketing of products by brands, around 90% of people with an Instagram account follow at least one brand. Another survey also found that 89% of users said that a brands presence on Instagram was most influential compared to other social media platforms. But why does it have so much influencing power?

Visually appealing

As with every social media channel, it’s important to have a unique function and Instagram found its niche in the market as an image sharing platform. Since its acquisition by Facebook in 2012, the application has evolved to allow its users to post a variety of different types of content ranging from carousels (multiple images in a single post) to videos and the ability to broadcast live videos with up to three other users.

The power of visuals to aid engagement with content and to enhance the retention of new information has been well documented in research. One study found that even after three days, humans can recall over 2,000 images in a recognition test with around 90% accuracy. This is believed to be due to the pathways in our brains that process words and pictures differently when committing them to memory. It also explains why you haven’t been able to stop thinking about that cute puppy video you watched five times yesterday!

Young voices

With high levels of engagement and a generally younger demographic, it’s no wonder that Instagram’s visually appealing way of consuming information is rising as a popular way to target younger audiences – and when it comes to issues related to climate change, this is key.

In the last couple of years, we’ve seen a greater call to action on climate change from younger generations. Sparked by then5-year-old Swedish activist, Greta Thunberg – who gained popularity in 2018 for protesting for climate action outside Swedish parliament in the lead up to their election – we saw the emergence of the Youth Climate Strike and Fridays for Future. These organised events allowed students across the globe to take to the streets and demand their local governments take action to bring climate justice and equality to all.

But it’s not just the younger teens advocating for their futures. In a report published by Climate Outreach in 2014, surveys suggested that 70% of students (aged 18-25) were either fairly or very concerned about climate change. With the heavy media coverage of the school strikes, it’s likely this figure has since risen over the last few years, and more young people are actively engaging with resources that spread messages of environmental justice and hope for a more sustainable future.

Echo chamber

Over the last decade, and as social media usage has risen to new heights, it has begun to highlight the echo chambers it has created on polarising topics such as climate change. Echo chambers refer to situations where views and beliefs on certain topics become amplified by their repetition and reinforcement among small groups of the population.

The concern is that they can obstruct the flow of information, often in fairly dangerous ways as seen through the rise of fake news. However, there is an argument that they can create safe spaces online, for communities to share ideas and stories.

This has been especially powerful in bringing young people together in the fight against climate change. These climate echo chambers have given rise to a number of Instagram accounts dedicated to creating informative and educational resources on environmental topics. Some examples include @Atmos, @futureearth and @earthrise.studio.

These same online echo chambers are likely the ones that Attenborough was targeting with his call-to-action videos. However, due to his wider reach, it’s not inconceivable that he may have had the power to introduce long-term fans of his work to a side of the climate debate they may not have otherwise stumbled into on their own. Healing the planet and bringing people together, is there anything he can’t do?

Social media killed the radio star

With a high number of active users aged 18-34, most of whom are likely to already be advocating for similar messages on climate change, it’s easy to see why Attenborough chose Instagram as the social platform to spread his message and promote his upcoming documentary series. Without exact data, it’s hard to conclusively say that Attenborough’s brief Instagram presence had a positive impact on how his latest series was received. Nevertheless, as with most of his documentaries, A Life on Our Planet received a 9/10 rating on IMDb and 95% score on Rotten Tomatoes, helping to demonstrate how his work continues to inspire people of all ages.

As for Instagram, it’s visually appealing nature and popularity among younger audiences serves as the perfect recipe for content creators and influencers to spread informative resources on climate and environmental topics.

Whether it was a marketing ploy or just another way to broadcast a message on conservation, as always, Sir David captured the hearts and minds of young climate activists everywhere, and for that our planet is eternally grateful.

Scientific advancement is dependent on communication between many different groups of people, including when presenting new findings to the wider world. Good communication is therefore crucial to the success of science, and in a time of fake news and sensationalist journalism, it’s perhaps more important than ever to effectively and meaningfully engage with the audience.

In this quest for inspiring diverse audiences with the latest scientific innovations, there is great potential for exploring methods outside of the conventional means of science communication, such as writing or presentations. Studies have shown that drawing on narratives and evoking emotion is an effective means of communicating science and promoting retention of knowledge. Science documentaries such as the BBC’s hugely popular Planet Earth and Blue Planet series use this approach to bring awareness to pressing topics, including climate change. Moving away from literal representations of science, sci-art is a growing discipline. This involves fusing science with visual art to produce an aesthetically engaging depiction of a topic, promoting interest and learning. And it doesn’t end there. In honour of International Dance Day, we are exploring the use of dance as a creative means of science communication. Read on to learn more.

Dance and narrative: a classical combination

Dance is an art form with a huge potential for visually portraying narrative and emotion. It has always been a medium for not only entertainment, but also for telling stories. It is intrinsically emotional, both for the dancer and the audience. Some studies suggest that audiences attribute characterisation and emotion even to abstract dances. Considering the appeal of visually representing science and the impact that narrative can have on emotional engagement and knowledge retention, does dance offer untapped potential for communicating scientific ideas?

In the spirit of scientific investigation, the combination of science and dance has begun to be explored.

Research suggests that dance can be an educational tool in the classroom. It can help students to understand complex concepts in a kinaesthetic way, or even be used in a research context, as an initial alternative to computer modelling. Beyond this, there are also some exciting examples of how dance performance can be used to enhance spoken information and entertain, engage and inform audiences about scientific topics.

Dance your PhD

The ‘Dance Your PhD’ contest has been running since 2008, inviting researchers to portray their PhD through dance. Entries cover scientific topics ranging from developmental biology and neuroscience to the electro-dynamics of superconductors, even continuing with social distancing measures in place.

Whilst dance background and training differ between entrants – and some entries seem more like an exercise in film-making or song-writing than in choreography – there is something very engaging about watching people physically represent their own research. And if audience engagement is the main goal of science communication, maybe they’re onto something. The creator of the contest, John Bohannon, explores this potential in his TED talk, ‘Dance vs. PowerPoint’. Part way into the talk, several dancers from the Black Label Movement dance company join Bohannon on stage and enact the concepts he describes, including his description of the physics of superfluids. The talk – or rather, performance – effectively makes the point that dancers can help to convey ideas to an audience in a captivating and compelling way, even when those ideas are as complex as lasers and particles.

The art of balance

In most of the explorations into dance performance for science communication, the dance is supported by words, either written, spoken or sung. This is inevitable in a discipline as complex as science, so it may be a challenge for dance to stand alone as a science communication tool. However, it clearly has the power to enhance the communication of otherwise complex and un-memorable information, embodying the narrative and eliciting emotion.

Whilst science will continue to rely on the careful and descriptive use of words to communicate findings, it is exciting to consider the possibilities of art forms such as dance in engaging with a wider audience.

If this blog made you feel like dancing, waltz on over to Twitter and get in touch with @GabyAtNotch, and follow @NotchCom for more content.

Further reading