"Relevance has long been a central tenet of effective advertising, but the rise of Facebook and Twitter are forcing a redefinition of the term," writes reporter Matthew Creamer.
"There's increasing evidence that the most-effective kinds of marketing communications on these websites are simple, random, even banal statements or questions driven by the calendar or the whim of a writer that may not have anything to do with the brand in question."
"Conversational posts" in fact produce 8 to 12 times the response of "brand-oriented" ones, according to Creamer.
As an example, he cites a Facebook post by Blackberry in November. The company posted a simple Happy Veteran's Day message that received 8,000 likes and 500 comments. The response far outran reactions to other recent posts concerned with Blackberry products and product tips.
