Ken's Corner: Burnt Out

The other day in my marketing class, we ended up talking about how a lot of people who work in social media marketing get burnt out creatively and switching jobs and interests as a result. As someone who does both social media marketing and digital art, this terrifies me. It is so hard to get a read on what the public is interested in or how to make brands appeal to a younger audience, even though I am technically a part of that younger audience. I think generation Z is really hard to relate to because we have so many different niche interests that it is hard to appeal broadly like with older generations. For example, I was watching this YouTube video the other day that talked about the appeal of infomercials and how their popularity started to die out with younger generations. While I am still considered young, I do remember how much influence those informercials would have. Even commercials in the early 2000s focused primarily on what appealed to younger audiences. To this day I have commercials that aren’t even airing anymore stuck in my head because they were just that catchy. It created an experience where I felt like I was bonding a lot with others through shared experiences. It feels like nowadays, the content that is being put out feels somewhat lackluster in comparison. The only place where I feel like this doesn’t apply, is possibly social media marketing. Granted, social media marketers can come off more cringy then relatable but when it is done well, I think it is really effective. Lately I have been seeing a lot more companies not only hop on social media platforms, but also interact with their audiences through the comments, which I think is a good idea because you are now directly engaging with the consumer without coming off as condescending. Wendy’s is probably the most famous example of this with their whole “roasting customers” campaign, but my favorite example has to be Duolingo. I think their marketing does not even necessarily come off as just marketing their product. Instead, it feels like they have created their own lore and stories and are just overall having fun with their company and its branding. However, for all the good marketing I see, I see much more bad marketing. Now as I enter the world of marketing, that is my greatest fear. I have a lot more factors that I need to worry about, and it is terrifying when marketing is still something that I am relatively new at. Plus, with the advancement of AI, I wonder if when I graduate I will be able to find employment because AI programs are basically being taught how to be creative at a much faster rate that makes it hard to catch up with. I think all I can do right now, is just try my best to rest when I can and to be patient with myself when it comes to coming up with new marketing ideas.