Dopamine Junkies & the 'Instagrammification' of B2B Corporate Communications

Its no secret that the impact of Instagram on modern 21st Century life has been profound.

But what is less obvious perhaps is how IG has had such a completely transformative (some might say corrosive) effect on the demand side of modern-day storytelling. Today's consumer now not only expects but demands instant visual stimulation and gratification delivered in the form of 15, 30 and 60-second chunks of video.

Yet by and large, many professional storytellers outside of the entertainment business (i.e. the supply side of the storytelling equation) have largely failed to keep up with this shift. Still today, in Q4 of 2023, too few professional B2B communicators truly understand what the Instagrammification of society means for the B2B brands, businesses, and products they represent.

Let me be clear that when I refer to "Instagrammification" I am referring not only to IG but also more broadly to the pantheon of photo, video-sharing and live-streaming platforms such as TikTok, Twitch, YouTube and Snapchat.

And its not like this trend caught everyone by surprise. IG is not new. In fact, it just celebrated its 13 year birthday since it first went live way back in 2010. YouTube is even older, dating back to 2005. Even TikTok is almost seven years old now.

But still I see over and over PR pros and corporate comms people ignoring the shift that these content-rich social media platforms have had on consumer behavior.

For example, there is no excuse for any brand, whether its a B2B logistics company, a piping manufacturer, a healthcare medicare reimbursement adjudication consultancy, or any other type of business to not be using video -- particularly SFVV (short form vertical video) -- to communicate on a regular basis with its stakeholders.

"We are a serious company," is a common refrain I sometimes hear. "We don't need fancy videos. That is for consumer brands and retail."

Bullshit.

You know what that buyer on the other end of your B2B business does when he or she is chilling at home on the sofa? Yep. Instagram. And YouTube. (Or maybe Facebook reels if they are over 40.)

You see, everyone -- and I mean everyone under age 60 -- has been profoundly affected by Instagrammification. And even though we may not expect our clients, partners and vendors in the business world to be talking to us exactly as if they were on our IG feed, we certainly intuitively will engage with them much more closely if those B2B communications stimulate the same reward sensors in our brains that give us that dopamine rush we get from social media.

Its no secret that for many social media users, their brains increase dopamine output when they engage with Instagram, TikTok and media-rich social media platforms. That is why retweets, reshares, comments and emoticon notifications, send a rush of dopamine through our brains; our smartphones have made most of us, unwittingly, dopamine junkies with each swipe, like and notification feeding our habit.

And that is what most modern communicators have yet to grasp. Too large a share of B2B communications still fails to tap into this basic brain science.

So, wondering what to do?

Here's a few tips:

• Next time it crosses your mind that what your company or the brand that you work for needs is a white paper, just don't. Please don't. White Papers are Dead. Make a Video White Paper instead. And divide into 60-second chapters. And make it as fun and engaging as you can.
• Next time you are doing a boring corporate press release, make sure you include a companion VNR (Video News Release). VNRs bring press announcements to life. Make it snappy. Yes feature the CEO get him and her moving and active. (Please don't have him read dryly into a teleprompter.)
• Understand that your C-Suite are Influencers. Yes, let me repeat that. Your C-Suite are Influencers. So treat their profiles and platforms accordingly.
• Make training in Adobe Premier or Final Cut Pro a requirement for all key information workers. And arm them with approved corporate graphics and templates. Powerpoint isn't dying per se, but presentations without video are. Every information worker should be able to shoot, cut and assemble basic videos quickly.
• Elevate your head of content to a senior role within your company. All companies today are media companies, regardless of their industry. Too often this role (if it exists at all) is a junior to mid-level seniority function given to someone who knows something about Photoshop. Wrong. This is a strategic position that is equal parts creative, strategist and storyteller.

The world has changed. And that goes for B2B Communications as well. Just seems most in the sector didn't get the memo.

If you'd like more tips like this on how to up your B2B content strategy, ping me here on LinkedIn.

This is my new channel on LinkedIn called "Leveraged Storytelling" in which I draw upon my own experiences across the globe as a communications professional. If you like what you learn here (or even if you don't but think others might) please share my posts with your network. Also feel free to comment and go crazy with the emojis!

Thanks!