The Big Idea Needs to Be Accompanied by Big Truth: ”The Algorithm Doesn't Lie”

The notion that the “big idea” has lost relevance couldn’t be further from the truth, according to Peter Chun, EVP, global head of platforms, algorithms, and culture at VaynerX.

“There's 1,000% a place in room for the big idea, I don't think the big idea will ever go away, because the human truth at the centre of real marketing is the most effective mechanism of making marketing work,” Peter said. 

“I think what's a little bit different with organic social today is how you get to the big truth and the big idea.”

Speaking with LBB after a presentation at SXSW Sydney on organic social and rise of the mid-funnel, he said he believes the power of organic lies in its immediacy and feedback loop.

“The big idea, or the campaign idea, that truth really, really matters still. With organic, there's never been a valuable way to scale focus groups in hours – that really is the opportunity that's unprecedented, which is amazing.”

The biggest considerations for marketers playing in this space are relevance and efficiency, both of which can be helped by using media to “amplify good creative” rather than “disguise bad creative.”

“When the algorithms find the target audience, because you have found relevance and you amplify it, you're not necessarily paying for the premium of all of these multi-layered targetings that you need to input into the ads manager to be able to drive it,” he said. 

“That is the point around using media to amplify great creative, because the efficiency you gain and the relevance you've already achieved with consumers can now be scaled at a much more cost efficient basis.”

That doesn’t mean performance media is obsolete. “On the flip side, there are very important things around LTOs [limited time offers] and ephemeral campaigns, Black Friday sales, things you’ve got to run with. People are wired to understand those things.” 

“This isn't to say media is not valuable at all, it's just saying media, combined with highly performing creative is an absolute real thing that we see moving the needle on businesses. And you become a little more friendly with the CFO, because they'll say, ‘How did you just come up with a couple million bucks?’”

Whilst the overall goal of any marketer is to drive conversion, Peter said success in the mid-funnel comes down to scale, variety, and above all: relevance.

“Mid-funnel, you’ve got to have a volume and variety of content, and the key is making relevant content,” he said. “Just over the last couple days, a lot of people have mentioned to me, which I affirm subjectively in my own feeds, that I'll see more content from people I don't follow more regularly than I will from people that I do follow.”

Reaching non-followers is the new reality of discovery, and the advantage, Peter noted, is that brands can build on that success. 

“Now we have the option of taking those best performing assets and putting media behind it to drive business outputs. So when you have an organic asset that performs so well, why not turn it into an asset with a CTA [call to action] and optimise for what you know performs very well on site, because you've gotten validation on that message.”

Asked what makes organic content effective, Peter was direct.

“There are many metrics that matter, but views and impressions, given how meritocratic algorithms are, will determine if a piece of organic content is successful or not,” he said. 

“It's very hard to be relevant and get views if the piece of content you made does not resonate with the right audiences, and I think that's something very different in today's times.”

Brands should learn as they go. “The opportunity is in getting a bunch of content out, knowing what works and what doesn't work will be learned pretty quickly. Sometimes we see upwards of one or two weeks before a piece of content is deemed successful or unsuccessful, but the algorithm doesn't lie.”

One of the biggest challenges and opportunities of modern marketing is that online, “you are no longer a brand that's competing against your competitors and contemporaries, you're competing against a billion people.”

“Relevance creates consumed reach. It's never been more clear how a brand can be relevant, when it was unclear in the past,” he said.

“Moving the mindset of everything from campaigns to activations to be less top down and more bottoms up, to be consumer oriented, I believe, is a really viable framework that will help you grow.”

That extends to experimentation with AI, and marketers should be “leaning into platforms on anything new” to stay ahead of the curve. 

“The platforms are going to optimise for business outcomes faster than anything else that's out there, so it's really available for everyone to participate.”

“Just doing is really, really important” when it comes to mastering AI, and he suggested “trying one hard thing, three medium things, five small things” a week.

“Getting yourself – as a marketer, as a creator, as a strategist, as a project manager, as a client, partner, whatever you might be – more in the dirt with how AI works as a practitioner, is going to be the difference between good and great.”