At Google, they call them micro-moments.
“They’re the moments when we turn to a device – often a smartphone—to take action on whatever we need or want right now. These I-want-to-know, I-want-to-go, I-want-to-buy, and I-want-to-do moments are loaded with intent, context, and immediacy.” — Google
Google spent a bunch of time researching and analyzing consumer behavior to better inform brands how they could use Google products to more effectively serve their audiences. Check out Google’s Complete Micro-Moments Guide (it’s super interesting). A colleague introduced me to this concept and since then I’ve been thinking about how we have the opportunity (and responsibility) to leverage these micro-moments in higher ed.
Tenets of micro-moments
- Courtesy of Google Think.
Digital revolution
At Colorado State, we’re taking a hard look at how we strategically optimize our key websites in order to take advantage of the micro-moments principles. A big shout-out to my colleagues in the Division of External Relations for their work enhancing our websites to make them simple, impactful, and relevant… ultimately leading to a better user experience.
Our home page underwent a complete overhaul and is now a brand marketing tool rather than a news/events platform. It’s designed to be the “front door” of our university, welcoming visitors and bringing the best of CSU to the forefront.
Our news site, Source, is designed to be the one-stop shop for all things news and information for CSU with an emphasis on creative multimedia storytelling.
Our Admissions website is a portal welcoming our next generation of Rams.
Optimizing our websites to address micro-moments on mobile is critical. And to me, social is the glue that helps keeps it together.
A collection of micro-moments
Looking at micro-moments outside of the scope of Google’s take on it, social media itself is a collection of micro-moments. Here at #CSUSocial, we’re there for the You’ve-Got-This moments, the Welcome-to-the-Ramily moments, the I-Need-To-Drop-This-Class moments, the I-Remember-When moments, the Gotta-Rally-With-The-Rams moments, the I’m-Graduating moments, and so, so many more. Twitter and Snapchat, in particular, are a daily breeding ground for these types of one-on-one communication between CSU and our Rams. And I love it.
Be There
We meet our fans where there are. Like on Snapchat.
Be Useful
Like this.
Be Quick
Like this.
Every single day, millions of messages are sent between brands and consumers. To me, the most rewarding interactions are not the ones that influence the masses, it’s the small moments. The micro-moments.
If you’re interested in digital communications strategy, I recommend spending time with Think with Google.