• by Maggie Malek , September 30, 2015

In the short time since Apple enabled ad blocking on its mobile phones, the #adpocolypse conversation has dominated the media (and Twitter).

While the impact of ad blocking apps’ effect on the advertising and marketing industry remains to be seen, perhaps the end of the advertising world as we know it would actually be just fine. Why is that?

For one, this new consumer behavior (ad blocking) puts pressure on brands to create content and experiences that matter to their consumers, instead of shouting at them via pre-roll and banner ads, which 47% of U.S. Web surfers were already blocking anyway, per the Reuters Institute.

The antidote to ad blocking lies in integrated and sophisticated social media programs that serve up more of what consumers prefer — meaningful content that gets them talking about the brands.

In a world where consumers now have not only a mental ad blocker, but real blockers on their smartphones, it’s time to leverage social media and content marketing in ways that matter to users.

Consider these four important steps when creating social media programs that have real impact.

Get to know your consumer

Consumers are demanding a more personalized experience from brands — and talking they’re about it every day, all day, online. Therefore, brands must become a part of consumers’ lives in relevant ways and engage in conversations where they have a right to play. How can your brand do that? Through listening.

The data online is rich. We use listening and analytics tools that aggregate data in new ways, allowing us to understand more about consumer behaviors than ever before. That understanding informs more data-driven social media, content marketing programs, and real-time marketing decisions. We dig deep and ask:

• What is she looking for online?

• What does she care about?

• What content is she reading?

• Who is she following?

• What social channels is she using?

• Where is she posting reviews?

• What makes her passionate about and totally loyal to a brand?

If you don’t understand what makes your customer tick, you cannot create a social media program (paid or otherwise) that will resonate any more with her than a banner ad will.

Ignite meaningful conversations

Once you’ve done your listening (with your heart as well as your marketing head), it’s time to dial up the conversation. With a mix of organic and sponsored social media content, social media advertising, and more, you can reach your consumer in new and exciting ways.

People want experiences they can relate to. It’s your job to create really good ones.

To that end: With all the ways to target consumers in the social space, avoid being generic! As an industry, we need to stop those giant platform media buys with boring, always-on messaging

Instead, let’s use all that amazing information at our fingertips to create highly targeted, impactful messages— deep demographic data, RSS feeds, hashtags used, location, job, favorite book, custom audiences, look-a-like audiences, profiles following, and on and on.

If the conversations you start are flat and off target, as opposed to compelling and data-driven, you will annoy people and lead them to download those ad blockers or unfollow you on your social channels—and quickly end the conversation.

Budget well

Social media isn’t free; it’s an investment broadly recognized as highly important, so budget well for it.

According to a recent Salesforce study, 70% of marketers planned to increase social media advertising budgets in 2015. These marketers can target consumers—logged into a variety of social channels across devices—with exactly the products or services they like and interact with online.

It’s a considerable audience: 1.36 billion people use Facebook and 86%  of them use it daily from their phones. How much is their attention worth to you?

Stay focused

The savvy customer today does not want to be sold to. Stop worrying about ad blockers—worry about your social media programs instead. I am not saying that we shouldn’t think about how ad blocking apps will affect our industry long-term. But if you create an experience online that your consumers care about, I promise they will share it.