1.7 Social Media Stickiness

We can all thank the brilliant marketing folks at Gillette and Hewlett-Packard for what can only be called the greatest marketing coup of all time. In the world of shaving, the modern cartridge razor has two parts: the razor handle and the blades (or cartridges). Only one of those two parts wears out and needs to get replaced: the blades. The razor handle will likely last years (if not longer). So, how can we make more money from the folks that want smooth legs and stubble-free faces? The answer: give away the piece of the product that feels “valuable” for free, and you can charge WAY more than cost for the replacement blades. Why? Because consumers don’t feel like they should just throw away a solidly built, well-designed razor handle; they feel invested in their razor handle. They trust this razor, so they stay brand loyal and continue to purchase overpriced blades. True story. This tactic worked so well with razors that the smart folks that pioneered the inkjet printer, Hewlett-Packard (HP), followed that same playbook as they introduced the first inkjet printers for home use. A ridiculously low-priced printer, outrageously priced ink cartridge refills.

These types of marketing strategies encourage brand stickiness and customer retention. The same is true for social platforms. The more a platform can encourage you (the user) to “invest” time and energy into their channel, the more likely you are to stay put, spend time on the platform, and become a valuable customer for them. To accomplish this, social media platforms provide almost everything to the user for free and are constantly improving, upgrading, and adding services to make it easier for you to stay and harder for you to leave.

But where are the overpriced ink cartridges or razor blades in this relationship? Good question. The most valuable currency in social media, as far as the platform is concerned, isn’t what you spend money on (unless you’re Amazon, then they care very much about your spending habits). No, what the majority of the social platforms care about is your attention. They are selling your time on their site to advertisers. And the more time you give them, the more money they can make off of you. Your time and attention is worth much more than replacement ink cartridges and razor blades, and the giant social platforms will spend much to keep you coming back for more, and more, and more.