When it comes to garnering consumer attention online, ephemeral content is an easy, cost-saving and creative boon to any brand — if you use it the right way. Simply defined, ephemeral content is messaging — video, stories, and interactive messaging — that instantly captures the attention of your audience, then vanishes in 24 hours.

How do you harness the power of ephemeral content using a clear, cohesive overall strategy that will pack the biggest potential punch? Use these tips to hone your approach and spur your audience to buy your goods and services fast:

Know how to effectively mine FOMO.

“FOMO,” or fear of missing out, is a psychological byproduct of social media that you never want to ruthlessly exploit, but that you do want to ethically implement to draw attention to your brand's true strengths.

A study led by Vittoria Franchina at the University of Palermo found that social media users who are prompted by FOMO often focus their immediate attention on private platforms, such as Facebook or Snapchat, rather than making their interest in the instantaneous known on a public site like Twitter.

Taking this into account, focus your content so it's super-exciting and be clear and upfront about the fact that offers or deals you're advertising will expire within a specific time frame. Be honest and don't extend a deal, or your potential buyers will feel like they got fooled.

Be relatable.

Study your demographic extensively so they feel you understand them from the very start of your Instagram story. Research from the Interactive Advertising Bureau found that 67% of global consumers have livestreamed.

This means you can't take a chance that such a potentially wide demographic will come back to your platform if the material you offer is what they consider to be bad. Connect from the get-go and keep their attention.

Focus heavily on back-and-forth communication.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau also reports that 70% of consumers who gravitate toward livestreaming do it at least once a day, so you need to know what such a live potential audience of consumers is thinking in real time about your brand.

Use interactive tools such as quizzes, polls and surveys. Make it easy for your viewers to post their own live video about your product — examples might include asking them to share footage of how they love to use it.

Make consumer queries a snap.

Use a livestream option so consumers can ask you product questions in real time, during a set period each day, and have a brand ambassador or high-level employee answer these questions in a fun and entertaining way. This is a fresh, friendly and highly transparent way to tout the attributes of your goods and services and promote great customer service.

Constantly refresh your content.

Don't let lags occur. Once something vanishes from your platform, have your next video ready to upload immediately. Keep your audience hungry for more at all times — never skimp on the quality of what you post.