What’s New in Social Media Marketing

By: Emma Miller

Social media marketing has become increasingly popular over the past few years. No wonder this is so when approximately 2.5 billion people use social networks on a daily basis. Facebook is still the most popular social media platform, despite its recent Cambridge Analytica Scandal, with more than 1.45 billion unique daily visitors.

All this means that following the latest social media trends is essential for reaching out to your target audience and engaging them. Here are some novelties that you should keep pace with.

User-generated content

UGC is all the rage at the moment, as companies encourage their followers to submit their images, videos, and reviews on social media. This strategy is extremely powerful when it comes to boosting customer engagement while being relatively cost-efficient. Needless to say, the fact that your social media channels are full of content provided by your followers will make your Facebook page or Instagram profile much more credible by adding that much-needed human touch. Still, your customers won’t simply start creating UGC on their own and they need a little encouragement on your part. So, you can give them a nudge by running a contest, teaming up with industry influencers, or simply by asking your followers to submit their stories.

Facebook Ads are taking over

The best way to capture the attention of your potential customers is to be on their preferred social media channel. As we have already mentioned how popular Facebook is, it’s only logical that you should take advantage of Facebook Ads and target your audience with them. These ads can help you boost your brand awareness and expand your reach. What’s also great is that you can send high-quality traffic to your website, increase engagement, and establish direct communication with your customers via chat. A reliable social media advertising agency can help you set up a strategy and achieve these objectives.

Live video

Video is the most popular engaging type of content, and the fact that one-third of all online activity is spent watching video perfectly illustrates this statement. But there’s another trend which is even more popular on social media – live video. Live stream options on Facebook and Instagram allow you to connect with your customers in real time and offer them unique, interactive content. The trick to succeeding is coming up with something really creative and entertaining to share with them. Live webinars, for example, can help you educate your audience and find out what their most common pain points are.

Micro-influencer marketing

Many companies team up with big shot influencers and spend their entire budgets on this strategy without getting the results they hoped for. This is the reason why micro influencers have become the next big thing in social media marketing. Namely, these minor celebrities have accumulated small but extremely loyal and responsive followings, which makes them perfect for promoting your brand without having to break the bank. What’s also a good thing is that they are much more accessible and cooperative.

Chatbots

The chatbot technology has significantly advanced, and it’s estimated that very soon it will be hard to tell whether you’re chatting to a bot or a real person. By using chatbots, both on your website and on Facebook, you can automate and speed up your customer service as well as boost productivity, but it’s important not to get carried away and completely dehumanize your approach. The best way is to find balance and use chatbots only to deal with some common issues, while still preserving a human touch. In other words, they should be used to collect customer information, offer some guidance, and even take orders, while more complex issues should be left to your sales reps or social media team to deal with.

Augmented reality

Ever since the Pokemon Go craze, which hit the world back in 2016, augmented reality has become a very appealing concept to social media marketers. Virtual reality has the purpose of enhancing our reality by adding digital information. For example, the dog ears filter which took the world by the storm is a way of integrating AR into social media. However, apart from numerous face filters whose main purpose is fun, there are other more serious and significant uses of AR, such as allowing your customers to see how a certain item of clothing fits them without having to actually come to the store to try it on. Many fashion and beauty companies embraced this technology, so that now, for example, the brand Estée Lauder offers their customers to use different shades of lipstick via their Facebook chatbot called LipArtist. When they find the one they like, they simply proceed to the online store and make a purchase. This technology is the future of social media marketing and it can tremendously help brands sell their products online.

If you want your social media strategy to be effective, make sure to implement at least a couple of these tactics.
By Emma Miller