From the algorithms to the features, social media is always changing and this makes it difficult for marketers and brands to keep up. Yet, it continues to be one of the most direct ways to engage with an audience and promote your brand. In fact, your brand should be strategically focused on being actively present on, at least, one socia media platform.
We sat down with Social Media Director at On Ideas, Kelly Novak, to get her insight on some of the latest social media trends and features.
We guarantee it’s great advice:
Q: TikTok is still the new social rave, but many brands are uncertain if or how to use this platform. How should a brand assess whether they should have a presence on this channel and what are some helpful tips for promoting your brand on TikTok?
A: So much is still unknown about TikTok – except that it’s been spreading like wildfire in popularity over the past few years. If you haven’t explored this app yet, you should. If only to look at the viral videos everyone’s been sharing on your Instagram feed.
When it comes to whether or not your brand should join TikTok, you need to know your audience and the platform’s audience (and your capabilities)! Quite frankly, TikTok isn’t the right place for every brand. Everyone wants to go after Millennials and Gen Z for their purchasing power, but just because you reach them doesn’t mean your brand will resonate with them.
If you decide to take the leap, be authentic. Create content that tells a story and feels natural. There’s nothing worse than creating overly polished content on an organic platform – Gen Zers can tell, and they’ll judge you for it. Make sure you understand the platform, understand how to work with trends, and engage with your followers.
Q: There have been several updates to Instagram to make it a commerce-friendly platform. What are the key ways retailers and brands should be leveraging Instagram and its latest updates?
A: Here’s the deal: Shopping on Meta (Remember, Facebook owns Instagram) blew up during the pandemic. But, if you’ve ever shopped using Instagram’s platform, you probably know that it’s not the most user-friendly experience. Recently, Meta decided to pull back on social commerce efforts. They likely realized it was not a good experience and wanted to do a bit of a reset.
What can you do in the meantime? Keep tagging your products in posts, but do it in reels. Instagram prioritizes reels over static content, so it makes sense to shift your efforts there. The good news is that any products you currently have in your shop will stay there.
Don’t have an Instagram shop set up? Add a link sticker to your website. That way, you’re driving traffic back to your site.
Q: So much is taking place on social media every day. How can brands best manage their social media accounts and ensure they’re not losing their audience’s attention?
A: Never stop learning! Because social media is constantly evolving, it’s essential to keep informed about the latest trends. Stay current by subscribing to newsletters and following your favorite experts/brands.
Make sure you’re pulling performance reports routinely. If you notice one theme is doing well, lean into it. If one isn’t performing well, start asking questions. Yes, social media is driven by emotional and visual content, but if you don’t have the statistics to back it up, you’re doing yourself a disservice.
Q: Influencer marketing seems to keep growing. What trends do you foresee for 2023 that brands should pay close attention to?
A: Influencer marketing isn’t going away anytime soon. This stat from Influencer Marketing Hub is pretty incredible: there was a 1500% increase in searches for “influencer marketing” between 2016 and 2019.
Because influencer marketing has become almost mainstream to us, if you haven’t considered working with an influencer, it’s time to start.
A trend that brands should pay close attention to for 2023 will be the rise in the importance of curated content. Here’s what I mean by that: follower numbers won’t be as important to people. I think Gen Z will not care as much about how many followers an influencer has but will care about the quality of their content. We’re already starting to see that with the rise of content creators vs. influencer titles. We’ll see influencers clearly define their partnerships and state what they believe in on their bios. This will affect follower counts, but will likely lead to higher loyalty among followers.
Q: With the ever-changing algorithms, securing a place on your audience’s timeline can be difficult. How can brands increase engagement and followers with these ongoing changes?
A: As I mentioned above, one of the best things you can do is stay educated about what’s going on with each social media platform. If you miss an update, you’ll likely be behind.
You have to be on the platforms! Spend time scrolling through content. Find people who do a great job creating content and interacting with followers. Study their behavior. What are they posting? When are they posting? Learn from this and bring those learnings to life on your platforms.
Study your performance. Use your monthly reports to figure out what content’s working and what content isn’t. Look at what posting times are performing well and optimize towards those. Do you do well if you only post a certain number of times per week? Don’t be afraid to test and apply your learnings.
Finally, know your audience. Any content you create must be true to who you are as a brand and must resonate with your audience. If it doesn’t resonate with them, it will fall flat.
Does your brand need help with social media, strategy or marketing? Reach out and let’s talk.
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