The end of the year is quickly approaching -- the holiday season is right around the corner and 2018 is just a few months away. Social media gives your brand an incredible opportunity to attract attention to your brand, provided you do it right. You either take full advantage of the opportunity or your competitors will.
It's a constantly changing landscape, and it's time to start laying out your social media marketing strategy
for the approaching year. In order to be successful, you need to know
what the latest trends are. Staying ahead of the curve will put you in a
much better position to capitalize as we head into 2018. Here are four
social media trends you need to start focusing on immediately.
1. Chatbots have arrived. You need to master them.
If you aren't familiar with chatbots, you need to learn how this technology can greatly benefit
your social media marketing. Customer service has transitioned to phone
calls and emails to social media. Consumers demand instant replies to
their questions and concerns, and they now turn to social media any time
they want something.
The sooner you can reply, the better, as you satisfy the desire for
instant gratification. Chatbots allow you to interact instantly, which
is why Facebook Messenger bots especially are becoming so popular.
Setting one up is fairly simple and you can do it for free.
"Social media is the hub for customer interaction, and it's becoming
necessary for every business to acknowledge this, even service based
businesses. The most attractive aspect of utilizing a chatbot is the
ability to provide instant engagement that feels personal. Chatbots are
there for your customers around the clock," says James Memije, founder
of AccuServ Heating & Air Conditioning.
2. Social media needs to be entirely mobile-focused.
Snapchat and Instagram are mobile-focused social media platforms, and while Instagram is accessible via desktops, very few users, if any, use it on anything other than their mobile devices. Facebook makes 84 percent of its advertising revenue from mobile -- making it clear as day that the majority of social media users are on their phones.
"The content you post on social media needs to feature calls-to-action
that have the mobile user in mind. They already have their phone in
hand, so take advantage of the opportunity and create content that
triggers an action," advises Catherine Jacobs, COO of McQuarrie Hunter LLP.
Facebook was originally created for desktop use and has evolved to
become extremely user-friendly on mobile devices. The trend of mobile
use dominating social media is only going to increase, so prepare
yourself now.
3. Don't eliminate platforms because of feature similarities.
It's no secret that Facebook and Instagram copied Snapchat
-- they all now have very similar features, but that doesn't
necessarily make them the same. From the outside looking in, they might
seem similar enough to possibly eliminate one from the mix, but each
platform has different reach abilities and different audiences.
"Snapchat is still the more popular option among the younger
demographic, while Instagram is the Millennials social network of
choice. Facebook is the option the older demographic is comfortable
with, and it now has a 'Stories' feature as well. So, while these three
all have the same feature, they are favored by different audiences,"
explains Yosef Adelman, CEO of Falcon Marketing.
This is going to continue, and while the features might become more
similar across different social platforms, you can't eliminate a social
media channel based on features alone -- doing so can possibly eliminate
your ability to reach certain demographics and audiences.
4. Video needs to be part of your content strategy.
Everyone knows that video content is hot right now, and Facebook ads that feature video are attracting more engagement, which then amplifies the organic exposure. When done right, there isn't a bigger bang for your social media marketing dollar.
"Snapchat is heavily video-content based, as is Instagram's Stories
feature, proving how video is the dominating content format on social
media right now. Businesses that quickly learn how to tell their story
through video content will experience much better social media success
than those that ignore it," says Brian Gwinn, CEO of Greenview Investment Partners.
I can already see brands and entrepreneurs start to get more involved with Snapchat, myself included. They are becoming more influencer-friendly, which will contribute to introducing it to a much larger group of users outside of the younger demographic.
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