Social media marketing is constantly changing. If you’re trying to be one of the first to the next trend, you’ve got to pay attention.
What is the next platform to appear? When will companies add more features to make it easy for you to promote your brand? How many posts are too many? These are simple questions you need to answer, but the answers seem to change rapidly as long as the digital marketplace continues to change. Let’s check out three of the biggest trends you should watch this year.
Social Commerce is Growing Exponentially
Have you ever bought a product or service from a social media post? Today, most of us can say we’ve done this at least once. Many of us spend a lot of time shopping based on products posted by influencers and companies we follow on social media. Many companies have invested in social commerce to bring more products to our daily news feed. Whether you use Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, or Instagram (and there’s a likelihood you use all four), you’ll find the product you want from companies you follow on these platforms.
The Numbers Don’t Lie
The Harris Poll tells us that more than 73% of businesses already offer social commerce. That means most of the companies you shop with at the store or online are also on social media, ready to sell you the items you want to buy. In the next three years, this number should increase to 79% of companies offering social shopping to make it much easier to buy what you want right from your news feed. Are you one of the many shoppers using social media to find what you want?
Why Do Shoppers Use Social Commerce?
The answer is pretty simple, they learn about products on social media and make purchasing decisions based on that information. More than 80% of consumers say they are likely to buy using a social commerce platform because of brand familiarity. A massive part of the market finds products through in-feed ads, discovery pages, story ads, posts from influencers, live stream videos, and hashtags. How will your company use social media marketing to build a social commerce platform? Can this be the trend that puts you over the top and bring in the sales you desire?
Short-Form Videos are a Hit on Social Media
Think about the last time you watched a show with commercials or sat through an entire video when you knew it was ten minutes long. You probably hit the fast-forward button to move past the commercials and only watched the parts of the video you thought were most important. Our attention spans are short, and we want to get to the necessary information and then get on with our day. We want shorter videos and information quickly because of our lack of attention and desire for immediate information.
TikTok and Instagram Lead the Way with Shorter Videos
Where should you focus your social media marketing campaign if you want to offer shorter videos? It would help if you turned to TikTok and Instagram. Both offer easy ways to use short-form video in your marketing. The Stories feature offered on Instagram now exists on some of the other social platforms. This means you can enjoy the benefits of marketing to your audience using quick-hitting videos that entertain and inform your viewers. These videos need to be no more than sixty seconds long. After that, you begin to lose a large percentage of your viewers.
How Can Your Company Take Advantage of Short-Form Videos?
Let’s look at five ideas to help you get the ball rolling and create some excellent short-form Instagram videos.
- 1. Show off your product or service
- 2. Have a short how-to video
- 3. Offer a sneak peek at new products or services
- 4. Answer some questions from the audience from a previous poll
- 5. Ask followers to create videos using your products or services
You don’t have to use all of these suggestions, but a few of them could be big hits for your company and bring more viewers and more revenue to your sales totals.
Real-Time Reactions to Crises Continue to Grow
We used to get our news twice a day on television and through the newspaper if one was delivered to our doorsteps. Those days are gone. You now have a 24-hour news cycle covering that topic no matter what you’re interested in. Whether it’s fashion, entertainment, sports, politics, current events, or market insights, a team covers these items. Not only do we have the 24-hour cycle, but everything is also put on social media for us to digest and share.
Can a Crisis Be Averted
How does the news cycle impact social media marketing? Companies have to be completely aware of what’s trending on social media and what their stance is on that particular topic. This means your company must react to events that impact your industry and have a view that reflects your organization’s values and followers. Sometimes you’ll need to respond to news events right away; other times, you can avoid them and let other companies worry about the reaction. Either way, it’s essential to read the responses of your followers and create a crisis plan for your company to react appropriately.
How You React Impacts Repeat Customers
In addition to watching the industry news, if your company receives negative product feedback, experiences site outages, or ends up viral on social media for the wrong reasons, you need a plan to address these situations. Does your company have effective communication and a plan to handle crises that happen? Can you face the negativity and find a way to turn it into something positive? Your social media audience is paying attention and wants to know how you’ll handle a crisis when it happens at your company.
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