This means marketers need to be creative to make sure their brands rise to the top of the newsfeed. After attending the Social Media Marketing World conference, here are three key takeaways for staying on top of social trends from a few of our favorite speakers.
Get Comfortable with Video (Especially Stories + YouTube!)
According to the Founder of media giant Social Media Examiner, Mike Stelzner says that 70% of marketers plan on doing more with video this year. To help show how much video has already grown, consider how 100M people consumed Stories daily in October, 2016. By February, 2019, that number ballooned to 500M people daily (growing 15x faster than in-feed content!).
If you don’t have the means to create video, leverage influencers and content creators. They’ll help you reach new and unique audiences, all while giving your brand a relatable and trustworthy voice.
Pro Tip: Don’t know how to work with influencers? Start by engaging with your consumers on social. If you need some inspo, check out UCLA’s Basketball team on Instagram Stories. They’re leveraging their own basketball players to dish up premium content to followers. Things like all-access passes to pre-game huddles and half-time pep talks for prospective students, fans, and donors may seem simple, but it’s been one of the team’s most successful tactics for social engagement to date.
Focus on Measurement and Determine Which Metrics are Relevant
It seems like it’d be easy to nail down the most relevant KPIs, right? Well, If you’re curious about which metrics to start with, take it from Facebook Marketing expert Mari Smith: “Content is king… but engagement is queen, and she rules the house”. Harnessing new technologies like Facebook’s analytics platform lets Marketers advance their insights, tracking things like engagement and even conversions through the funnel categorized by action taken.
Pro Tip: Remember, not everyone is ready to buy your product or lean into your brand the first time they see it, no matter how stellar the content is. One way to build this strong engagement and brand loyalty is with an Evergreen strategy. Evergreen Campaigns keep your audience “on the verge of purchase” (@jonloomer) and engaged with your content and brand.
Take Pride in Your Organic Content
While paid ads are great – even necessary to stay relevant – we can’t forget the importance of a strong organic feed. In order for your paid ads to truly work, says influencer and business strategist Jasmine Star, your organic content and community management must be engaging. With nearly 300K Instagram followers, Jasmine revealed firsthand that if her organic posts aren’t resonating with her followers then her paid ads won’t perform as well thanks to the algorithm.
TLDR; more organic likes = better paid performance. Boom!
Pro Tip: Your organic content only reaches 1-6% of your audience. Let’s flip the script on that by building out a robust content calendar, sharing at least once daily for 30 days. Sit back, relax, and watch your organic reach grow with a consistent strategy.
As you can see, the world of social media is constantly changing and evolving. Being able to adapt and stay on top of trends is key for brands and individuals who want to be seen and heard. So as we continue to evaluate our social strategies and tactics, keep in mind our three major takeaways from the social and measurement experts themselves.
