When you meet someone, what’s the first thing that you’d exchange? Phone numbers?
That would’ve been the case some years ago, but now it’s social media handles which is shining brighter than ever in people’s lives.
Social media is a happening form of networking. There are good many platforms meant for specific purposes in our daily human lives.
For example, LinkedIn is the best considered social networking site to develop your professional networks, Facebook helps you reconnect with old friends, Instagram gives you a wider opportunity than just sharing some family pictures.
Literally, even dogs have their own social media handles these days, that too with more than a million followers!
So what about you unlocking the potential of social media for business?
Studies show that 80% of instagrammers follow at least one brand account. 130 million users find out more through shopping posts every month.
Needless to say, brands are using this close association of humans to social media to grow their business. Websites, and apps like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, and others give an insight into what is trending amongst your target audience.
Additionally, since people use social media for literally everything, it gives marketers an added advantage of understanding what they could tap from this for their content ideas.
SOCIAL MEDIA where presence is a must
Facebook for business is one of the must haves in the list of social media marketing. It has been one of the early starters in this social networking space, and has been evolving, and growing ever since. On an average there are about 1.5 million active users on Facebook almost every day.
That’s a lot of people. So if you don’t have your business on this social media platform, that’s a good enough reason for you to start now!
As per Facebook for Business statistics, two-thirds of the platform users say that they visit a local Facebook business page at least once a week. Here, you do need to maintain a balance between content, and sales pitches as Facebook does not like a whole lot focusing just on sales.
And, if you’re unsure about Facebook marketing, then you can take a look at this simplified guide.
Given that this platform has over 800 million monthly users, Instagram is one platform that your business should absolutely get accustomed to!
Instagram can also be used for generating sales, moreover you can get detailed insights not just about your account but about each, and every post, and access to free instagram tools, and features. The best part being, Instagram gives you all the creative freedom with respect to content.
It’s a great social media platform since vis-a-vis other platforms it’s way easier to engage your target audience on this platform, and build a community for your brand. Instagram will help you gain, and retain customer loyalty.
Dreaming of owning the Instagram game? Here’s a few tips, and tricks that’ll help.
If you’re aiming for B2B social media marketing, then LinkedIn on this list is a great choice for you. LinkedIn gives you an insight into the professional world with over 450 million business professionals signed up on the platform. LinkedIn makes up for 50% of social traffic for B2B websites, and blogs.
You can create your business page on LinkedIn, and can spread brand awareness about your business expertise. Although unlike Instagram, content creativity cannot be stretched, nevertheless the level of professionalism on LinkedIn can help you gain customers, and useful insights!
For this, it’s important to build your expertise in your area of work which will help you to not only participate in the ongoing discussions but will also help you to introduce your brand to the world, and scale it.
Now, figuring your way around LinkedIn marketing could be a challenge, so this article will help you understand what you need to keep in mind as you go ahead.
Are you someone who can keep up with change almost all the time? Then Twitter can be a great marketing tool for you, and your business.
The average lifespan of a tweet is 18 minutes, so when Twitter claimed to be a fast paced social networking site, that was no joke.
When you think of getting your business a Twitter handle, it’s important to remember that since tweets don’t last that long, your business tweets need to be good enough to make an impact on your followers.
But with Twitter’s features as advanced searches, twitter polls, videos, etc., the platform is worth the time, effort, and investment for the marketers who do it right.
So you can always try out Twitter, and take a look at what works, and what doesn’t for your business.
Here are some steps that you can take to launch your own Twitter for Business.
SOCIAL MEDIA Trends for 2023
While it’s important to have these platforms on your digital marketing must-have list, another factor that you must pay attention to are the trends. Trends are what help you connect with your target audience better than any other aspect.
Since trends keep changing with time, here are the trends that you need to look out for this 2023.
Video content is the new normal
Ever since the pandemic last year, people, and businesses have been pushed to the extreme, and have thereby explored, and evolved with the digital means of communication. This is especially true with video content where live streams have been the norm, and have been used so very commonly.
Moreover, nobody can forget about those zoom calls, and the microsoft team calls which went awkwardly wrong at times!
The number of views on Instagram, and Facebook Live had almost doubled during covid.
Additionally, insights from SocialInsider demonstrate that Instagram, and Facebook stories, despite having images in it have a 5.65% higher chance of tap forwards than videos. Tap forward is when a person sees your story, and taps on it to move on to your next story even before the current story gets over.
Therefore refining your creativity with the video format must definitely be in your bucket list as a business marketer, for 2023, and beyond.
It’s no exaggeration that businesses are now getting really good at familiarizing themselves with their target audience, and so are these social media platforms.
User experience has evolved, and has grown to be at the centre of every development taking place, whether for businesses or for these social networking sites.
Facebook now allows businesses to set up shop on their own business page, and users can then make purchases through the same. The same also goes for Instagram where products are listed on the business’s Instagram page. Users can buy products on the platform without having to leave it.
A study shows that 54% of the social media users research a particular product on the social media platforms, before they go ahead, and finally purchase it. This clearly shows how social networking sites play a vital role, especially so for the ecommerce brands.
So optimizing your social pages to include buy buttons, and shop settings can make a world of difference not only for your business but for the end users as well.
Being Inclusive counts
Today, audiences are looking for much more than a product. They also look for the brands that share the same values as them. And, social media has been able to facilitate this need to a good extent.
An Accenture study revealed that 29% shoppers would change their brand preference to the one that cares about community, and diversity.
Community is the focus when it comes to social media, and if your brand is committed to community building, you’ll be attracting, and achieving much more than just sales.
You’ll have customer loyalty, recommendations, and a highly respected, and valued brand in the market.
Thus ensure to add this to your checklist year after year.
Transparency matters
This is another aspect that you need to prioritize for your business. People want to know more about your brand, and business.
Being transparent can sort out, and clear out any issues that may be there, and can also help you further gain customer trust. Moreover, people are very much alert, and aware about what they’re buying, and from where, and transparency can help your brand stay in the safe zone, and more so in this day, and age.
Influencer Marketing will continue to rise
While Influencer Marketing has been around for a while, this is going to scale in the year ahead. Probably for two reasons, first, the number of influencers are increasing. There are about 3.2 million to 37.8 million influencers on social media.
Second, brands are increasingly investing in influencer marketing, literally, it’s a 5 to 10 billion dollar industry. Influencer marketing costs less than paid ad campaigns, and can provide a good turnout, and ROI.
Given that people research on social media about a product or service before they purchase it, influencer marketing can actually benefit your brand as it builds trust among the audience.
Technological advancements – Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality
Virtual Reality (VR), and Augmented Reality (AR) are two of the most happening advancements in the past one year, and you should know about it. Since countries were in lockdown, people chose the virtual way to explore.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Facebook will now be focusing on using the Oculus VR platform to test out their creativity.
In terms of Augmented Reality, it is interactive, and can successfully engage with the target audience quite easily as it’s very relatable.
As opposed to Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality does not need any hardware. Filters are one of the most popular trends on social media that has people trying them out every single day.
Conclusion on Social Media Trends
Tapping on the social media trends can help keep your brand, and business stay updated, and relevant for your target audience. That way, people won’t tire of your brand.
The important point to keep in mind here is to stay relevant for your audience. If you accomplish that time, and again, you’re doing your social media strategy right.
So what social media trends are you catching up to this month?
Great information. Thanks for sharing them. I believe that it’ll help many people in their job.