At the onset of the 21st century, starting with the likes of Facebook and Twitter, social media burst into the world scene, first as a medium of communicating with friends, then as a channel for networking and expanding exposure. Fast forward to today, and social media has evolved from a just networking channel to a holistic platform with potent marketing tools. The wealth of marketing opportunities afforded by social media is by every means far-reaching, just ask bestproducts.com who upped their number of monthly web visitors to over 600,000 all thanks to social media marketing techniques. But like social media itself, social media strategies evolve over time. Curious about what would be the rave for social media in 2018, here’s a quick sneak peek.
Mobile technologies lead the pack
If there’s one thing we’ve come to realize over the years, it’s the now common knowledge that mobile-based technology is slowly but steadily outranking other platforms for consumer engagement. As of February 2017, approx. 50% of all web users accessed the web from their mobile devices; Instagram, Snapchat, and other mobile-based social media networks also witnessed a marked increase in the number of active users. The import from this prevailing scenario is that businesses seeking competitive advantage must up their mobile content and mobile advertising game. Companies must now invest considerable resources and time in the development of content enhanced for mobile integration, which leads to the next point.
Businesses must churn out richer content to stand out
The hard truth is that virtually everyone is doing social media marketing now – small companies, startup, mega businesses, you name it. And as a result, social media is currently saturated with a plethora of mundane ads targeting the increasingly ‘ads-desensitized’ social media users. If you aim to get user engagement, then you must develop richer content because after all as they say content is king. Low-level content does not generate conversions anymore; you could spend years forcing bland material down the throat of consumers, but trust us, they won’t swallow. Quality content is just as valuable (if not more important) than the actual advertisement campaign.
As far as the metrics go, for now, quality content presented as a video is what’s deriving the conversion. That said other forms of user engagement could be potentially disruptive. You just have to put on your thinking cap and get creative.
You’ll need to put more work into your social media Campaign
Social media marketing is serious business, but many fail to see it that way. To some, it is just a casual way of bolstering market reach, to others it’s a promising prospect that’s too stressful to manipulate and to the sect, we like to call ‘wise’ it’s an invaluable tool that generates the majority of their business leads. Which one are you? For social media to work for your business, you have to commit considerable effort and time to your marketing strategies. And while this might seem unfeasible given your current workload, it is something that can be achieved by delegating such tasks to virtual assistants and remote staffs at a fraction of the cost it’ll take to hire an onsite team. Nothing good comes easy, and social media marketing is a case example of a tree that won’t yield fruit unless it is watered properly.
Last but not least, it’s time to delve into Influencer marketing
People trust opinions and suggestions if it’s coming from ‘people’ like them not from the content producers themselves. No one expects you to speak ill of your product, so anything you say about it is taken with a pinch of salt. Influencer marketing orchestrated subtly and indirectly polishes your brand with that ‘peoples favorite’ sheen.
