There’s no doubt that social media platforms are growing, and they’re certainly a useful tool for marketing. So how can you make the most of this trend to help you build your business?
We spoke to experts at a New York web design company, and they revealed the importance of social media marketing and engagement for businesses. The metrics that measure success, and the future trends of online media advertising.
In the highly dynamic world of today. It is difficult to make exact predictions, especially on topics related to social media, which is ever-changing.
Some of the current trends will continue to gain speed and rank among the powerful mechanisms of social media advertising, while other, newer trends will pick up momentum.
Let’s look at seven social media marketing trends you should keep an eye on.
1. Influencer Marketing
Having gained popularity extremely fast, the global influencer marketing value has continued to grow, reaching $13.8 billion as of 2021.
25.5% of global internet users watch influencer videos and vlogs each week.
Brands and influencers work in tight collaboration to increase brand visibility and reach the final goal: growth in revenue.
Though famous influencers are sometimes too expensive to afford. You can still consider micro-influencers who have fewer followers. But compensate with higher audience engagement or nano-influencers (with less than 10K followers). This can still provide an impressive reach at a reasonable price.
So how can you find the right influencers for your business?
Research influencer discovery platforms, like Fourstarzz Media. Which has 800,000+ influencers ready to expand your brand awareness, promote your products, services, or events, provide reviews and consequently increase your social following and online sales.
Read more: What is social media marketing (SMM)?
2. Chatbots & AI
Today’s communication through social media takes only seconds. Social media allows people to reach out in no time. They expect the same speed in answering their queries, comments, or complaints.
It is not always possible to secure an around-the-clock human presence to give feedback immediately. What can help is the implementation of chatbots powered by AI.
69% of people say they prefer interacting with chatbots due to the speed of response. While 47% are ready to buy a product or a service with chatbot assistance.
It can be a great substitute for humans and provide real-time answers to common questions, like tackling technical issues, providing product information, and more. In this way, you have fast and timely communication, immediate solutions, and satisfied customers.
Building a chatbot is easy and does not require special technical skills. Use the drag-and-drop chatbot builder and create an employee that never sleeps.
Read more: SMMCompare – Your Ultimate Guide to Social Media Marketing Tools
3. Turning Your Employees Into Your Brand Ambassadors
One of the most authentic sources of trust and inspiration in your business is your employees.
Motivate them to share company news and information so that the content reaches their circles of friends and followers and spreads knowledge about your business.
Platforms like DrumUp enable you to provide company info as well as industry insights and allow easy sharing on social media.
It is a two-in-one solution: your staff is always updated on the latest company and industry news. Also, they can share the info with the world!
4. The Group Impact
Joining groups on social media is an excellent way to reach your audience and share your news.
The features they use, such as business page participation, story updates, and live videos, can provide comments and feedback on your products and services and increase engagement.
Companies can use the Close Friends feature to share content and create a sense of exclusive access for customers. Feeling like a part of a privileged community can work wonders for engagement.
5. Stories
Sharing stories with your audience can help create an emotional bond. Lasting for 24 hours, easy and fast to create, engaging stories provoke emotions or action.
This is one of the reasons why they are such a successful interaction tool. Instagram stories, for example, are used by 500,000 people daily.
Use them to present your company business in a friendly. Down-to-earth, and creative manner that will attract more people to follow your brand.
6. Videos
100 million people in the US watch YouTube and YouTube TV on their TV screens monthly and 65% compare videos to a real-life experience.
Adding videos to your social media channels ensures. An interesting and lively way to present a new product or a how-to process with a description that might be difficult to grasp.
This is especially valid for niche or highly technical businesses. Videos, instead of text, can help increase engagement and understanding.
Videos are fun and full of motion, a priceless way to educate, motivate, provoke, and engage.
7. Transparency
Today when we focus more than ever on privacy and GDPR, customers appreciate seeing how transparent a business is. They want to know more about a brand’s financial results, business achievements, product development and changes, company values and practices, social commitment, and more.
81% of people believe businesses should be transparent on their social media platforms. While the lack of transparency would drive 86% to the competition.
Be open not only to the good comments but to the critical feedback as well. Respond to negative reviews and uneasy questions. Answer honestly and show you care about your customers and their opinions.
This reassures them of knowing you well. The business interaction is always easier to do with someone you know and trust.
The Future of Social Media Marketing: Takeaways
Social media marketing will continue to evolve and bring thousands of new business and communication possibilities.
Ensure that it is part of your overall performance. Pay close attention to the metrics that describe the consumer behaviors of your existing and potential clients.
Partner with industry leaders and influencers to make your content reach bigger audiences, generate interest, and ultimately result in transactions.
Aim at healthy interaction and quality content that offers value. The rewards your followers financially (by discounts and gift vouchers), educationally (by providing knowledge), or emotionally (by offering them engaging and pleasant moments).