Social media has evolved into a new playground that caters to all demographics. It has changed the way businesses find and communicate with their audiences by replacing business cards with pop-ups in their feeds, allowing them to provide value upfront before asking for anything from a potential customer.
As the importance of social platforms grows, they become too cluttered and difficult to use for focused and meaningful communication. It would be inefficient for investors interested in making diverse investments across different business categories to track and stay informed about each business segment without the necessary assistance.
Executives are unanimous in their belief that businesses are increasingly shifting their e-commerce to social media. The vast majority of respondents also agree that social media commerce accounts for an increasing portion of their company’s marketing-driven revenue. Most executives believe that social media will soon become the primary channel for customer service/support. More than four out of ten customers report contacting a company’s customer service via private message or public posting on social media platforms.
Almost 80% of institutional investors use social media as part of their daily workflow, and roughly 30% of them said that information gleaned from social media influenced an investment recommendation or decision. In contrast, 34% of retail investors have made at least one change to their investments as a result of social media announcements.
Despite the meme stock frenzy over the last year, the impact of social media on investing is not a new concept. In 2013, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) began allowing publicly traded companies to report news and earnings through social media platforms, resulting in a greater flow of information to investors.
Investment in Social Media to Help Businesses
Every marketer’s dream has come true with social media as the unifying new playground. It provides unrestricted access to a large number of potential customers for any product or service. It’s safe to say that the vast majority of marketers are already utilising social media in their respective roles.
Many small businesses are remorseful for assuming that social media is only for big players with a large disposable marketing budget. On the contrary, it is a level platform where smaller brands can best grow and engage directly with both current and prospective customers, then scale up in advertising as the business grows.
With the increased importance of increasing social media presence, social media budgets are expected to increase by 91 percent over the next three years.
Businesses that do not invest in social media marketing will be left behind, according to the Sprout Social 2021 Content Benchmarks Report, where 80 percent of business executives believe it is very important or absolutely necessary to invest additional resources. Most consumers agree that for brands and businesses to succeed in the long run, they must have a strong social media presence.
The Purpose Is To Inform
Keep in mind that customers are constantly looking for information. And the quickest way to get there is online. Having a well-populated platform as well as a strong social content strategy that is aligned with consumers’ interests, needs, and desires.
Relevance is important. That is, 30% of consumers will unfollow a brand if they believe it is not meeting their needs and expectations. Consistent social media publishing is essential.
When it comes to social media objectives, 58 percent of marketers say increasing brand awareness is their top priority, while 41 percent say increasing community engagement is their top priority. Brands must interact with their audiences in order to stay top of mind and strengthen those relationships, in addition to maintaining a consistent publishing cadence. Another possibility is to increase their average number of outbound engagements per day.
Because the social media environment is so fast-paced, content quickly becomes obsolete. That is why posting on a regular basis is critical, because your audience is unlikely to see your message frequently enough for it to be memorable and have an impact.
On the other hand, you don’t want to overwhelm your audience with posts, which may cause them to unfollow or block you. Balance your content schedule by posting several times per week and distributing the posts across all of your social channels. It will take some trial and error, but once you’ve found a posting cadence that works for reaching your target audience, stick with it until the environment changes.
The Importance of High-Quality Content
Consumers have become more aware of the pages they follow, who they interact with, and what kind of content they want to see in their feeds in recent years. Overwhelming them with posts will not improve the effectiveness of your campaign. On the contrary, they may become bored or fed up with you and no longer want to interact with you.
According to Sprout Social, nearly two-thirds of consumers place a high value on responsive customer service in creating a positive experience. Furthermore, roughly three-fifths consider content relevance to be important, while roughly one-fifth considers customer understanding and content creativity to be very important, if not essential.
Here are a few pointers to help you create outstanding social media content this year.
Ensure the Creatives’ Quality
According to Sprout Social, when it comes to learning about brands or companies, social media is comparable to traditional modes of broadcast such as television or radio. In fact, one-third of those polled say it is their preferred method for the future. When it comes to Gen Z, they are far more likely than the rest of the population to learn about brands or companies through social media.
It’s important to remember that actions speak louder than words. However, if the offer is not presented in an appealing manner, there is little hope that the content will produce results.
Always check to see if the photos or videos are the
- Correct sizes.
- Optimized for optimal viewing on all devices
- High definition
- corresponds to the platform you intended to use
- Include all of the desired components.
According to Sprout Social’s research, video is valuable but underutilized by marketers. The most valuable content that helped them achieve their goals was video (54%), followed by images (53%), and text posts (33%). (30 percent ). Despite this, photos and posts with links continue to be popular.
Make Your Posts More Valuable
Posts that you’d like to read should be published. Nowadays, audiences are bombarded with so much information that cutting through the noise is a difficult but necessary task. Your audience may be looking for more than general information, so always include a takeaway.
For instance:
- Instead of just sharing a photo of a dish, share the recipe as well.
- Rather than simply listing the location of your physical store, include a map and directions.
- Connecting to an app? Instead of the usual URL, use screenshots, customer submissions, or creative images.
- Increase the impact of a fact by using data from a reliable source, anecdotes from brand ambassadors, or social proof
Check the calibre of your audience.
Consumers can engage and interact with brands and companies through social media, with at least two in five reporting that they engage with a brand or company by ‘liking’ its posts or following it on social media. One-third leaves a review, and one-fourth shares content.
When content strategies fail, it is possible that the issue is not with the content or communication itself, but with the audience that you are attempting to reach. Always keep your buyer personas in mind when developing your social media strategies.
Create your audience based on their traits and interests. Even if your content is of high quality, if it does not resonate with your followers, they will be uninterested in what you have to offer. Maintain Your Social Media Strategy
Your social media strategy serves as a guideline for all of your social media posts. Problems arise when there is a lack of strategy or when something comes to mind and is published. Creating a social media strategy is an important task that promises to improve content performance.
When developing your social media strategy, consider the following:
- Align it with your business goal or if you’re running a specific campaign theme.
- Select the appropriate KPI for your goal, such as awareness (reach, impression), engagement (engagement rate), or conversion (ROAS)
- Determine the best posting time and frequency.
- Conduct regular competitive analyses.
- Review your strategy on a regular basis to see what worked and what didn’t
- Diversify Types of Content
- To keep your communication fresh, try to diversify your content. This also gives the impression that you are up to date with your customers’ journey.
- You can experiment with different content combinations to see which ones work best for your audience:
Instead of a single photo, create a photo collage or post a carousel.
Do you provide discounts? Instead of using a graphic with a discount code, create a Facebook post using the Offer format.
Rather than sending your followers to YouTube or Vimeo, trim your videos and publish them directly on your social media platform.
Similarly, as an alternative, use Story or Reels.
Will going Live benefit your brand? Give it a shot!
Testing is an essential component of social media work. What works for one market segment may not work for another. Content that is appealing, catchy, or trendy to Millennials may be repulsive to the rest of your target audience. The truth is that there is no magic formula for creating engaging social media content, and different platforms may produce different results.
Incorporate Calls To Action Into Your Posts
While most people use social media to connect with friends and family, at least one in every four uses it to discover, learn about, purchase, or recommend products, services, or brands. As a result, each piece of content should have a goal behind it in the form of a call to action.
CTAs are not always buttons or graphic design elements. While images are appealing, CTAs can also be the final sentence in your posts that tell the audience what you want them to do and how they should respond by completing a specific action.
Customize the Experience
Make your social media followers feel special by speaking directly to them. There is no substitute for content that makes readers feel as if you took the time to get to know them, using words they understand and images or videos they will enjoy.
There will be times when you will run out of material, which is perfectly fine. You can try reposting user reviews and reaching out to influencers.
According to Sprout Social, the most influential sources for making purchasing decisions are customer reviews and company website information, followed by social media posts from friends and other advertisements. Nearly two-thirds of consumers read reviews on a company’s website before purchasing, and about one-half read reviews on forums or social media.
Hard selling is a no-no. Using Social Media
According to Sprout Social, the use of social media is clearly on the rise across all aspects of the customer lifecycle. In comparison to a year ago, approximately two out of every five consumers increased their use of social media to discover or learn about new products, services, or brands, with this trend expected to continue over the next three years.
Simply put, they know what they want and where to find it. There’s no need for pushy sales tactics, which almost always turn them off.
Content should be tailored not only to your company’s goals, but also to the needs of your customers. Solve their problems and make the content useful to them.
Don’t use cliches when discussing the values and benefits of your products or services.
Make Use of Social Media Tools
Social media tools are designed to make it easier to manage your social media accounts.
From design to scheduling, CRM to analytics, the tools are available to assist social media managers in optimising a few processes and freeing up time for creative and strategic thinking.
Some of the most popular tools are Sprout Social, Hootsuite, and Hey Orca. And don’t forget that most platforms have upgraded their account dashboards, such as Facebook Business Manager, which provides better analytics because it is internal – and FREE.
According to Sprout Social, the majority of businesses recognise social media as a popular external communication channel. Over the next three years, a large majority (84 percent) expects their company’s use of social media for communications to increase. Almost one in every two businesses considers it their primary channel now, and even more–58 percent–expects it to become their primary channel in the near future.
Although most business executives believe their company’s current social media strategy is effective, fewer than half believe it is extremely effective on any measure. The primary goal of nearly half of businesses’ current social media strategy is to engage with customers. Increasing sales and expanding their customer base are at the top of their priority list for the next three years.
Almost all executives agree that businesses will rely more heavily on social data to identify business opportunities outside of marketing. They also anticipate increased use of social media data to inform strategy and business decisions for Product, R&D, Sales, HR, and Data Analytics departments.
Because social media allows consumers to engage and interact with brands and companies, at least two in five report engaging with a brand or company by ‘liking’ its posts or following it on social media; nearly one in three leave a review; and approximately one in four share brand or company related content. As a result, because the audience has become completely mobile—regardless of generation—long-term social media investment remains feasible.
Consumers expect brands and companies to interact with them in meaningful ways, and businesses agree that creating interactive experiences for customers is critical to their success, as more than half of consumers say it is more engaging to connect with a brand or company on social media than to visit a physical store. As a result, it’s no surprise that most people expect social media to be the primary channel through which brands and businesses communicate with their customers.
Consumers, on the other hand, expect businesses to use customer social data responsibly and to have transparent privacy policies. Six out of ten customers say that responsible use of their social data and transparent privacy policies are critical in creating a positive social media experience with a brand or company.