Social media marketing was once an exciting new tool for brands to explore. Businesses set up their social media account profiles, gathered followers, and started posting regularly. But today, social media marketing has become more sophisticated and nuanced, with new tools, platforms, and interaction trends.
Brands are aggressively competing for consumer attention on social media, and user behavior and preferences are evolving. Learn how social media marketing has changed and how you can leverage this powerful tool for brand awareness, customer service, increased sales, and more.
How has social media marketing changed?
In the early days of social media marketing, brands were content to simply cross-post generic content across all social channels and wait for the results. Many brands resorted to blatant advertising in their social posts.
Things have changed dramatically. Today, to be successful with social media marketing, you need to adopt a more strategic approach. A results-driven marketing plan for social platforms should include the following elements:
- Platform-specific social media marketing: Brands need to run campaigns that are specific to the platforms their target audience prefers.
- Creative Social Media Marketing Content: Brands need to produce highly creative content specific to their own social platforms.
- User-generated social content: Brands need to find unique ways to encourage their followers to create user-generated content (UGC).
Consider the following social media marketing trends and best practices that can drive results for your business.
1. Video content increases engagement in social media marketing.
Social media users love video content: 54% of marketers say video is their most effective social content, according to Sprout Social, and 87% say video content has helped drive sales, according to Wyzowl.
Clearly, brands should prioritize video content in their social media marketing. Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok offer ample opportunities to create and post video marketing content. For example, Facebook Live Q&As are great for product demonstrations, and business videos on TikTok can help you connect with a younger audience.
2. Social media marketing should include in-app sales.
Social commerce is a fast-growing trend that is expected to become even more popular in the future. Many platforms include in-app purchasing options. Advertisers can sell their products directly through Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and Pinterest. According to Datareportal's Digital 2022: Global Overview Report, 27.6% of internet users say the main reason they use social media is to find a purchase trigger. Social selling makes it easy to make sales stick as users scroll through their feed.
3. Social media marketing with influencers needs to be true to your brand and authentic.
In the early days of influencer marketing (before it was even called “influencer marketing”), you could get a massive amount of traffic by getting accounts with large followings to promote your product or service in their posts. Since celebrities endorsing brands was a novelty at the time, this method was effective at generating leads and sales.
Some direct-to-consumer brands have launched and grown significantly using only influencer marketing. Fashion Nova is a great example: the brand grew from unknown to a $1.4 billion company by outspending other brands on influencer marketing.
But times have changed, and follower count alone is no longer meaningful. Today, brands find success by identifying “micro-influencers” with highly engaged followings who are a perfect match for their target audience. To be successful, an influencer’s promotion needs to be natural and authentic.
Leveraging influencers to grow your business requires long-term partnerships with creators who value your brand, and it's best to let the influencer's audience be introduced to your brand organically as the relationship develops.
4. UGC is essential for social media marketing.
Most consumers are exposed to thousands of advertisements every day. Social media feeds are saturated with them, and many users have become so accustomed to them that they scroll past them without even looking. Users can quickly spot a pushy sales pitch, and if your social media ad campaign comes across as too “salesy,” the results can be disastrous.
User-generated content is a valuable social media marketing tool that can increase brand awareness while demonstrating social proof. Marketing messages that feature people using your product or service are often more effective than creative ads with professional photos and high-budget videos.
Encourage your customers to create UGC for your brand. Create campaigns using brand-specific hashtags to reward customers with free products, discounts, or other special offers. Highlight stand-out participants on your social media accounts to build momentum and encourage others to create UGC.
5. Social media marketing includes customer service.
Social media accounts are not just promotional platforms – nowadays they are customer service channels too.
When consumers have an issue, they often turn to social media to contact brands. They also share their experiences, complaints, compliments, etc., both privately and publicly. Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and TikTok serve as customer service communication channels, both private and public.
Your customer service efforts on social media can contribute greatly to the success of your brand. Take the time to ensure that all inbound customer service requests are handled promptly and satisfactorily. Additionally, monitor mentions of your brand on social media to see if anyone has publicly expressed dissatisfaction. Many good CRM software solutions have social integration features that make it easy for your customer service team to monitor social media messages and mentions.
6. Social media marketing is becoming more regulated.
Social media is no longer a lawless marketing space and is becoming more regulated. Brands also need to be aware of legal considerations around influencer and partnership disclosures, meaning brands need to be transparent when marketing on social media.
For example, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has specific disclosure requirements for social media influencers, so if you hire an influencer, make sure they follow the rules or you could end up regretting it later.
And as the FTC investigates consumer data collection, the number of data points available for paid ad targeting may also change. If paid ads on Facebook or Instagram are a big part of your marketing strategy, consider pivoting to a more organic strategy.
What does the future hold for social media marketing?
While nothing is guaranteed, emerging technology trends can help predict what the future of social media marketing will hold. Here are some trends to watch:
Chatbots and AI
As social media has become a popular customer service channel, more brands are using AI chatbots to answer common customer questions and route more complex inquiries to customer service representatives.
AI-powered chatbots can provide customers with basic product information, direct them to product pages, and even answer common questions. The technology is easy to implement and significantly reduces customer service calls and emails.
Employee brand advocates
If you don't have the budget to hire a proven influencer, rely on your employees. When your employees promote your brand on social media, they gain immense credibility. After all, who is in a better position to understand your product or service and know its quality and effectiveness than your employees?
When your team promotes your brand's products and services through their social accounts, followers assume they're happy and well-paid, which increases their credibility. Of course, all of this has to be true for this strategy to work: happy, motivated employees with a strong company culture are more likely to participate in your brand advocacy program.
Closed Group
Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram have open and closed groups. However, you can also use invite-only social media groups to create an intimate environment with an air of exclusivity and high engagement. Invite social media users who meet certain criteria to get honest feedback about your brand and its products. Invite-only groups are relatively small, which creates trust in your brand. Plus, this strategy is a great way to nurture future brand ambassadors. If you have a premium or exclusive brand, consider using closed groups as a key part of your strategy.
Live Video Events
While evergreen video is cost-effective, live video creates excitement and immediacy. Live video not only builds buzz about new products, but also increases brand credibility by showing a live, unedited team. Live events can be held on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, Twitch, Instagram and TikTok. Live video events can increase social media engagement and provide valuable customer insights.
Jennifer Dabrino contributed to this article.
