Social media marketing is in the focus of interest of the majority of the digital marketing world for a while now. However, this field is ever-changing and every single trend evolves from time to time.
This year, however, tends to be quite different. The main reason for this is the fact that there are some new formats and trends, that were unavailable or not as big during the previous couple of years. There is a major shift in social media networks demographics in a way that you would least expect it to. Instagram Reel is a completely new format that is amassing huge popularity amongst the users of this platform.
All in all, with changes there are new rules to learn and follow in order to get the most out of your social media marketing strategy. Here are some of them.
Learn when to stay silent
One of the biggest assets in social media marketing is for a brand to know when to stay silent. Keep in mind that while you may want to start a debate, the last thing you want is to become actively entangled in one. Instead, let people (customers) share their opinions and argue amongst themselves. You are there merely to observe, gather feedback (silently) and capitalize on this new attention that you’re getting from all sides.
Remember that when posting/sharing content, you should also look at its engagement value. Is this something that will cause a hot debate and have a life comment section? If this is the case, then this piece of content may have some extra value.
To make the long story short, you’re merely there to stir things up and retreat, while reaping all the benefits of this attention in the process.
Strong brand identity
It’s better to be loved by some and disliked by others than to have a global audience indifferent to you (but not offending anyone). Indifferent people aren’t your target audience, to begin with. They never were and they never will be. It is a specific group that you need to target. According to experts behind a reputable creative branding agency, custom-tailoring your brand to appeal strongly to your target audience will have a huge positive impact.
Keep in mind that in order to do this, you need to assume a strong stance. Tell them what your corporate values are and take strong stances on social issues without the fear of offending or outraging some people. Remember that you have a large audience that feels as strong as you do and that you don’t have to appeal to absolutely everyone.
Your brand identity is about more than just visuals. Figuring out corporate values, however, is a far more difficult task.
Boomers shouldn’t be ignored
The single biggest misconception of social media marketing is that it’s all millennials and younger when it comes to the social media population. There’s been a massive increase in baby boomers and generation X on social networks.
According to some of the recent surveys, there’s been a 66% increase of baby boomers using social media during the last four years.
Just think about all the smartphones that you’ve seen used by the older population. As older generations realized that they can use the perks of social media to their benefit. This way they can get in touch with their relatives, kids and grandkids, as well as reconnect with people they’ve known decades ago.
This also makes them exposed to social media marketing, which is an opportunity for a skilled marketing expert. In a way, this is a chance for you to fully dive into a (so far) untouched segment of the market. Keep in mind that this is a generation used to TV advertising formats, which might slightly affect your content marketing strategy.
Special focus on Instagram Reel
There are not a lot of updates that change social networks as much as the recent release of Instagram Reel. Since its launch, it has attracted a lot of attention, which is hardly surprising, seeing as how it’s a brand-new format for such a popular platform. The fact that this attracts so much attention can be seen through the fact that the keyword ‘Instagram Reel’ becomes more and more popular on Google every single month.
Still, just using Reels is not enough. What you need to do is learn how to use Reels more effectively. With that in mind, you need to figure out which KPIs to monitor after the upload, as well as master the technical aspect of Reels editing.
Remember, using Reel for a personal IG account and using it for social media marketing purposes are two vastly different terms.
In conclusion
In the end, it’s important that you enter social media marketing with an open mind. Just imagine a scenario where, in 2016, someone is preaching about the importance of baby boomers on social networks? It’s hard to even conceive such a ridiculous notion, right? Well, not anymore. This is more than just a curiosity or a piece of trivia – it’s a game-changing situation that you’ll have to adapt to and adapt fast.
As far as the new formats go, Reel is hardly anything revolutionary in technical terms but it is still something new, something different that everyone will have to adjust to.
Overall, the importance of social media marketing is still growing in 2021. There’s no reason to assume a different trend in the future, either.