Social media has been used for years by businesses to reach target audiences. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are platforms that have proven to be very successful in marketing strategies for both B2B and B2C companies.
However, there are additional platforms that have emerged in recent years that can be leveraged to improve your social media marketing strategy. We’ve include a few tips that you can use to optimize your social media outreach.
Augmented reality is the integration of digital information with the user’s environment in real time. Unlike virtual reality, which creates a totally artificial environment, augmented reality uses the existing environment and overlays new information on top of it.
The latest versions of iPhones contain a chip that provides augmented reality experiences. Although this technology currently impacts mobile gaming, the likelihood of social media platforms taking advantage of it is strong.
You can look for Snapchat or Instagram to provide the capability to users to take a selfie, adding other people via augmented reality. This is accomplished via special filters, which could conceivably also be used by businesses to project products to social media users.
Influencer marketing is a form of marketing in which focus is placed on influential people rather than the target market as a whole. It identifies the individuals that have influence over potential buyers, and orients marketing activities around these influencers. Influencers are people who are active on social media and blogs. They also are brand advocates and niche promoters.
You’ll need to identify who your influencers are for your brand. They could be bloggers, industry leaders, educators, etc. Then you need to determine where these influencers currently engage. The content directed toward influencers will be different than that aimed at your general audience. Offering fresh content and perspectives that also provides value will intrigue and catch the attention of influencers.
No longer are millenials the target of social media engagement. Gen Z should now be considered your target audience, especially for your social media strategy. The Gen Z demographics include individuals born between 1998 and 2018, meaning the oldest members are just 20; they include teenagers in high school and those just entering college or the workforce.
People in Gen Z are the buyers in the years to come and businesses need to learn how to market to them. They are looking for authenticity and don’t like hard sells. They’re selective with their purchases and conduct extensive research before buying. That means you need to build trust and loyalty and prove your product is high quality and provides great value.
Gen Z may be young, but they’re informed, ambitious and primed to be the next big consumer market – and it’s time to pay attention.
Traditional social media platforms can’t do it all. More personalized experiences can engage your audience. Messaging platforms like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Kik are a few apps to consider exploring.
These apps can engage consumers and provide more personalized experiences through artificial intelligence, chatbots and voice assistants.
In this mobile-first society, video is our main consumption. In 2017 90% of all content shared by users on social media was video. The biggest challenge is how you can capture your audience’s attention in the first 3 seconds. By 2020 video will make up 80% of all online consumer internet traffic and will eventually be the closest you get to a face to face conversation with your audience.
If you’re not using video as part of your social media strategy, it’s definitely time to get on the bandwagon! Ensure all your video content is high quality and engaging. Research into exactly what your target audience is looking for and test different content to see what works best. You need to follow the rule of ‘design for sound off, delight with sound on’ – more people are starting to watch with the sound on and is still valuable.
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