3 Key Considerations for Social Media Success

The landscape of social media is rapidly changing; it’s more important for businesses to match the pace to ensure their strategy is up to date. Also, social media isn’t always about leads – it needs to create positive engagement and the consumers’ interests will follow.

It’s almost the start of Q4 of the year 2019 and it is high time you review your social media strategy. It’s time for you to review what has worked for you so far and what hasn’t. You might need to create a brand-new social media strategy after reading this post. Let’s find out why.

Things to Consider for Social Media in 2019

The year 2019, so far, has been a great and pretty busy one for different social media platforms. Various companies have successfully secured their images as top brands that offer their customers the most entertaining things on the internet. On the other hand, some failed on their way to creating brand awareness in accordance with what they had planned.

Well, there have been lots of positives and negatives so far in terms of social media usage and now it’s time for you to review your perfect social media marketing strategy.

Have a closer look at the following key trends of the year 2018 and how they are going to affect your business and social media strategy in 2019.

Never Compromise on Social Engagement

In 2018, Facebook announced that its focus is on meaningful interactions on the platform and they are going to implement the same as part of their new algorithm.

This also means that their updated algorithm would start favoring content that involves and sparks genuine conversations. This strategy inspired many Page Managers at the commercial level to create more meaningful and engaging posts to draw the attention of their target audience.

Since organic reach is increasingly becoming harder to gain, the best way to survive in the competitive market is to aim for content that is interesting, visually appealing, and engaging.

Algorithms behind these sites are getting smarter with modern technology; there is no shortcut route to producing genuine engagement online.

Today, encouraging your fans or followers to like, comment, and share on your posts is not enough anymore, as these social websites will soon cut down on engagement bait techniques. This will lead to a high risk of losing your existing audience in the long run.

Needless to say, it’s the right time to stop using shortcuts to win the online engagement. It is time to start thinking and implementing improved engagement strategies for these channels without fail to engage your current and potential followers.

The Influencer Market is Rising More Than Ever

Influencer marketing has become a must for small businesses or start-ups to establish themselves in the market as the new, emerging player. While influencers make thousands of dollars through a paid partnership with different brands, companies also look for influencers that best fit their campaigns.

With the continuous growth of influencer marketing, big players in the market are becoming way too expensive for medium-sized brands. This is exactly the time when micro-influencers come in. Micro-influencers can make up for the gap that exists between two stages, i.e., a brand interested in influencer marketing and the budget that doesn’t hit the bottom line.

These micro-influencers might not have a huge fan-following or in simple words “the outreach of a celebrity”. However, they might have more influence through personal contact or on their social media (i.e. Instagram) followers.

For a small brand, an audience of even 40k followers can be good to start with, assuming that they have found the right influencer for their target audience.

For instance, a food brand may get much better results when they work with a rising food blogger or vlogger with about 40k followers as compared to a renowned chef who works on a 20-times bigger budget.

Leverage Social Media for Sales Enablement

Today, social media plays a huge role in helping people find the best products/services that they are looking for. Brands of variable sizes and shapes are promoting their products/services on social media channels and customers are able to find them, and read and listen to their reviews way before they actually decide to make a purchase.

Gone are the days when social media used to offer a platform to create awareness and engagement. Today, it has a key role in the sales funnel of many companies.

According to a 2018 report based on Internet Trends, over 55% of respondents who first discovered a product on social media later proceeded to purchase it. On the list, Facebook ranks no. 1 and therefore seems to be the channel through which people are more likely to discover newly launched products/services. Instagram and Pinterest stand second and third on the list.

Now, you must be wondering what these statistics mean for 2019. Well, various brands that want to spread awareness about their new products/services through social media now have a great opportunity to improve their strategy and benefit from this very trend.

Here, the best part is that you don’t need a sales pitch to convince people to trust you, as social media allows you to tell your story and let people make their own inference. Once someone finds a product/service, it’s you who needs to provide a smooth experience.

Conclusion

So, what do the aforementioned trends mean to you and your business? Do you think your social media strategy has lived up to your expectations? Well, the year 2018 had been a busy year for all social media platforms and various experts say that this is going to affect the future as well.

Today, social media marketing is headed towards a stage that is more focused on ROI, emerging technologies, and most of all, building trust between brands and their customers. The best way to survive this is to understand your audience, periodically review your social media marketing strategy, make the required amendments, focus on strategies that work, and build trust through your campaigns.