Whether we do it on purpose or not, we’re all usually following some sort of trend. They are a massive part of our lives and are constantly evolving and changing.
Think about fashion, skinny high-waisted jeans are out, and the low rise is back. And don’t forget the sleek hair and gold jewellery to make sure you look effortless, even though in reality you spent hours getting ready.
Point is, we all unintentionally tend to keep up with trends, usually because it is out of our control. Shops are going to offer clothes that are popular and are going to sell, well it is the same when it comes to social media. Businesses are going to post what is trending, to ensure the highest engagement and to keep current.
Social media really has become a part of our daily routines. Think about it, it’s one of the first things you do when you wake up and the last thing you do at the end of the day to wind down. Some may even say it’s addicting, especially for our younger generation.
You may be thinking you don’t use social media because you don’t spend hours scrolling through TikTok and Instagram or you never even downloaded Snapchat. But what about that video you watched on YouTube yesterday? Or that dress you bought from an ad you saw on Facebook? Or even your family group chat on Messenger? This all falls under the social media category and we all have interactions with it in one way or another.
When it comes to social media management for any business, staying on top of trends can be tricky and time consuming, but the importance of keeping up is crucial to brand development, growth, exposure and of course sales.
Especially for any SEO Agency like Studio22, keeping on top of the best digital marketing strategies is what is going to boost your client’s business and keep them on board.
The increased popularity of social media makes getting noticed even more of a competition. According to Smart Insights, 59% of the world’s population uses social media and the average usage is 2 hours and 29 minutes a day. That’s a lot of eyeballs that could be on your business!
Also, be sure to take into consideration that marketing budgets are only just rebuilding after the severe cuts made during to the pandemic. This just means you need to be super strategic and careful where you are putting your time and money when trying to grow your brand.
Here are some of our top tips for social media heading into 2023:
Authenticity will sell better
It has become popular lately for customers to want authenticity from brands. They want to see your human side and the face behind the company. This makes businesses more personable and relatable and like you aren’t just trying to take people’s money, but that you genuinely care about the people you are selling to.
So, get your CEO or Director in front of the camera and create an actual presence. Whether it be a small clip of them discussing the latest news of the business or a photo of what the team is up to, put a face to the name and build that client relationship.
Don’t use the same content for every platform
Organic content is becoming increasingly important for each individual platform. Different apps have different purposes, and you’ll quickly find certain content will perform better on certain apps.
For example, even though you can post short-form videos to Facebook you would find they probably wouldn’t perform as well as if you posted it to say TikTok or as an Instagram reel.
Knowing what content your target audience engages with more is also critical in knowing which platform is going to be most effective when posting.
You’ve got TikTok for those funny, quick, entertaining short clips, or Instagram for sharing a combination of photo and video, as well as being more popular for discovering new brands and products. And then Facebook or LinkedIn more for keeping up with current news, events and discussion. These are only few of the many options.
So, although reusing graphics and videos is much more time efficient, try and take that extra step in 2023 to ensure you are creating the most compatible content for each individual social media app.
Video content will continue to dominate
As mentioned in previous Studio22 blogs, video content has grown massively over the last few years, and it is only getting bigger especially short-form videos.
People have never been so busy. Trying to keep up with work, life admin and maintaining a social life is tricky enough. Having downtime to read long detailed social media captions and graphics is rare, but watching a short, informative & entertaining video is quick and engaging.
You are guaranteed to get a few more eyes on your business by committing to regular video content, in particular through TikTok and Instagram. It can give users a much more relaxed view on your brand, and it is great for incorporating humour into your posts.
Humour has also become a great way for brands to get noticed, many companies are starting to incorporate it into their digital marketing strategies from time to time, aiming to captivate a new audience.
Social audio content is only going to keep growing
When referring to social audio content, this just means things like podcasts or live videos. And who doesn’t love listening to a good podcast on their morning walk?
Social audio content is only going to get more popular. This really is one of the best ways to get direct contact and interaction with already existing or future customers. It is also a more suitable way to get across in-depth educational discussion on your brand. Whether you have a podcast of your own or jump in on someone else’s channel who already has a following, it is just a great way to get out there.
There are so many possibilities once you open up your company to a platform like this. It almost acts like a customer support service for those already invested in your business or potential future customers. A great idea is getting followers to send through questions which you get to discuss in more detail, rather than just quickly replying to a comment. You can easily set up a Q&A box on an Instagram story or Facebook to get some questions sent through.
This really ensures that you are getting feedback directly from those that are interacting with your brand and makes them feel heard and included.
Paid advertising will become essential
The digital marketing competition is growing and growing. It is rare these days that businesses don’t have a social media profile of some sort. Getting discovered organically is only going to get more difficult and require extra work. Hence, we recommend including paid advertising in your social media marketing strategies heading into 2023.
Your engagement and interaction is only going to increase and the great thing is, most social media apps have reporting pages, so you can see what is performing well vs what isn’t and exactly how many people are viewing your content.
You also get the ability to target your posts to certain locations if using paid advertising on Instagram or Facebook. This is perfect for either getting that local engagement or even getting discovered overseas, this is very personalised for each company.
Customer convenience is a top priority
With everyone’s crazy busy schedules and fast paced way of living, no one has time to sit down and scroll through millions of pages or search for new brands and products. People need easy-to-use websites and social media pages with information that is easy to find.
Customer convenience works wonders. The simplicity of it only takes a few clicks to buy something online is more powerful than you think. Think about your personal experiences finding brands or products online, you like something on an Instagram post, you click through and within seconds, it’s yours.
In addition to this, don’t underestimate websites that are mobile friendly. Our phones are in our hands or a nearby majority of the day. Need to search for something? We grab our phone and look it up! But if a website hasn’t been designed to fit mobiles perfectly, it can make the experience really tricky and navigating the website becomes time consuming which may result in loss of sales. It is important to have this up to scratch so that once your social media account is found, thanks to all of our handy digital marketing tips, and customers want to click through to your website, they can find exactly what they’re after and purchase your service or product immediately.