2019 is here and Social Media is growing quicker than ever! Over the years, Social Media has changed the way the world thinks, from personal interactions to online purchases, platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have become a part of our daily lives. The huge impact that Social Media has made means that the networks are always making changes and updating their features to make a more user and business friendly environment. So what should you and your business be paying close attention to in the upcoming months? Continue reading this blog to find out…
Social Listening
Social Listening: the act of scanning the internet and Social Media platforms to find mentions of a brand, industry or keyword. As a business, you can use Social Media listening to your advantage. Social Media listening can help you to improve your customer service, make a better product, find new clients, market your products through influencers, learn more about your target audience, create targeted, high converting ads and keep an eye on your online competition. Sounds good right? But how can you implement social media listening into your marketing strategy?
The first and main step to utilising social listening is isolating and identifying the right keywords and phrases that you want to keep an eye on. Staying on top of keywords that are related to your industry can help you to know what your audience is talking about and how they feel about certain topics and subjects that are relatable to you and your business. If used correctly, you can make effective and groundbreaking changes to your business just by listening to what your audience has to say on Social Media.
Post Timings
Post Timing: ensuring that your content is posted at an optimal time is crucial on Social Media. Platforms such as Facebook limit the amount of reach and exposure that your content can potentially receive. Therefore, it is highly important for your business to note the online activity of your audience and track what times they are most likely to be online and ready to engage with you and your content. By choosing to post your content at optimal times, you are following a best practice that is followed by many agencies, such as ourselves to ensure you’re posting the right message at the right time. A great thing about using timing to your advantage is that it is free! To encourage impressions, many businesses will boost posts and start advertising campaigns. However, while this is one of the best ways to get your content out there, knowing your time schedule is one of the best places to start.
Video Content
During 2018, the use of video content skyrocketed! More and more businesses created short video ads and published them to millions of active daily users online. As we enter 2019, video content is expected to take up 80% of all internet consumption, and there are no signs of this slowing down. As a business, video content should be integrated into your current marketing strategy. It is said that 87% of online marketers used video content to their advantage in 2018 and that more than 45% of Facebook and YouTube users watched more than an hour of online video per week. It is also predicted that video stories on Facebook and Instagram will spearhead the progression of promotional videos as brands are trying to become connected with their audience in real time. With all of these statistics in mind, there is no reason why your business shouldn’t be keeping an eye on video content in 2019.
Instagram shopping
Instagram shopping: a fairly new feature to the platform, Instagram shopping allows people to interact with product posts and be sent directly to that said product on the businesses website. This is a large step for Instagram as shopping has been integrated into both stories and posts. Before, a website URL could only be correctly displayed in a users bio, limiting potential link clicks and website visits. Now, a business can use Instagram as a part of their marketing strategies to encourage conversions such as leads, purchases and website visits. While this is a great sales tool, influencers predict that Instagram shopping will aid brand awareness in the upcoming months of 2019. Many users see Instagram shopping as a way to get inspired and find new and exciting brands for them to connect with. For all of these reasons, Instagram shopping is one to watch out for.
What’s Next?
So, you know what 2019 has in store for businesses who use Social Media, but what are the next steps? The next step is to contact the professionals! The best way to know if something is going to work is to try it first hand. To find out more about how social media can aid your business and achieve your goals, give us a call to speak with a social media specialist!
