Carefully Curated Tips From Our Social Media Marketing Agency
Acid wash jeans, clear colas, and planking. These are three things you probably haven’t thought about in a while, but they each had a moment of cultural significance and popularity. In other words, they were trends.
Not unlike food, fashion, and Internet challenges, social media lives and dies by its trends. And as sites like MySpace, Ello, Clubhouse, and Vine demonstrated, the social media landscape has a history of volatile shifts.
What does this mean for companies that want to invest in social media marketing services? Let’s explore some noteworthy developments in this summer’s latest social media happenings.
Trends That Captured Our Social Media Marketing Agency’s Attention
As a business, you want to connect with your customers where they are, but you don’t want your efforts to be in vain. You want your marketing budget and the hours you invest developing a social media marketing strategy to ultimately pay off.
A great starting point for any business is learning about what currently resonates most with social media audiences. After exploring some of the most notable trends, we’ll highlight the value of working with an agency that specializes in social media marketing in Kansas City, iFocus Marketing.
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is here to stay, and if you don’t find ways to leverage it, your competition certainly will. As a social media marketing company, we too felt the initial fear of robots taking over. However, after spending countless hours testing numerous AI platforms, we’re breathing much easier now that we know the truth: AI is just a tool.
Granted, AI is a hyper-advanced tool that has endless possibilities, but it requires human guidance and oversight to use it properly. This is especially true when using AI for marketing.
AI tools are more sophisticated and accessible than ever, enabling companies to:
- Analyze vast amounts of data to understand audience behavior, predict trends, and create personalized content.
- Automate certain time-consuming processes so that social media managers can focus on more complex issues.
- Leverage AI to monitor for negative posts and reactions, thereby helping the brand manage its reputation in real time.
- Streamline the production of content, whether it’s written, audio-only, visual, or video.
Many social media marketing services incorporate the use of AI to some degree. The obvious pitfall with this trend is allowing AI to do all the work, unchecked and unmonitored. The technology is impressive, but far from perfect.
Sports Illustrated recently found this out the hard way when it published AI-generated stories under fictional bylines using headshots of people that don’t exist. When called out in an article published by Futurism, a spokesperson for Arena Group (SI’s owner) blamed it on a third-party company they used to outsource articles for SI. Needless to say, it was an embarrassing moment for the publication and its company leadership. The CEO for Arena Group was fired shortly after the incident.
Short-Form Video
With the success of TikTok and Reels, short-form video content continues to dominate social media platforms. According to the 2024 HubSpot State of Marketing Report, short-form video is the preferred format of marketers and will see the most growth in 2024.
Considering its high engagement, versatility, and how it allows brands to showcase their creativity, it’s no wonder why it’s the most-consumed format among social media users. We’re not saying that video needs to dominate your social media marketing strategy. However, if you’re not finding ways to use it, you’re overlooking a sizable social media audience.
TikTok Back-up Plan
Speaking of short-form video trends, the future of TikTok and its availability in the U.S. is still up in the air. Essentially, our government is pushing for China-based ByteDance to cut ties with TikTok by January 19 or run the risk of getting banned. The situation is somewhat reminiscent of when Vine was bought and subsequently shut down, but with the distinction that it’s motivated by national security.
With the future of TikTok in the U.S. clouded with uncertainty, social media marketing agencies are hedging their bets. TikTok is no longer the sure thing it once was, which means brands should take a fresh look at their long-term video strategy. If TikTok suddenly goes away, companies, marketing agencies, content creators, and consumers will migrate to the next best thing.
ROI and Social e-Commerce Focus
Social media sites are typically defined by their audience, active users, and content. However, social media marketing agencies are using another attribute to help guide their decision making: return on investment (ROI).
Whereas social media used to be viewed strictly as a brand awareness tactic, the advent of in-app purchases and e-commerce functionality have changed the way business owners look at it. By evaluating social media platforms using ROI metrics, it empowers marketers to make better decisions with their budgets. According to HubSpot, Instagram ranks no. 1 for quality leads and ROI.
Customer Service Support
When e-commerce functionality rolled out on social media platforms, it seemed like everyone had at least one horror story of a purchase gone wrong. Lost packages, incorrect items, and transaction issues were all on the table. To make matters worse, many of the bad experiences shared a common thread: a lack of customer service support.
To help retain customers and reduce negative online feedback, companies are investing heavily in the customer service aspect of their business. Brands are leveraging platforms like Facebook and Instagram to provide real-time support, answer queries, and resolve issues as they occur.
Even if a business isn’t selling directly on social media, they should still invest in elements of customer service on each platform. This includes responding to comments and positively interacting online.
Authentic Video Content
With all the misinformation and deceptive content flooding the internet, social media users crave authenticity more than ever. Lately, audiences are drawn to content that feels genuine and relatable. Videos that showcase real people, behind-the-scenes moments, and unfiltered stories resonate more deeply with viewers. When done correctly, this can foster bonds of trust and create a sense of brand loyalty among your viewership.
Allowing Data to Drive the Decisions
It can be easy to take what you see on social media at face value. When something goes viral on a certain platform, it tends to influence how marketing budgets are spent. However, just like a virus, fleeting popularity eventually runs its course.
Although it’s tempting to invest in the platforms that resonate most in the cultural zeitgeist, ultimately, data is the best driver of decision-making. Not only does your data tell the story of who your customer is, what engages them, and which products and services draw them in, it also spells out what isn’t working and what fails to keep their attention.
Sprout Social recently published an article highlighting the most relevant social media metrics to track in 2024, which include:
- Follower count
- Follower growth and growth rate
- Customer service reply time
- Customer satisfaction score
- Total response volume
- Awareness metrics such as impressions, reach, and views
- Conversions and conversion rate
- Social media referral traffic
- Audience sentiment
- Brand mentions
Our Social Media Marketing Agency Will Help You Remain Ahead of the Curve
As a full-service social media marketing company that specializes in digital services, we’ve helped countless clients find and grow their audience in this ever-changing landscape. Staying ahead of social media trends is essential for brands looking to gain a competitive edge in 2024, and iFocus Marketing is the perfect partner to do it with.
If you’ve been trying to leverage social media with less-than-stellar results, a quick discovery call with us may be the missing piece of the puzzle you’ve been searching for. During the initial call, one of our business development professionals will get to know a little bit more about your business, your goals, and your target demographic.
Using this information, our marketing operations team will develop a social media marketing strategy that aligns with your brand and the direction of your business. In most cases, this involves a multi-faceted approach that uses industry and audience-specific data to inform which social media tactics make the most sense.
Because marketing goes beyond social media, our team will also show you how other marketing services work in concert with your social strategy. Improved organic search ranking, paid media advertising, and website optimizations all play important roles in an omnichannel marketing approach.
Schedule your discovery call with us today by sending us a message on our contact form.
Brandon Tietz is a senior digital copywriter at iFocus Marketing with close to a decade of marketing experience. He has written for clients in retail, real estate, automotive, education, manufacturing, healthcare, consumer goods, and several other spaces. In addition to copywriting, he has authored books, published short stories, written for several online and print publications, and was named “Best Local Writer” by The Pitch for his debut novel. He’s currently living the dream in the ‘burbs with his wonderful wife and their two dogs, Dr. Croutons and Professor Pickles.
