With most people locked down during the COVID-19 pandemic it’s no surprise that there was an upswing in social media usage. More and more people turned to social media and other digital meeting places to deal with a lack of physical interaction. There’s definitive proof that social media is more popular across the board, with one Harris poll cited by Business Insider showing that roughly half of all US adults said they used social media more during the outbreak. Another poll, this one from Statista, supports the claim social media use is up among all age groups.
Is the Bubble Bursting?
Given that this growth was fueled by the ongoing health crisis, it’s fair to assume that the increases won’t last. The world is slowly opening back up as things return to normal, or what passes for “normal” these days. The big social media boom won’t last forever but there’s still a lot of things you can do to promote yourself during what’s left of the pandemic — and prepare for digital marketing in a post-COVID world.
Tips to Get the Most from Social Media Advertising
Focus Your Efforts
The most important thing to do is to focus your efforts and put your promotional power behind the most in-demand products. Cooking, home fitness, and home improvement are the big trending items right now. These products have all seen popularity spikes in the past year or so as people take the chance to get in shape and fix up their home.
Look into your product or service line. What is getting the most use? Capitalize on that by showcasing it within your social media to increase attention even further. If it’s popular to some, it may be applicable to someone who doesn’t know about it yet. Social media can increase exposure.
Try Using Video Content
Content is king with marketing, and video content is particularly valuable. If you haven’t used video content in the past, there’s no time like the present to get started. According to Grabyo, 75% of American consumers regularly watch video through social media. That’s an audience you can’t afford to ignore.
Video content is better at engaging users, helps with brand awareness, and pushes everything on your site further up search engine results pages. Take your videos to the next level by including a thumbnail, description, and transcription when you can.
Not sure where to start? Now could be the right time to launch a company TikTok account. TikTok is a video-based social media platform that’s proven especially popular, particularly with the younger crowd. Give this trending platform a try and see what it does for you. The platform recently launched TikTok for Business to help connect brands with customers.
Take Advantage of User Generated Content
Why spend so much time and effort generating content when you can take advantage of user generated content and have other people do it for you? Whether it’s through customer advocates, endorsements, or influencers, there’s been a sharp rise in user generated content on social media recently. User generated content encompasses any form of content, but is typically seen as pictures, videos, reviews, testimonials, and other social media posts about certain brands, products, and services.
User generated content is any content created and published by contributors/fans. Put simply, it’s when another user creates content that promotes a brand instead of the brand themselves. People are more likely to trust recommendations from other people. They will believe their friends, family, and influencers when they say they had a positive experience. In fact, 60% of consumers feel that user-generated content is more authentic than content created and published by a brand itself.
Encourage your users to create content by sharing the content they do make, asking for reviews and sharing testimonials, and holding giveaways and contests to get people talking.
Make a Schedule and Plan Content
Timeliness is one of the most important factors in social media marketing. No list of social media marketing tips would be complete without a recommendation to create a schedule. Your followers expect you to put out new content on a regular basis. The more you can stick to your regular schedule the better. We are creatures of habit after all.
Planning your content as much as possible means you’ll be able to be more efficient. Once you have a variety of post ideas, you can create a routine. Look at what’s working in your campaign and change the things that don’t. Plan around your customers’ needs as best as you can.
Show Your Face and Make Things Personal
You should always aim to create emotional connections with customers and social media users. Show your face and present the human side of your brand as much as you can. Did you just get a new hire and want to introduce them to the world? Have them record a short video. Think that people might be interested in the manufacturing process? Let them see it. Be direct and create as many connections as you can.
The pandemic has presented an excellent opportunity for businesses to showcase their human side and connect with the people. Share behind the scenes footage of how your business is responding to the pandemic and how you plan to stay safe. Let your customers know you care by showing them as well as telling them.
Think in Short-Form Content
There’s an almost endless amount of content out there for people to consume. Short-form content is becoming more popular as attention spans shrink. No one has the time to sit through a 15-minute-long video anymore. Aim to keep things as short and simple as possible.
Short-form content is about more than just videos as well. The idea applies to blog posts and other content used as part of social media marketing. Social media platforms even encourage short-form content by limiting how long posts and videos can be. If anything, this has only contributed to the need for short form.
Are You Ready for the Future of Social Media Marketing?
Keep our social media management tips in mind as you put together a winning social media strategy for your business. If you need more advice or help creating a winning campaign, then please don’t hesitate to get in touch and find out more about how we can help.
