It’s no secret that social media has worked its way into our daily lives, it allows us to connect with people from all over the world and share our opinions. It wasn’t long before brands and businesses took advantage of this and began using social media to grow their following. Here are a few ways in which businesses are upping the ante when it comes to their social media strategy.
- Thanks to social media, brands can connect with their customers easier than ever before. With 41% of millennials mentioning brands on social media posts, brands are realising the impact of social media. Rather than using social media platforms as just an advertisement technique, they are now understanding that it can be a way of building lasting relationships with customers. This connection is likely to become an invaluable tool for any business. It allows for customers to share compliments, feedback and issues and get a quick response. So keep an eye out for brands who are interactive with their followers.
- Everyone has heard the rumours about sites ‘listening’ to our conversations. It appears that these rumours are true. But before you get freaked out, it seems that this is to help businesses improve customer care. Social listening is basically tracking conversations and picking out phrases and words. This is done to tailor content and ads to your specific wants and needs. It will also help brands to create more targeted marketing campaigns and to improve their customers experience.
- Just because brands are becoming aware of other uses for social media, it doesn’t mean they have forgotten about using it for advertising. Both Facebook and Instagram now have advertising options; businesses can now pay for these sites to boost their posts. This can help to accomplish goals such as getting more likes on pages and promoting events or new products. On top of this, businesses are able to track their posts, meaning they can see how many people it has reached and compare it to the success of previous posts. This is another way of seeing how engaged customers are, and finding out what strategies work best. With the paid advertising section of websites becoming more advanced, this is something we will see many more businesses doing in the future.
- Image is important when it comes to social media, how brands present themselves can make or break their reputation. The focus used to be on ensuring websites were easy to use and viewable on a computer or laptop, but with over two thirds of the population now owning a mobile phone, there has now been a shift. Most people opt to use their phones to browse online or social media, therefore businesses are now focusing on how their sites look on a smaller screen. As a result of this, websites like Planoly have popped up to help social media managers create an aesthetically pleasing Instagram feed. This focus mobile viewing will become increasingly important.
