One of the few consistent things in social media is change. Changing trends, changing policies, changing influencers and markets. Maintaining a current online presence as a company can be difficult, so below are some tips on how to stay true to your company’s values and mission, while staying up-to-date with online trends.
1. Personalisation
First, know your audience. Consumers want to feel valued and involved. Find out exactly what your customers are looking for online, their demographic information and what makes them tick. Research your audience and tailor the content you post to what you find. Try your ideas with organic posts, see how they do and if the reach is good, try it as a paid ad. Experimentation is key to personalisation.
As an example, some younger audiences experience FOMO (fear of missing out). To keep those publics interested and involved, your company must provide them with an opportunity to participate. Posting polls, giveaways or simply the opportunity to appear on your page might be incentive enough.
2. Real-Time Storytelling
More than 50 percent of smartphone users reach for their device first thing in the morning. As the population is becoming more and more connected digitally, keeping your social media platforms updated is a must. Stories are increasing in popularity, for example Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook stories. Consumers like to know what’s happening each and every second of the day, which allows your company the opportunity to give an ‘inside scoop’ into what goes on inside the office.
Vertical or portrait-style videos are essential to a user-friendly, successful story. Everything needs to be responsive to the device it’s being viewed on, particularly mobile devices. Fewer consumers willingly flip their device to landscape to watch a video, therefore customizing your videos to this preference will increase the number of video views.
3. Have Fun
Videos aren’t the only way to interact with your audience. Change up your typical post by trying new trends and varying your tags.
Don’t be afraid to jump in on trends
“Felt cute. Might delete later” — This trend sparked from a meme and has made a comeback more recently. Beer companies can play off of this trend with the caption, “Feeling stout. Might delete later.” Crafting companies could use the original phrase with a photo of a D.I.Y. animal project or cake. Don’t be afraid to try something new, even if it’s out of your company’s typical comfort zone.
Tag, tag, tag
Location tags, hashtags and profile tags. People search for and follow different accounts, locations and hashtags, so incorporating a variety helps move your company toward more impressions and a better ROI.
Social media is constantly changing, but just remember that everything will take time. It will take time to learn your audience’s likes, dislikes, wants and interests. Audiences and trends change over time, so personalizing, storytelling and making it fun will help your business succeed online.