It’s well known that social media should be an essential piece of your small business’s marketing plan. Since it is a key channel to grow your business, it’s crucial to prioritize your social strategy and stay up to date with its frequent changes and new trends. However, if you’re like most small business owners, there doesn’t seem to be enough time to manage day-to-day operations and your social media marketing.
To help you prepare, we compiled this list of trends that will send your social media marketing strategy in the right direction for the new year.
The Continued Rise of Facebook Ads
Recently, Facebook organic reach and the majority of social media organic reach have declined. Since your small business’s organic posts have less reach, the need to advertise on Facebook and other social platforms has increased and will continue to do so in 2020. Ads are the primary way these platforms make money, but this is also a cost-effective and straightforward way for you to advertise your products to thousands of users.
Your ads on Facebook can reach new potential customers that are interested in your services and within your area using multiple targeting approaches. Running Facebook advertising will be the norm for businesses, so it is imperative for your small business to set up a Facebook ad campaign to help your business grow.
Video Will Be a Primary Content Medium
Simply put, video is one of the most influential content formats and the top content type that people prefer to consume. Why? Consumers want to like and share content that is visually appealing and self-explanatory, and video fits this description perfectly. Video offers entertaining, engaging, and easily digestible information that can be shared across multiple platforms. Additionally, social media platforms at their core are designed for people to connect and share content, and video is perfectly suited for users to do just that.
From a marketing perspective, social media videos can spark your customers’ interest and lead to direct sales and a huge return on investment. As a matter of fact, 64% of consumers say watching a video on Facebook has influenced a purchase decision of theirs in the last month. Additionally, major platforms like Facebook and Instagram are pushing hard for videos. Instagram’s recent algorithm changes favor videos when ranking content. If your small business is not integrating video into its marketing strategy yet, then prioritize it now so you don’t lose out on valuable customer engagement.
Personalized and Contextual Content
Have you ever noticed ads appearing on websites that are relevant to whatever you were searching for or viewing online? Of course you have. Personalization and contextualization in the online world are everywhere. Additionally, personalization is the key to a successful social media marketing campaign.
Facebook ads allow you to target users based on interests and likes. This means that you can target your ads to users who are interested in products and services similar to what your small business sells or offers. While this is nothing new in the world of Facebook advertising, the tactics used to carry it out are evolving. Multivariate ad testing is a method that can be used to find ads that perform the best for your ideal audience. This will improve ad placements and ensure that your ads are being seen by the right people at the right time.
Engagement Will Become Even More Important
In the past, likes and follows were the key performance indicators for your small business’s social profile and its content. While they are still important, these two features get inflated by fake likes and followers from bots. Because of this, social media profiles focus more on engagement, which includes comments, shares, and live features. Posts that receive more comments, shares, or replies tend to rank better.
To increase engagement, you can create questions, polls, and contests. Those are just a few ideas to get you started. Additionally, you can also comment and share posts from other pages. We already mentioned the critical role Facebook ads would have in the future over organic posts, so apply these tips to your ads to help increase engagement as you would an organic post.
Consumers Will Desire Local Social Media
As a small business, your focus is on reaching and retaining local customers. In turn, customers have an inherent desire to support their local businesses to keep their local economy strong and show pride in their town. Creating local brand social media pages for your small business gives you an opportunity to engage with customers on a more personal level.
This personal approach can help drive more in-store traffic and build stronger relationships with residents. Instead of chasing likes and follows, your social strategy should promote your status as a local business and community ambassador. Post about supporting local causes or sponsoring events to help build brand recognition. Residents will soon start to build a connection with your brand.
Assess Your Current Strategy
Take these trends into consideration to ensure your social media marketing strategy is well-equipped for the future. If you’d like, we can help develop a social ad campaign around your core objectives. Contact us today to learn how you can engage your target audience on the largest social networks.
