Social media strategy for brands seeking customers’ attention
Social platforms are growing exponentially. According to “We Are Social digital report’, there are 35 million active users in Italy who spend on average 1 hour and 57 minutes a day on social media. Unsurprisingly, brands are relying more and more on such channels to sell their products. Social commerce has become an increasingly important new retail channel and social platforms are trying to boost their retail power by introducing pro-selling features such as shoppable posts – recently, Tik Tok created a new channel for Shopify to help its merchants create and run campaigns through the social media platform.
As brands battle for consumer attention, here are three proven strategies to succeed on social media:
1. Optimise your video content
Video is one of the most engaging forms of content and is a clear winner over all other types of content. Whether it is short-form videos on Tik Tok, Stories on Instagram or long-form content on YouTube, videos are the future of social media content. According to a Cisco study, by 2022, 82% of all online content will be video.
A video’s format and length are essential components of a successful campaign: more than 50% of videos are played on smartphone. Like with most ads, capturing attention instantly is essential, which means your script must deliver its message immediately and even better if you can get your audience to complete a view. Vertical videos outperform landscape videos on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter in terms of average engagement and views, they also take up more screen space than landscape videos when the phone is held vertically.
M&M’s are a great example of a brand that harnessed the power of key messaging and branding through video on social media. Their 2019 campaign was adapted to a younger audience (16-34-year-old’s) using stand-out, colourful, mobile-first videos
2. Personalise your content
Personalisation is a global trend that has been effective for several years now but it’s still relatively new on social media. While some brands can’t exactly personalise their social media content for different consumer segments, they can still customise their social media ads to any number of target audiences.
Important to remember is an excessive use of personalisation could be perceived as intrusive, especially in relation to sensitive topics. Therefore, a good way for a brand to create a personalised campaign is to establish a relationship of trust whereby the consumer actively provides personal data to improve their costumer-first experience. Alternatively, contextual marketing could be another avenue to explore as this differentiates from personalisation strategies because it doesn’t take into consideration the users’ data, only the “context” in which they find themselves in. For example, if you’ve searched for a pair of shoes on an online shop, but you haven’t completed the order, those shoes will continue to appear online, or on social media.
Facebook’s algorithm optimised delivery towards the best performing target, ads, and placements. For each target identified, the adjusted creative message made the ad more purchase-oriented to the relevant audience
3. Use Influencer Marketing effectively
Influencer marketing is not a new trend, but it is one that is here to stay. The use of influencers has become crucial for brands, according to the Influencer Marketing Report in 2019 investments in influencer marketing grew 45%. This is driven by both the significant rise in the number of influencers on social media as well as increased spending on influencer marketing by businesses.
This approach is not only much cheaper than running paid ad campaigns, but it can also deliver good results. The problem is a lot of brands just throw money into influencer marketing without much planning or thought to who to use and even the best platform to activate on. Many marketers now work with a network of small, relevant, niche influencers rather than one big celebrity.
Social media is a dynamic and crowded space but by keeping up with its evolution and identifying new trends that best fit purpose, brands can stay one step ahead of the competition.
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