The world of social media is rapidly changing. Every day, social media trends take over, and businesses have to be quick about picking up new strategies to capture visibility and traffic.
Look at TikTok for example: a couple years ago, it was a startup no one knew about and now it’s the most downloaded app of 2020. As a video platform with live streaming, it has an enormous influence on other social media platforms.
We share why video and livestreaming must be in your social media inbound strategy, in addition to social media shops, augmented reality, changes to Facebook ads, and much more.
Social Media Trends to Watch in 2020
Social Commerce
With social commerce, the entire shopping experience, from browsing to checkout, takes place directly on a social media platform. Currently, Facebook and Instagram are the top social media platforms that offer shopping.
Why You Should Utilize Social Commerce
Your ideal customer is probably already on Facebook or Instagram. You have the opportunity to sell directly to them. Consumers love social commerce because it’s easy and convenient for them, since they don’t even have to leave their favourite social media app in order to shop. Social commerce is quickly growing in popularity, with 60% of Instagram users saying they find new products on Instagram, and your product should be one of them.
More and more consumers are opting to shop online, especially now due to the pandemic. With social networks continuously evolving to become retail platforms, e-commerce is here to stay, even when things do go back to “normal.”
Livestreaming Helps Your Business
Since the pandemic, people have become very familiar with meeting over video, whether for a work Zoom call, or a family FaceTime. Live videos offer an interactive way for consumers to connect with their favourite brands and influencers. They also have the option to attend virtual events, and discover new products through live shopping.
With live streaming, your followers won’t be expecting some high-quality video production like they would from a pre-recorded video. Live streaming is a very cost effective way of engaging with your audience and learning more about them.
Ideas for Live Videos
- Q&A: This is a great opportunity to answer any questions that your customers may have about your business. You can also have fun with it, and tell them some facts about your company that most people don’t know.
- Product demonstration: If you have a new product, show your followers how it works over a live video. This can help educate your customers and increase sales.
- Interview: You can interview one of your team-members, or reach out to an influencer or an expert in your industry. On Instagram and Facebook, you can invite a guest to join your live video, so you can easily interview them over the phone.
Don’t be afraid to show your personality on live videos! Remember, people prefer to engage with and buy from companies who they trust and feel they can relate to.
Short-Form Videos Sell More
You may be thinking that these videos are just for the Gen Z demographic, and that your ideal customer wouldn’t be interested in this content. In reality, video is becoming the new way of doing social media, and it is one of the most engaging forms of content right now.
Short-form videos like TikToks and Instagram Reels cater to the shortened attention span of social media users. TikTok allows videos of up to 60 seconds long, and Instagram allows up to only 30 seconds.
Many brands and influencers also film videos using Instagram Stories, which are 15 seconds each and disappear after 24 hours. However, just like Stories became more popular than regular feed posts, shorter Reels and 60-second TikToks are now more popular than Stories.
The key with short-form videos is to catch the viewer’s attention quickly, in order to show them that your video is something worth watching. TikToks and Reels have their own set of current trends within the app, so make sure to stay up-to-date with those as well.
Short-form Video Ideas
- Introduce yourself and the members of your team.
- Go behind the scenes. Show how your product is made, or how you package an item for shipping.
- Hop on a trend. Have a look at the explore page and see what other brands are posting. Be aware of the popular sounds and hashtags, and ultimately, get creative and have fun with it.
- How-to videos. Offer your expertise, such as, “How to increase Instagram engagement.” Or if you are trying to sell a product, demonstrate how it works.
- A day in the life. Take your followers to work with you, and show them what your job role looks like on a daily basis.
Innovative Branding with Augmented Reality 
Instagram and Snapchat allow you to apply filters to your stories that make it look like you’re wearing sunglasses or dog ears. These are examples of augmented reality (AR) on social media.
Businesses can create branded filters to increase brand awareness across social media. AR is a great way to get consumers engaged. When your audience shares a selfie using one of your filters, their followers will also be exposed to your brand.
Some brands have even started implementing AR shopping experiences, where customers can simply click to try on products, such as glasses or makeup, before purchasing.
Find More Customers with Local Targeting
By adding a location or “geo-tag” to your social media posts, you automatically drive in more local traffic.
On Instagram, you can search a specific location and see all the posts that were tagged to that location. Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter allow businesses to promote their content to audiences of a certain location.
Humanize Your Brand with Authentic Content
Ultimately, people want to identify with people, and they can’t do that if the people they follow are showcasing a picture-perfect life.
User Generated Content is a great way to showcase your brand through the eyes of your customers. People trust this type of content more than staged, branded content. It also encourages your customers to post about your brand for the chance to get featured on your page.
Influencer marketing is another great way to achieve this, because followers of the influencer already trust him or her. In fact, 87% of surveyed consumers say influencers have inspired them to make a purchase.
Trends can be hard to predict, but by keeping up with the current trends, you will be more prepared for whatever changes are to come in the future.
Facebook Ad Conversions Tied to Customer Lifecycle
The online marketplace continues to align more with mobile, social shoppers. People are hunting for the latest and greatest deals through their favorite social media apps. Facebook Ads allows brands to circumvent a long engagement strategy and target customers to get visibility for products and sales right away.
One way to increase your conversions is to understand your customer’s lifecycle and the average customer value. This tells you the maximize lead or conversion cost you can afford.
To do this, we recommend reviewing the data in your CRM and determine ROAS for each audience group. How much did it take to acquire these leads and conversions? Did customers return to purchase again? Where did leads and conversions come from?
Once you know exactly when a customer decided to engage with you and pay for your products, you can also see how much time a customer wants to spend with your brand. How did they engage on social media? What products are they interested in?
The next step is building out a Facebook advertising strategy that includes this important customer data. You can play on your customer’s preferences using different creatives for your campaigns.
Video Advertising Converts
Earlier we mentioned how short-form and live videos are taking over. One thing to also note is that Facebook seems to giving more favor to Reels on Instagram, so video ads currently have higher conversion rates.
You should be testing video, animated GIFs, images, and Reels with your Facebook ads to see which one performs highest with your ideal audience. We also suggest looking at ways to use video advertising on Twitter and YouTube but only in combination with targeting your ideal audience. This is where it saves on advertising costs to know your buyer personas and demographics.
Additionally, most consumers today are looking for positive, self-improving content. If you’re able to show how your products improve customer lives and have a greater impact, you’ll likely get more impressions and clicks.
Let’s Focus on Your Social Marketing Strategy
Every brand has their own social media strategy because audiences love when you cater creatives and messaging to their likes. Your audience would love to learn more about your products, but if you’re not getting engagement and conversions, there could be something amiss in your strategy.
That’s where we come in. We’re the meticulous social media marketers who build strategies to help brands reach their ideal customers and gain viral visibility.
How can we help with your social media strategy? Contact us for a free consultation.
