The days and weeks around New Year’s are always a good time for reviews and predictions. We’ve already told you a little about the advances we expect to see in the digital world in the coming year: There’s no doubt in our minds that 2020 will have everyone talking about technological advancements like AI, AR, and Chatbots. And new platforms like TikTok will continue to make headlines. But even in the fast-paced world of social media, there are key approaches that go beyond buzz words. In this article, we list the strategies that we believe must be part of a successful social media strategy in 2020.
Here are five tactics you should employ to grow your audiences and increase your engagement in the coming year.
This trend has been unmistakable in the last several years: social networks are moving away from their written roots towards a video future. Seasoned marketers already know that video materials have a significant advantage to stills as Facebook ads, reaching more people, and giving you a better ROI. And let’s not forget that YouTube is still the second largest network in the world in terms of users, with as many as 1.9 billion tuning-in every month. Many business owners have been reluctant to join the party due to higher production costs and the advanced skills needed to produce video materials. Fortunately, there are many new solutions with hassle-free ways to create gifs, animations, and even narrated videos. So if you’re not incorporating branded videos in your 2020 social media plan, you’re missing out.
Social networks have a clear agenda of keeping visitors engaged for as long as possible. But they also want to provide a marketing platform for retailers, who send users to their E-commerce sites through links and clickable posts. The solution – creating a way to shop your favorite brands without leaving the social platform to do so. Facebook Marketplace, Facebook Shop, and Instagram Shoppable Posts all provide a way to create an immersive experience where you can scroll and shop in one place. Brands that already have an e-commerce infrastructure should rise to the challenge of social shopping in 2020.
Instagram Stories were introduced three years ago and quickly became an indispensable part of a social media presence. The change in Instagram’s algorithm in the middle of 2019 and the rising popularity of TikTok make it clear that if there’s one thing the world agrees on, it’s our love for bitesize content in a vertical setup. There’s no question that brands need to move away from focusing their attention on posts and create more Stories for their channels. This format is a great way to give audiences an authentic look of your business and the people behind it. 2020 will also see Stories become more and more interactive. Entertaining and involving the user in playful ways is sure to get you more social media engagement in 2020, so take the time to explore these new features.
Consumers are growing increasingly wary of ads in their feeds. More than ever before, we’re seeking reviews from real people we trust before making a purchasing decision. Many companies already know this and collaborate with opinion leaders in many types of Influencer campaigns. This strategy is increasingly becoming available to smaller brands that may not have been able to afford it in the past. Micro-influencers – popular accounts with tens of thousands or even thousands of followers should definitely be part of your social media strategy in the new year.
There’s a traditional distinction in social media marketing between organic reach that relies on the brand’s current following and paid advertising campaigns. However, the changes we’ve seen in social media during the previous years command that we think in a more sophisticated way. While organic reach plummeted for businesses across the board, indirect endeavors, like the already mentioned influencer campaigns, can have more impact than ever before. To stay relevant, brands need to continuously run smart paid campaigns, create eye-catching content, and invest in developing their audiences as communities. Syncronizing all of this may not be an easy task, but it’s sure to be a winning strategy in the competitive world of 2020’s social networks.
Let us know how we can help you!
