Article

Sarah Smith
Sarah Smith 14 July 2020
Categories B2B, B2C, Social Media

Upcoming Social Media Marketing Trends for Next-Generation Business Engagement

Social media marketing is an ever-evolving industry. The intrinsic characteristic of social platforms is that they transform with the advent of new technology and features. Therefore, this would impact on the user experience and drive marketers to adapt to the new changes. A marketer could only leave a mark if he foresees what the future beholds and finds ways to leverage it effectively. Though every social application has its very own unique characteristics, here, I've listed out some of the upcoming common trends that will play a pivotal role in elevating social sales.    

Get One Step Closer With Personalisation Marketing

Today, the majority of the brands have their presence on social platforms. People are getting exposed to products from all the brands on social platforms. A recent study revealed that 70% of beauty and skincare products are present on Instagram. Social platforms have become a more crowded place than ever before. To stand apart from the crowd, you should take personalization marketing in your hands. Predictably 69% of global brands will have personalization marketing as their primary tactic to drive customers.

Today, people interact on social platforms mostly, rather than with their family members and neighborhoods. The hard reality is that people close to our homes have turned strangers, whereas a Facebook friend living miles apart has become more like a family member. The reason behind this is that people pour their hearts out on social platforms. The same goes for social media marketing. People frequently share their opinion, thoughts, requirements about the products they like, and dislike on social platforms. For instance, go through your competitor's social media page. You may find a comment from a customer who was dissatisfied with the service. He might have also pointed out what he has expected out of the product. Now, you have figured out his 'expecting aspect.' You can create personalized ads for the person with an 'expecting aspect' as the center of focus. Hence, in this way, he will probably turn his attention towards your product and take action. 

Personalization And Retarget Ads:  

Personalization will work as a useful tool to reduce your bounce rates. If a person reads your blog post or lands at your website and leaves without taking any action, you can retarget them with personalization ads. Collect all the available data about their interests, social behavior, and purchasing pattern, which will help you frame more relevant ads. On average, only 3% of total traffic to a website can have a conversion. Hence, retargeting the prospects with personalization ads will avail enormous benefits to you. 

Sustain Your Customers With Personalized Videos: 

The excellence of a business not only relies on generating new customers but also by sustaining the current ones. With personalized videos, you can make a customer stay with you for a longer time. Recently, Cadbury created a video with photos and memorable events that its customers posted on their Facebook profile. The video made people walk down the memory lane and reminisce about their happy days. Cadbury created such a video for many of the customers of 'Cadbury Glow.' Such personalized ads will strengthen the bond between a brand and its customer. 

Make Niche Marketing Your Priority

When it comes to social media marketing, marketers will probably go with Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram due to their vast userbase. Finding the people who can turn into customers amid millions of people is an arduous task that scares marketers. Many marketers are drained, unable to generate leads due to many challenges, such as changing algorithms of these platforms. People are slowly losing interest in these 'common social platforms' due to the prevalence of content that does not match their interests. Subsequently, this has led to the rise of social platforms focused on particular topics or businesses and uniting people having a common interest. There are a handful of such social platforms. If you can find a niche social network for your business, generating leads will be much easier. These cost-effective applications will help you achieve a maximum ROI since most people will be part of your 'niche.' Have a glimpse at some niche social platforms:

Houzz:

Houzz is a social platform that is wholly dedicated to architecture and interior design. This 'home-improvement' social application enables house-owners to connect with the skilled professionals in their town. You can come across the profile of various architects and interior designers with their previous works. Therefore, if you are into architecture, an interior designing business, or in any way related to it, promoting your products on this application will be a wiser choice. 

Instructables: 

This application avails enormous benefits to find the people who could perfectly fit in to your ongoing projects. The app currently owned by Autodesk helps you collaborate with people and level-up your project for a perfect outcome. 

Incorporate Chatbots In Your Marketing Strategy

Chatbots powered by AI will benefit you in all aspects from spotting leads and framing relevant strategy to turning them into your customer. Though chatbots are still in their developing stage, they can solve 70% of basic customer queries. There is an increasing trend of configuring chatbots as part of messaging platforms. Facebook Messenger alone has around 1.2 billion users globally. Brands like H&M and Dominos Pizza have their chatbots in Messenger. These chatbots can carry out processes such as solving customer queries, showing products based on customer interest, and driving them to make a check-out. Thus, a chatbot altogether does marketing and sales. 

The 'Lead Generator Tool':     

Chatbots can be used as a dynamic tool to minimize bounce rates. For instance, let us consider that a person lands at your website and leaves without any action. The chatbot will collect all the available information about him, including his social behavior and interests. Using this data provided by the chatbots, you can frame more relevant advertisements and roll them out in his social platform feed. The chatbot can also be used to reach out to a prospect with the product that matches his interest. H&M chatbot will drop messages about the new arrivals and dress collections that match a customer's previous purchases. You can also follow similar tactics to maximize your social sales. Predictably by 2023, around 55% of global brands will have a large part of their social sales through chatbots incorporated into social messaging applications. So, create your chatbot and add them to the messaging platforms like Facebook Messenger. 

Story-Telling Is Gaining Momentum

Today, all the major social platforms have become video-centric. People consume more video content rather than any other form of content on social platforms. Stories conveyed through the visual medium will etch in the memory of people for a longer time. Especially when you come up with a story that comprises your target audience's emotions and interests, it could have a more significant impact. To make a customer sustain with you for a more extended period, your brand should stand connected with him emotionally. Stories serve as the perfect tool to achieve this over any other form of content. 

The Rise Of Ephemeral Content:   

Ephemeral content is the short-form content that disappears after some time. Leveraging this micro-video feature can enhance your brand awareness. According to a recent survey, Instagram stories have a 4x higher engagement rate than standard posts. People also have developed the habit of viewing the stories as soon as they open the Instagram application. Hence, creating and posting videos consistently on the Instagram stories section can remind people about your brand's presence. 

Bottom Line

Social platforms are expected to turn into the epicenter of business for many brands in the coming years. People have also begun to surf through social platforms to explore new products and to make purchase decisions. Global brands are anticipated to have 70% of their total sales through social platforms. Therefore, one should foresee the upcoming trends on social platforms and should mold the strategy accordingly.  

Author Bio

Hi, I’m Sarah Smith. I’m a professional content creator and writes in-depth articles about social media and tech reviews. My particular areas of interest are marketing, technology, and anything related to social media. I have published several articles on leading websites and is an avid blogger and Trollishly social media blogger.

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