Social Media Marketing Keeps Climbing

The popularity of social media for marketing continues to soar. It’s still important, nonetheless, to monitor it because some of the favorites keeps changing.

Video Is Big  

As mentioned in earlier articles, video is a key choice these days. Not only does it help tell a story but it’s also useful in teaching and explaining things. YouTube was one of the first to recognize the power of video in 2008. Facebook jumped in in 2016 and Instagram was one of the most recent platforms to do so. 

According to the Pew Research Center, 73% of Americans currently use YouTube and 68% Facebook. A study by Brandlive, a video platform training company, reported that 95% of marketers surveyed will be adding video to their marketing strategies.

Stories  

Stories continue to gain in popularity as well.  Besides their appeal in video, storytelling has spread from Snapchat. Stories are also being told now on Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp.

Although stories are usually up for 24 hours or so, Pew says Instagram alone captures about 500 million viewers daily. Millennials make up the biggest viewing audience on social media, with Instagram garnering about 60% of the market. They’re followed by Snapchap with 53% and Facebook with 48%.

Messaging

Messaging also continues to increase and is even gaining ground on the popular social media platforms. Pew reported that, collectively, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and WeChat have more than 1 billion active monthly users.

Utilizing messages is appealing to marketers because of its ease. More and more brands are utilizing that platform to establish and build customer relationships.

Sales Drivers  

Marketers are also discovering that social media helps drive sales. Tracking tools like Facebook Pixel help to identify the buyer journey. 

Facebook is currently the leading platform for product discovery, followed by Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter according to Kleiner Perkins, a U.S. venture capital firm. In its study, the company reported that 55% of people who discovered the product they were seeking on social media subsequently bought it.

One of the Latest

AI and chatbots are among the latest to arrive on the social media platform scene. Chatbots make it easy for companies to respond sooner than later to consumers. Customers are also aware of this, which is why AI is critical to employ. AI-powered chatbots already promote products and respond to questions on Facebook Messenger.

Mastercard’s chatbot can even inform consumers about their finances and purchases. Chatbots and AI can also handle the more commonly asked questions and minimize human intervention.

The Human Touch  

However, in spite of technology, nothing beats the human touch. That’s where influencers can be very effective. Influencer marketing has even surpassed print advertising on Google Trends.

Both micro-influencers and macro ones make big impressions on their followers. Each has advantages. Micro-influencers tend to have more engagement with their followers and cost less.  Name influencers, of course, have a tremendous following. They also cost more.

Employees can be invaluable in being ambassador influencers. Companies engaging and empowering them will see gains as well.

Stay Tuned

Today’s constantly evolving playing field makes it mandatory for brands to stay in touch with changes. Also important in these days of fake news is brand transparency.

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