Social Media Trends & Symbiosis
As many business owners and organization leaders may have noticed, social media trends, rules, and expectations change about as capriciously as the direction of the wind. One truth remains, however. Social media is an absolutely necessary component of marketing these days. Customers/clients associate a strong, interactive, and interesting social media presence with brand-trustworthiness.
Many platforms are becoming more and more paid-ad-driven. This is forcing small businesses and non-profits who don’t have the marketing budget of large companies to completely re-strategize their approach to social media marketing. It is easy to get frustrated with these big (and expensive) changes in social media trends, but like with most things, there is a silver lining!
Back to Basics
Facebook started out as a word-of-mouth platform. When pages became popular, it’s because somebody started out with some great content, and their friends, family, and/or loyal customers loved it and shared it. It then branched out from there. With the changing landscape of the platform, businesses need to go back to this. Paid ads and increasingly strict limits on organic (free) reach of business and fan pages have changed this.
Back to Basics (Cont...)
Facebook started out as a word-of-mouth platform. When pages became popular, it’s because somebody started out with some great content, and their friends, family, and/or loyal customers loved it and shared it. It then branched out from there. With the changing landscape of the platform, businesses need to go back to this. Paid ads and increasingly strict limits on organic (free) reach of business and fan pages have changed this. So what can you do? Get your employees to like and share your page. Ask your friends and families to do the same! You can have the best, most original and interesting content on the web…but if your reach is limited by the expense of paid ads, you will have no audience to see your content!
Stay Involved
If you are a small business with a marketing budget that needs to get you a great deal of bang for your buck, the best way you can do this is to help your internet marketing company help you. It is the responsibility of your marketing company to post original, interesting content; to do everything in their power to engage people; and to increase your brand recognition and trustworthiness as much as possible. That being said, strangers that haven’t used your goods/services yet won't have the same passion and excitement about your brand as your own personal connections. The more people you personally ask to follow/like/engage, the more new visitors will see your content through the networks of your personal connections. If your marketing company is doing their job, the content should then draw more people in.
Keep the Content Coming
Depending on what type of internet marketing program you have, it may help tremendously to make a routine of sending pictures/news/events to your marketers for them to spread out across platforms over time. Your marketing company should be contacting you to find out if you have anything like this for them. Make sure you do! People who follow companies/brands usually do so because they’re interested in what that company/brand is doing or has going on. They don’t just want regular information…they want the latest news! Communicating regularly with your marketing company is the best way to make sure you always have the best-of-the-best content!
The social media trends shifting towards paid ads may be daunting, but don’t let it get you down. If you are proactive, and have a reputable internet marketing company working for you, you will still build brand awareness and excitement.