Social Media in 2018

A lot has changed in social media throughout the years, and this year is no exception. With Facebook’s algorithm change for business pages, Instagram’s rise and Twitter’s falling short, it makes utilizing social media to create brand awareness more difficult. The good news is that there are still steps that you can take as a business to overcome those hurdles. Not much is really new to marketers, just the way you use social media in your marketing needs tweaking.

Video
Using video is not exactly new, but it is definitely the top way most people like getting their news. Think watching TV – only video on your mobile device.

For brands, making it personal is the key. 2017 trends show an increased demand in personalizing video and, therefore, integrating video marketing into the customer journey is the way to go. Being creative will leave an impact on your customers.

Live video, while not new, is growing! Facebook live is something you should definitely try.

Here are 3 quick tips for getting started with live video:

1.  Use live video at events to give followers a behind-the-scenes look at the event.
2.  Use live video to introduce your followers to you, your employees / people you work with.
3.  Advertise an exclusive sale or promotion to anyone who watches your live video.

Content Marketing
While video is becoming more popular every day, this doesn’t obviate the need for content for those of us who prefer reading. So … content, content, content! This has not changed and I’m sure you’ve heard me talk about it before. It helps SEO (search engine marketing), and I read statistics that states that 70% of people prefer learning about a business through an article rather than an ad. This is especially true with any service-based business.

Remember to humanize your company; video obviously helps with this, but so does creating great content. Tell a story about you, your business, your customers. Blogs are my top preference for content, but infographics, press releases and Slideshare can work as well.

Appeal to your audience’s emotions; be relatable and provide content people want to share. Also important is to personalize the content to each platform.

SEO
Speaking of SEO, it’s more important than ever. When you’re searching the web for anything, it’s not magic that makes a company come to the top of a search. It’s SEO. And to refer back to people not trusting ads as much, the first three search results on a page are ads, and most people know to skip down to the first organic search result. The thought process is that if someone is utilizing SEO properly, they will organically come to the top of the results, or at least show up on page 1. That, in turn, is created by content marketing, utilizing the proper keywords and other hopefully whitehat methods. (Remember, blackhat SEO will get you banned by the search engines – don’t do SEO on the cheap!)

Transparency and Communication
Everyone can look up reviews on anyone, so transparency and trust are very important. People don’t blindly trust a business – they check you out online. They search your social media profiles; they Google you; they want to learn everything they can about you before they decide to do business with you.

Reviews are important. If they check you out on LinkedIn, will they see recommendations for you? When they Google your company (hopefully you are listed on Google), will they see Google reviews they can read? Make sure you beef up your review marketing strategy in 2018. Give consumers a behind-the-scenes look at your company and humanize it as much as possible!

If you get a bad review, do not ignore it! Respond to them in a polite, amiable matter. Ask them to please contact you to discuss and then request that they write a follow-up review. Empathize with that person and offer your apology if warranted; offer a way to turn it into a good experience for them. No one is perfect and people understand that; if people see that you are offering to make something right, that shows that you are human and decent and have their best interests in mind.

Instagram Stories
We know that Instagram is growing impressively. With 800 million monthly users, Instagram Stories has become more popular than Snapchat just one year after going live.

Brands tend to see good engagement on Instagram – I believe because of its advertising controls. I’m assuming that will change in time, but for now brands should take advantage of the engagement on Instagram.

Strategy and Analytics
Having a solid strategy to approaching your social media is as important in 2018 as it always has been. Reviewing analytics impacts your strategy, allowing you to revise your strategy while keeping your goals and brand in mind.

Takeaways

• Be authentic
• Be engaging
• Stay relevant to your consumers by making them relevant to you
• Personalize content
• Excel at customer service – make them feel as if they take priority
• Find out how to make your brand stand out from the crowd
• Be unique with visuals and content
• Be part of a dialogue – not a social-sharing monologue
• BE SOCIAL!

If all of this is daunting to you, be sure to seek help from someone who does this for a living. After all, people hire you because you know what you’re doing, don’t they?

Nickey Hollenbach
Personal Touch Concierge Service
ptconciergeservice.com

as seen in the Bucks County Women’s Journal