Since properly earlier than the pandemic began, however particularly over the previous 12 months, each time I’ve spoken with a CEO or small enterprise proprietor concerning the digital transformation of his or her firm, repeatedly I’ve needed to remind them how vital social media is.
Yes, that is largely a problem of demographics, as youthful entrepreneurs are most savvy about social media. It’s often boomers who don’t get how essential it’s to be on Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter, though they spend a superb little bit of time every day liking photographs of their grandkids in their youngsters’s Facebook information feeds.
Even in case your model has a superb web site and a sturdy e-mail distribution checklist, social media continues to be the crest of the mightiest wave. There’s no higher technique to increase your viewers and discover new prospects.
As we enter the third decade of the twenty first century, check out among the statistics Backlinko compiled for 2020:
Social platforms virtually tripled their complete variety of customers between 2010 and 2020 – 970 million in 2010 to about 3.81 billion in 2020 (out of a world inhabitants of seven.7 billion)
Out of three.96 billion social media customers, 99% entry the web sites or apps by means of a cellular system
Globally, the typical time an individual spends on social media per day is 2 hours 24 minutes
Facebook is the main social community at 2.7 billion month-to-month energetic customers, adopted by YouTube (2 billion) and WhatsApp (2 billion), Facebook Messenger (1.3 billion) and WeChat (1.2 billion)
70% of U.S. residents or 231.7 million folks have social community accounts
In 2020, the typical individual had 8.6 social media accounts
This is kind of a head of steam and a dream come true for digital entrepreneurs. The query is, how can we capitalize on this juggernaut? What’s up for this yr and what’s one of the best ways to leverage it?
The Forbes Communications Council printed a fantastic article on the finish of January, “How To Leverage 14 Social Media Marketing Trends In 2021” that compiled insights from its members. Here are my 4 key takeaways:
Social Commerce Comes Alive
People are on social media continuously for leisure, data and communication. Your social media actions are essential to model recognition. Make certain you’re constantly branded throughout all channels, and that you just’re utilizing an app like Hootsuite or Semrush to create an efficient calendar. Your aim right here is to turn out to be a part of the environment. Let customers breathe your model.
The Face Behind the Facebook Post
Ever because the late, nice Lee Iacocca turned the face of General Motors, and the fictional Bartles & Jaymes turned the faces of California’s poshest wine coolers, we like it when our model’s tales are biographical. The Internet is the good equalizer, and we like to see the folks behind the services we love.
With the exception of M&Ms – we love these large M&Ms (they’re like chocolaty Mr. Potato Heads) – they’re people similar to us. The greatest advocates for a model are sometimes the individuals who make its merchandise and supply its companies, as passionate concerning the model as its prospects are. And you’ll be able to deliver this to your customer support technique: your prospects ought to be capable to attain you through social media and obtain fast and significant responses to their queries and strategies from an precise individual. Don’t simply preserve a presence; be current.
Multichannel Storytelling
You’re telling your model’s story throughout a number of channels. Make certain it’s constant in phrases of photos and messaging. You’re most likely already there, nevertheless it’s all the time good to examine in and ensure the whole lot is updated.
2021 is a superb time to start out fascinated with podcasts and movies, which aren’t costly to provide and proceed to realize huge reputation. Both may be shared throughout all your channels. With your movies, bear in mind to verify they’re captioned: According to a 2019 Verizon Media examine, 69% of customers watch video with the hold forth.
Put Social Responsibility in Your Social Media
One constructive to return out of the COVID-19 pandemic is an elevated give attention to company social duty. We’ve all come to see how interconnected we’re and the way a lot assist we will truly give one another.
This has additionally taken maintain at a company stage, and customers need to see manufacturers doing a little type of good, corresponding to sponsorships, donations and carbon footprint discount. Your prospects need to align themselves with a model that makes an actual contribution. It doesn’t matter what your model is doing, what’s vital is doing good and utilizing your social media channels to put it up for sale.
The greatest for you, mild reader, is to do an audit of what you probably did final yr, determine what labored and do extra of it. The greatest development to observe is success, proper?
Scott Hirsch is CEO of Media Direct
