Social media managers are time vacationers. They must look to the longer term to be prepared for the shifting forces (*cough* algorithm adjustments) of social. But on the identical time, they have to take note of present social traits, rising tech and panorama. And grounding your self in social media greatest practices is a good place to begin.
To aid you get forward together with your social media advertising and maximize your social channels within the coming 12 months, we’ve compiled a listing of 16 important social media greatest practices for 2024.
Focus on responsiveness and personalization
Automate the place you may—with a human contact
Examine your social customer support strategy
Be extra business-focused and strategic with sharing your social information
Leverage AI…and refine how you utilize it
Iron out your approval course of
Reimagine your crew’s construction and measurement
Feature prospects and trusted faces in your feed
Be selective about taking a stand
Leverage your workers
Use video…however combine it up
Redefine your relationship with traits
Highlight your product in motion
Think platform-first
Optimize present platform methods
Optimize for social commerce
These greatest practices for 2024 are grouped beneath in several key areas for your online business, together with buyer care, bringing authenticity into your technique and past.
Best practices for world-class social buyer care
In at present’s aggressive social panorama, stellar social media buyer care is a non-negotiable. Leave it behind in your technique, and your shoppers will depart you behind within the feed.
Here are just a few social media advertising greatest practices for stellar buyer care.
1. Focus on responsiveness and personalization to construct loyalty
According to The 2023 Sprout Social Index™, 76% of shoppers worth how rapidly a model can reply to their wants.
But the standard of your responses additionally issues—70% of shoppers count on an organization to provide them personalised responses.
Ensure your crew has the instruments they should shorten your model’s response occasions and create extra high quality responses. A couple of methods to begin:
Audit your present response time common. A report like Sprout’s Inbox Activity Report will rapidly calculate your efficiency by response price and proportion.
Use instruments like customer support chatbots to have chat protection 24/7 for low-lift inquiries to liberate your crew.
Ensure your crew is participating with constructive feedback to construct loyalty, too—not simply questions or complaints.
2. Automate the place you may—with a human contact
A better want for personalised, frequent responses means extra time on your already-strapped groups. Enter AI and automation.
For instance, in 2024 54% of entrepreneurs plan to make use of buyer self-service instruments and sources like chatbots, FAQs and different varieties to scale social buyer care. They additionally need to use AI copy instruments, like ChatGPT or Sprout Social’s Suggestions by AI Assist, as a place to begin to generate real-time responses to buyer questions and FAQs inside self-service instruments.
Just at all times edit to humanize and keep on-brand—you don’t need to lose belief with shoppers who’re already cautious of manufacturers chatting with them by means of AI.
3. Examine your social customer support strategy
Prioritizing social media buyer care is essential as extra individuals flip to social for his or her buyer help wants. 76% of shoppers worth how rapidly a model can reply to their wants. Rethink the way you strategy social buyer care, and whether or not you’re prioritizing it.
The Index additionally discovered that 58% of social and advertising groups will both share social buyer care in 2024, or customer support will likely be aiding advertising. If you’re not already collaborating throughout these groups, it’s time to begin. Think: splitting up social monitoring, or working collectively to create FAQs, canned responses and bot copy.
And scale social buyer care by using the appropriate social customer support instruments, together with AI and automation. A software like Sprout Social gives you a 360-degree view of your model’s interactions together with your prospects—integrating the worlds of social media and customer support.
Redefine how you’re employed and social’s position in your online business
Social media insights have affect and implications past social—simply take a look at the necessity to show social media ROI. And based on the Index, 76% of entrepreneurs agree that their crew’s insights inform different departments.
But simply as social media adjustments, groups should additionally change to maintain up with the calls for placed on them. Here are just a few tricks to convey into your workflow.
4. Be extra business-focused and strategic with sharing your social information
According to the Index, social media visitors to the web site is a high metric that 60% of selling strategists, managers and administrators monitor commonly. This is your signal to begin tying your social media information to bigger enterprise objectives.
Turn to your fellow entrepreneurs for reference. The Index discovered that in 2024, most entrepreneurs plan on connecting the worth of social to enterprise objectives by quantifying the worth of social media engagement by way of potential income, monitoring conversions and gross sales from social and utilizing social information to tell areas exterior of their crew.
A couple of key methods to do that:
Use UTMs to attach social media posts and technique on to web site visitors and gross sales.
Consider a extra subtle software like Sprout’s social listening to uncover deeper information insights that has org-wide makes use of, together with product evaluation data, client sentiment, aggressive share of voice information and past.
Create experiences for collaborators exterior of the social crew to broaden social’s affect cross-org. Get began with these 10 social media report examples.
5. Leverage AI…and refine how you utilize it
The Index discovered that 81% of entrepreneurs say AI has already had a constructive affect on their work—particularly releasing up time for creativity and boosting effectivity. And the questions round AI have shifted from “will it take my job?” to “will it affect client belief?”
As you progress into a brand new part of the AI period, refine how you utilize it. Experiment with it for buyer care responses, and content material ideation and creation. But make sure you’re at all times modifying for model voice, humanizing the copy and personalizing customer-facing messages.
Apply it: Start utilizing AI for the repetitive duties you full commonly, from technique planning to content material creation and information evaluation. Try Sprout’s AI Assist know-how to see how we are able to streamline your day-to-day throughout publishing, engagement, reporting and past.
6. Iron out your approval course of
Trend cycles transfer on the pace of sunshine. Which means your approval course of should sustain.
If you’re feeling slowed down by a gradual approval course of, take the initiative to create an optimized workflow on your crew and cross-collaborators. Build a seamless social media approval course of all drafters and approvers can comply with. It might be the distinction between going viral and getting left behind.
Apply it: For greatest outcomes, use a social media collaboration software like Sprout Social to formalize your approval course of. Sprout’s Approval Workflow additionally allows you to add and take away exterior stakeholders to allow them to evaluation social posts earlier than they’re printed while not having to log in to Sprout.
7. Reimagine your crew’s construction and measurement
The approach you utilize social information, insights and platforms has developed. And so too should your crew.
We’ll at all times say that now is an efficient time so as to add contemporary expertise to your crew. But it’s not simply crew measurement that must be rethought—it’s your crew construction and the way you’re employed. For instance, 64% of social groups are organized by community. That is, one crew member is chargeable for TikTook, one for Instagram, and many others. But this strategy might not be as efficient because it as soon as was as groups share insights past social.
Even although social information can inform different departments, 43% of social groups are nonetheless feeling siloed. If you may relate, it might be time to see how a brand new crew construction may assist. Can a crew member concentrate on engagement, and one other consciousness? Or can a crew member be devoted to analytics, and one other to content material creation?
Best practices to convey authenticity into your technique
There’s a purpose why Merriam-Webster’s word-of-the-year in 2023 is “Authentic.”
Between the rise of AI and shaky model guarantees lately, audiences are cautious of inauthentic messaging. In reality, genuine, non-promotional content material is the primary factor shoppers report not seeing sufficient of from manufacturers on social, based on The Sprout Social Index™.
Creating genuine content material is among the quintessential greatest practices for social media. Here are just a few methods to do it.
8. Feature prospects and trusted faces in your feed
Featuring precise prospects and user-generated content material in your feed helps construct social proof and belief, and convey genuine voices into your content material.
Partnering with creators and influencers additionally provides a trusted voice to your content material and extends your attain. In reality, 81% of social entrepreneurs describe influencer advertising as a necessary a part of their social technique in our Q3 2023 Sprout Pulse Survey.
52% of manufacturers are utilizing devoted influencer advertising platforms to assist offset the problem of discovering the appropriate influencer for his or her campaigns. If that’s one thing you’re searching for, take into account adopting a platform like Tagger to handle your partnerships.
9. Be selective about taking a stand
Only 1 / 4 of shoppers polled within the Index stated that probably the most memorable manufacturers on social converse out about causes and information that align with their values.
(*16*) are cautious of inauthentic model statements and guarantees. Know your values, and take a stand on points which can be aligned with them. Take L.L Bean, for instance—they took a social media pause for psychological well being consciousness month as a result of it aligned with their model values and mission.
10. Leverage your workers
Some of your most influential model advocates are the individuals behind your model: your workers. Adding worker advocacy to your social technique is among the simplest methods to amplify your content material, humanize your model and have interaction your viewers.
Launch an worker advocacy program and curate a pipeline of content material to make sure long-term success. In a Sprout survey of 1,110 US social media customers throughout industries, over half of engaged social customers are most certainly to share worker updates. So create a “meet the crew” sequence to showcase your workers.
@sproutsocial
At Sprout, our north star means empowering you to drive enterprise affect utilizing our product. Listening to buyer suggestions is vital for us to do that and supply the sources it’s essential to transfer your model ahead. We love celebrating after we get it proper and taking a look at methods to be iterating alongside the way in which to remain related to the present wants of companies. Our north star drives us, however recognition like this from #G2 and our prospects fuels us alongside the way in which. We know each choice issues when coping with evolving market dynamics and fierce competitors. Our intuitive platform speedily uncovers insights, serving to you outline that path ahead extra clearly. Thank you for letting us know we’re getting it proper. 🫶💚 #SaaS #CustomerReviews #Fyp #B2B #SocialMediaMarketing #Marketing
♬ authentic sound – Sprout Social
Social media greatest practices for evolving your content material
Just as individuals’s pursuits and tastes change, so too do the varieties of social content material, most popular codecs and traits they observe.
Here are just a few social media greatest practices to evolve your content material for optimum engagement.
11. Use video…however combine it up
Video’s reputation is right here to remain, a minimum of based on the 66% of shoppers who say short-form video is probably the most participating in-feed content material.
But we’ve additionally seen a renewed concentrate on static content material in 2023. Even Instagram pared again their concentrate on video to resume concentrate on picture posts.
Fill your content material calendar with a wholesome mixture of video, carousels, polls and static picture or graphic-based posts. And professional tip: lighten the video raise by recruiting social video expertise out of your crew and past.
12. Redefine your relationship with traits
Using traits is an effective way to construct consciousness. But you don’t have to leap on each single one—that’s inauthentic and unsustainable. According to the Index, 38% of shoppers say probably the most memorable manufacturers on social prioritize authentic content material over trending subjects.
Use a wholesome mixture of on-brand traits and authentic content material, and preserve taking a look at your social analytics to seek out your top-engaged and most profitable codecs. If you utilize Sprout, the Post Performance Report surfaces your high posts throughout networks by your metric of alternative.
13. Highlight your product in motion
According to The Sprout Social Index™ 2022, 51% of shoppers wish to see manufacturers highlighting their services or products of their social posts.
But keep in mind, your services or products shouldn’t be the hero of your posts. Instead, reveal the way it empowers your goal prospects to beat their challenges. With your prospects’ use instances in thoughts, present your services or products in motion.
14. Think platform-first
It’s true that you need to repurpose posts throughout social networks to alleviate workload. It’s additionally true that it’s essential to modify every publish to really feel native to every platform.
Approach your content material in a platform-first approach, so every publish you publish matches on the networks you’re posting to.
Here are just a few social platform guides and greatest practices to observe:
15. Optimize present platform methods
New platforms are sure to emerge—simply take a look at the latest launch of Threads.
Experimenting with new platforms will at all times be essential. But optimize the content material and strategy you tackle the platforms you utilize—and that your audiences makes use of most frequently.
Here are just a few suggestions:
Find the most effective occasions to publish: Optimizing your publishing time is a straightforward option to obtain extra engagement. Check out our greatest occasions to publish information,> pinpoint the most effective occasions on your model to publish based mostly on channel and business, and use Sprout’s Optimal Send Times as you schedule your posts.
Post commonly: Consistency is vital—74% of shoppers assume the publishing candy spot for manufacturers is one to 2 posts per day. Check out our article on how usually to publish on social media.
16. Optimize for social commerce
By 2025, social buying is about to turn into a $1.2 trillion channel. And with TikTook lately rolling out TikTook Shop within the US, platforms are persevering with to speculate on this strategy. Social commerce is an effective way to promote immediately on social.
Have a standpoint and use information to again up your choice on the place your prospects need to purchase, and optimize your social commerce instruments on platforms the place they’re able to go all in.
Whether you arrange store immediately in your platforms or hyperlink to merchandise in posts, optimizing your social channels for social commerce immediately connects your prospects and merchandise. Start enhancing your omnichannel buyer expertise with all-in-one social commerce instruments the assistance scale back friction within the shopping for course of—for instance, you should use Sprout’s social commerce options to combine your social and commerce workflows.
Develop your social media greatest practices this 12 months
Social media is at all times shifting. Platform shake-ups and new frontiers push social managers to study new expertise, change how their crew works, experiment with rising applied sciences and refine their strategy regularly.
Ground your 2024 technique—and past—in social media greatest practices that will help you climate all of the uncertainty. We advocate that you just bookmark this record so you may revisit it whenever you need assistance optimizing your social efforts.
To put these greatest practices for social media in motion, we additionally advocate utilizing a software that helps all of them—from discovering your greatest posting occasions, to auditing your content material. Begin your free Sprout trial at present, and remodel each space of your group and crew.
Start your free Sprout trial
https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-best-practices/
