The Social Sphere and Scroll-Stopping Trends
In the third edition of Thinkingbox’s Talk Nerdy To Me webinar, we took a deep dive into digital strategy for brands and uncovered the latest social media trends.
Our Associate Director of Social Strategy Nicole Wei teamed up with Social Strategist Aisha Fawkes and EP Scott Mackay to show how their strategic approach to social media marketing helps brands increase their engagement and deliver jaw-dropping conversions.
Read on to find a summary of the webinar and pick up some new tips and tricks for your social media strategy.
Using Social Media for Branding
Social media is essential for brands because it helps build authentic, personable connections with consumers. These days, consumers spend more time online than ever before. This means that if you want to communicate with a broader audience, you need to be where they are.
With the evolution of social media, most people turn to social profiles to vet a brand’s reputation and find information about the company sometimes even before they go to their website. This is because content that lives on social tends to be perceived as more relevant and timely than what may live on a website.
Consumers expect brands to be on social media. On top of that, they expect their social presence to be exciting, engaging, and relevant. That means brands need to have a strategic approach to social media to ensure their content captures the minds of their audience.
“We’ve seen this year that consumers expect brands to be human; to participate in society in a way that feels authentic. If you want to connect with your audience, your content needs to be consistent, honest, and socially relevant.” — Nicole Wei
How to Create a Strong Social Presence
Understand your positioning. Positioning can be described in many ways, but at its core, it comes down to emotion. What do you want your audience to feel when they see your content? Brands need to understand their WHY; translate those values through their social content with a clear voice and tonality.
Create strong content. Strong, cohesive content establishes your brand’s visual language online. Strong content has an almost automatic brand recall. If you think about brands like Nike or Lululemon, right as it is posted, you know what brand it is. Stock photos, graphic design, content planning, and annual strategies will help your content shine.
Optimize your platforms. Platform optimization means treating each platform and audience group as unique.
Making sure the content is optimized and that you are thinking strategically about each one separately will ensure you are delivering the right messages to the right audiences.
Stay current. Staying up to date with trends is crucial and you should be taking advantage of any trending opportunities that arise. Newsjacking, viral content, and trending topics are your friend!
The Future of Social
Video consumption. Video consumption continues to rise and, as attention spans get shorter, short-form, quick video content is on the rise. The power of video for storytelling is going to continue expanding and many platforms are already elevating their video-making capabilities.
More ephemeral content. 70% of Instagram users watch their Stories daily. With the introduction of new features like AR filters, music integration, and social eCommerce, ephemeral content has become a one-stop-shop of social scrolling. The future will bring us more features, more brand-centered content, and more shopping options.
Social media with a message. More than ever, brands must create content that shows their internal values. This year has been a pivotal point in social justice, and corporate responsibility and brands are being critiqued for just saying, without doing. You need to choose a stance, communicate your values, and be authentic to develop an emotional tie with your audience.
