by Larry Kim
Nowadays, perhaps one of the biggest hurdles bloggers face in social media is the pressure to keep up.
This is because platforms’ algorithms continuously innovate and user behavior constantly changes — as a result, the way you should approach social media must keep up.
According to a report from Emarsys, there are around 3.5 billion users (which is roughly 42% of the population) who log in, check, and converse with their family and friends on social media — and these users spend more than 1.5 hours on social media every day.
Imagine this huge number of users and, alongside it, the change in their behavior.
In order to rise above the noise and stay competitive, you need to have a working strategy. So let’s discuss ten effective social media tactics that you should employ this year.
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1. Providing customer service through social media
Did you know that about 1 in 3 social media users prefer to connect to customer services over the phone or via email, while around 20% to 40% of customers prefer companies that engage and respond to them through social media? (Source: SocialMediaToday)
This is where chatbots come in. Chatbots are online assistants that aim to improve the customer experience — for instance, MobileMonkey provides businesses with an excellent integrated web chat, SMS, and Facebook Messenger bot platform for both customer service and marketing.
If a customer wants an immediate answer regarding an order, such as its delivery status, they won’t have to wait for minutes to be able to talk to someone because chatbot support is available 24/7.
2. Promoting employee advocacy
Utilizing social media platforms provides a great opportunity for businesses to engage their employees in a marketing campaign.
There is a huge potential to promote your business if your employees take part in a social media marketing campaign — encouraging employees to constantly advocate for a brand and promote its content is one of the best social media tactics to employ.
As a blogger, you can do the same.
There are other people who share the same interests as you, so connect with them and advocate having your content shared on different social media platforms.
3. Utilizing paid and organic marketing strategies
Utilizing social media advertisements is not only cheaper compared to traditional advertising, but it is also more targeted, making it more effective.
Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn enable users or businesses to reach their target audience.
For example, with Facebook Messenger ads, you can produce 100% conversion rates by simply utilizing send-to-Messenger ads, and with every click on the “Send Message” icon, you can create a new lead.
Facebook Messenger ads let you direct users to your page and when a user engages with the “Send Message” CTA, they would be redirected to the Messenger where you can start a conversation about your products or services.
4. Encouraging authentic engagement
Cheating your way through the system to increase engagement, like asking your social media followers to tag their friends in the comments section to react to and share your post, has been a popular social media tactic for quite some time now.
However, if you think about it, while it does increase interaction, it doesn’t really create a conversation, therefore, there is no authentic engagement.
In addition to this, algorithms being used in social media platforms are getting smarter and engagement bait is not going to help you make the cut — these platforms crack down on spammy systems to gather likes and shares.
Find your voice and create stories that work for you — content such as this can be truly interesting which leads to authentic engagement.
Creating artistic videos related to your industry is more important than relying on lazy social media CTAs (calls to action).
5. Removing fake followers
To make the cut in this year’s ever-changing field of social media marketing, it is crucial to address the issue of fake followers which may be making your handle spammy.
Fake and spam accounts are increasingly becoming a common problem in social media.
This is especially a problem when you choose to collaborate with influencers — you have to really determine if their followers are all authentic.
In a report posted by WIRED, the social media platform, it states how Instagram roots out inauthentic activities, which is one of the reasons why having fake followers could be a waste of time.
6. Making your social media channels shoppable
Social media pages that are shoppable have already made quite a name for themselves — from Checkout on Instagram to Pinterest’s buyable pins.
Facebook also offers direct shopping from pages, meaning checkout has never been easier or more convenient.
Making your social media handle shoppable increases your chances of getting more sales because customers nowadays prefer shopping with convenience.
Being able to shop without leaving the app is a huge opportunity to increase profits.
P.S: Did you know you can also create custom ecommerce chatbots on messenger? A ready-made template is also available using MobileMonkey.
You’ll be able to do things like:
- offer product recommendations to your potential customers
- guide users to your website to make a purchase
- create product galleries that are interactive
- collect conversion forms with email alerts
7. Using augmented reality advertisements
Augmented reality is making huge waves in improving the customer experience through different apps to let them try different products like makeup or sunglasses before making a decision to purchase.
It also lets customers experiment with different paint colors on their home’s walls. Facebook also expanded its three interactive advertisement formats as reported by TechCrunch.
Now let’s take a look at how Michael Kors tested AR in Facebook ads. Users are able to try on a pair of sunglasses and make a purchase that is based on their experience, while users are able to try on Sephora cosmetics using AR.
Moreover, Snapchat has made a significant advancement in its use of AR which first started to help businesses raise awareness to drive business results as stated by the company’s GM Kathryn Carter.
Snapchat is considered one of the most excellent tools to increase ticket sales for events because it drives the sense of “fear of missing out” (FOMO).
In fact, Snapchat builds its platform considering events in mind — they built it so that users who are at the same event can connect and bloggers can take advantage of this.
8. Mastering the art of social media creative writing
People, in general, are getting sick and tired of spamming — receiving unsolicited advertisements or content is a far cry from an effective social media strategy nowadays.
This is where the art of creative writing comes in, as story-based posts drive engagement and discussion rather than clicks.
Debate-driven posts also get a lot of attention and you’ll surely get related opinions from different users in the comments section.
This is also an excellent way to determine your brand’s vulnerabilities.
9. Fine-tuning your Facebook presence
When we talk about algorithm changes, we can also talk about Facebook. A post from the social media giant CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced howthe platform will deemphasize brand content.
Fine-tuning your Facebook presence is the key; stop engagement baiting which includes excessive tagging of friends to like a post.
In addition, Facebook is also encouraging brands or pages to post video content.
10. Taking advantage of live videos
Different businesses, brands, and personalities are looking to push the boundaries of live video as different social media platforms are highlighting live features.
Facebook, on the other hand, encourages brands to take advantage of Facebook Live because real-time videos get six times more interactions compared to regular videos.
Conclusion
Brands, businesses, marketers, and personalities are making efforts to learn the latest and most effective social media tactics to employ in 2020.
By considering these 10 tactics, you are creating a holistic campaign to reach more social media users.
It is important that you understand these tactics as a blogger to connect with more audiences.
Main image credit: Marvin Meyer
Image credits: Mobile Monkey, Alexas_Fotos, Facebook, William Iven
Larry Kim
Larry Kim is the CEO of MobileMonkey, the World's Best Integrated Web Chat, SMS & Facebook Messenger Bot Platform for Marketing and Customer Service. He's also the founder of WordStream, Inc., the leading provider of Google Ads, Facebook Ads and keyword tools used by over a million marketers worldwide. The company employs over three hundred people and manages billions of dollars of ad spend on behalf of tens of thousands of customers. WordStream was acquired by Gannett for $150 million. Larry is ranked the #8 most popular author on Medium. He's a contributor to CNBC and Inc. Magazine. Key interests include: Chatbot Marketing, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, entrepreneurship and startups. He received Marketer of the Year awards from Search Engine Land, US Search Awards, and PPC Hero.