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April 1, 2021
Twitter's New "Community" Sub-Groups
Twitter’s new “Community” tool allows users to share tweets with a select audience
Social Media Today has a preview of the new Twitter option called “Communities” that will allow users to share tweets with a selected group of users. The new Community option is expected to be released for live testing in the near future and will allow users to join different Communities that interest them. Think of it like the Twitter version of Facebook Groups. Only members of a certain Community can see tweets shared with that particular Community.
The new Communities option will allow people with similar interests to have a more private place to discuss and engage together on certain topics – so a hiking Community will see tweets focused on hiking. It will also allow businesses a new way to engage directly with people interested in their market or brand, instead of getting lost in a sea of tweets. While the hope is it will nurture greater engagement with the Twitter app, it will also help companies foster greater engagement with their customers which could be a big benefit for companies who take advantage of it.
The new Communities option on Twitter should cause all companies to rethink their Twitter strategies and how they find and connect with new potential customers. You can read more about this upcoming Community option for Twitter here and get a sneak peak of how the new tool will work. And if you need help with your social media strategies, Paladin is here to help! Contact us today to get started.
The new Communities option will allow people with similar interests to have a more private place to discuss and engage together on certain topics – so a hiking Community will see tweets focused on hiking. It will also allow businesses a new way to engage directly with people interested in their market or brand, instead of getting lost in a sea of tweets. While the hope is it will nurture greater engagement with the Twitter app, it will also help companies foster greater engagement with their customers which could be a big benefit for companies who take advantage of it.
The new Communities option on Twitter should cause all companies to rethink their Twitter strategies and how they find and connect with new potential customers. You can read more about this upcoming Community option for Twitter here and get a sneak peak of how the new tool will work. And if you need help with your social media strategies, Paladin is here to help! Contact us today to get started.
April 2, 2021
Top 6 Social Media Marketing Trends for 2021
These six social media trends for 2021 will keep you one step ahead of your competitors
Here is a list of the top six social media marketing trends for 2021. Online and social media use boomed during 2020 thanks in part to the global pandemic. More than ever, social media marketing is critical for companies to survive and thrive. And it cannot be put together and then forgotten. Social media is constantly changing and updating with new options and tools. If you don’t adapt your social media marketing strategy regularly, you could be missing out on the perfect subset of customers for your business. So without further ado, here are the top six social media marketing trends for 2021 you should consider:
These are six great trends to get you and your business at the top of your social media marketing game for 2021. Don’t let your social media strategy fall behind! You can read more about all six trends in this article.
- Video: A survey by wyzowl showed that 96% of the surveyed individuals have watched a video explaining a product or service. 84% say they have been convinced to buy a product or service after watching a video. Compared to only 18% who responded they would prefer to read a text-based article about a service or product, 69% said they’d prefer to watch a short video. If you haven’t figured it out already from these statistics, potential customers love videos, especially short ones that help them understand your product or service.
- Stories: According to statistics compiled by HootSuite, more than 500 million people use Instagram Stories each day. And 58% of users say a Story has made them more interested in a brand or product after seeing it. Stories, whether on Instagram or Facebook or products like Snapchat and Fleets on Twitter, allow your company to interact with your customers through videos, polls, hashtags, Q&A, and geotagging.
- Social commerce: The social commerce market is one of the fastest growing social marketing areas, expected to grow by almost 34% by 2021. Products like Instagram’s shopping feature and Facebook Shops, make it easy for your customers to find your product and easily buy it with just a few simple clicks.
- Chatbots: Chatbots are changing the face of customer service. These online artificial intelligence conversation systems give your customers 24/7 access to answers and can save up to 30% on your customer service operations’ costs. Chatbots can easily answer common questions about your business or products, eliminating the need for an actual human to answer every question that comes your way. With over 300,000 chatbots already in use just on Facebook alone now, it’s only expected to increase in the years to come.
- Influencer marketing: According to Influencer MarketingHub, 63% of marketers plan to invest more into their influencer marketing in 2021, with the market expected to be worth an estimated $13.8 billion. And you don’t have to think big when it comes to influencers. Micro-influencers with a smaller number of followers actually have a higher engagement rate.
- Live shopping: Live streaming is probably a familiar topic for everyone. Besides live streaming gaming or events, it’s making its way into new areas as well, like live shopping. According to Bloomberg, live shopping is the future in America and currently generates $60 billion worldwide.
These are six great trends to get you and your business at the top of your social media marketing game for 2021. Don’t let your social media strategy fall behind! You can read more about all six trends in this article.
April 3, 2021
Facebook's Two Key Practices for Brand Building While Driving Sales
There are two key practices to drive brand awareness through direct response ads
Companies can find it challenging to build a long-term brand presence on social media while also focusing on driving your current sales through direct response (DR) ads. Facebook recognizes this challenge for many companies and so they recently conducted a study of 35 campaigns from 34 advertisers across 10 vertical markets. They found that creating content that is optimized for mobile platforms is key, which makes complete sense given that the majority of people scroll Facebook on their mobile phones or tablets. Facebook found it’s important to:
- Keep videos less than 15 seconds and design them to be enjoyed with the sound off and even better with the sound on.
- Use strong branding language to capture attention in the first few sentences.
- Any images or videos should be in a vertical, full-screen display for maximum impact.
Clearly conveying your brand to potential customers is the second key to a successful campaign to increase brand recognition while also driving sales through DR. When you fail to create a memorable brand identity, Facebook found it increases recognition for the entire category of product or service and therefore the most prominent brand in that category. If your brand is not the most prominent brand in your category, you are basically just giving free advertising to your competitors. When you clearly implant the name of your specific product in your customer’s mind, you are driving recognition for your brand, not your competitor’s. Think mnemonics, something distinct from your competitors, and recognizable. If I say, “Break me off a piece of that…”, you can probably finish the slogan with, “KitKat bar!” You want something that is memorable and will drive customers directly to your product and not the general category, in this example, candy bars.
If you carefully plan your brand recognition campaign on Facebook, you can still drive new sales at the same time. Remember to optimize all your content for vertical, mobile viewing and always make sure your branding is memorable. You can read more about these two key brand building practices here.
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