What It Takes to Keep Your Boat Afloat: Social Media Marketing in 2018

With all the recently announced changes coming to Facebook and other social media, brands need to do more to ensure that they’re increasing their audience  every day. Social Media Marketing for 2018 has a new face.

Owing to the unrestrained popularity of social media, it is one of the most crucial ways to promote anything today. Here are a few things that will help you keep your social media marketing boat afloat in 2018.

WHAT’S NEW?

You need to know what social media platforms your audience hangs around at and then target those. How can you do that? Here is a list of the most popular social media platforms and how can keep your marketing game string by tackling the new changes in the algorithm.

1. FACEBOOK

Facebook is the social network that doesn’t need an introduction. It is where social media marketing began

The first thing you need to do is create a business page. Considering managers out there know the basics, here are a few tips that can help you keep your boat afloat on Facebook.

• TACKLE THE CHANGE

Over the next few months, Facebook will be making updates to ranking posts so people have more opportunities to interact with the people they care about.

Facebook’s Head of News Feed Adam Mosseri says, “Page posts that generate conversation between people will show higher in News Feed. For example, live videos often lead to discussion among viewers on Facebook – in fact, live videos on average get six times as many interactions as regular videos. Many creators who post videos on Facebook prompt discussion among their followers, as do posts from celebrities. Local businesses connect with their communities by posting relevant updates and creating events. And news channels can help start conversations on important issues.”

 

• POST RELEVANT CONTENT                                                            

The content that goes up on your page should resonate with your audience. If you’re a small apparel business, make sure the content is about fashion and clothing.

Here are a few methods you can deploy to post relevant content:

• Content Studio helps you find and share the most trending content in your sphere
• Use Quora and see what’s trending
• Share other’s content
• Browse through Reddit

 

• DEPLOY REPLUG

Replug helps you add your retargeting pixels along with shortening the links so that you can track performance on specific links. It tracks visitors on your website so you can advertise to them later.

Why Replug for Marketing?

Replug makes advertising on social media platforms much more effective. Not only do you know exactly who you’re advertising to, you also have a better understanding of how your ads are performing. You can make your message much more effective, leading to a better return on your advertising currency.

• FACEBOOK BUMP

It helps you get your post to the top. Facebook Bump is used for a thread that renews its contents when something new is added to it. So, if your post is important and you want to keep it at the top of the thread, you can ‘bump’ it up. Comment something and then delete your comment. This way your post will be resurrected.

2. INSTAGRAM

Instagram is all about likes and comments, apart from your followers.

• SHOW UP

According to the newest algorithm, your post will show up on your follower’s feed only if they like your post and comment on it. It’s better if the comment has more than three words.

• ORGANIC LIKES

One way to get more organic Instagram likes is to develop content that reaches more people. ViralRace is a new tool designed to help Instagram marketers to get more likes. The platform will push content to real Instagrammers who are predisposed to like content similar to yours. This process helps ViralRace users to rapidly generate real likes.

• CONTESTS

Contests are still very much alive on Instagram. They help to excite existing Instagram followers and can help marketers to reach new ones as well. You might have come across posts like “Comment below if you’ve come across the Super Blue Blood Moon” or “Tag your friends and comment why you like the brand”, etc.

These posts are deployed to engage users and also have them comment with more than three words which helps them show up on their follower’s feed.

• STORIES

Publish Instagram stories whenever you update your feed. With the new updates, you can archive your expired stories and highlight profiles you would like viewers to visit from your profile. This way you can create categories and channel your expired stories to the respective categories.

• USER GENERATED CONTENT

Publish User Generated Content. Also known as UGC, user-generated content is produced by an organization’s customers. This type of content can take the form of social proof that engages Instagrammers who might otherwise be skeptical of stylized content produced by a brand. So, if someone uses your products and tags you in a post, make sure you publish that post from your account and engage at a personal level.

• CAROUSEL

Give your followers more visuals in one post. The first image should be grasping enough for your users to slide through and check the rest Have a call to action that directs your customers to the play store/ app store or the website. Your image size should be appropriate. This is a great place to know the ideal image sizes for your social media posts.

• ENGAGEMENT GROUPS

“An eye for an eye; it’s a saying that goes back centuries, and it’s the idea behind Instagram engagement groups. Instagram engagement groups, also known as Instagram pods, are groups of people who have agreed to comment on, view, and/or Like your posts in exchange for you commenting on, viewing and/or Liking their posts. Read this guide to learn how to best take use engagement groups for more Likes and followers.”

3. TWITTER

With the latest Twitter updates, trends in multi-screen usage and real-time marketing, you’ll likely want to take a fresh look at what Twitter has to offer. Talking on Twitter is different from every other social media site. It’s a fast-paced salad of ideas and sentence fragments. It’s hectic, but it’s also fun.

• TWITTER CHATS

Twitter chats is the untapped tool in social media. The quest is not to get more twitter followers, rather active twitter followers. The answer is Twitter chats. Marketers are starting to realize the power of Twitter chats when it comes to gaining active followers.

Why is it so effective?

The reason why Twitter chats are so effective is that the people who take part in them are the ones that enjoy engaging on the social network. They don’t use it only to distribute and consume content. They use it to interact. These are the types of users who are going to reply to your Tweets, Retweet your content and amplify your message.

To get started, look for Twitter chats related to your business. If you’re in the marketing industry, target business owners and entrepreneurs. You can always use Google to scout for the right people.

• TWEET AROUND A LINK

Twitter is a great tool for driving traffic to your website and blog. To do this, you create a tweet around a link, writing a message that compels people to click to learn more.

• TWITTER CARDS

To get the most visual impact from your tweets is to create Twitter cards. It is absolutely free. These great looking Twitter Cards can be attached to any of your Tweets.

These tweets have to be sent from the Twitter Ads admin area – you don’t have to spend money on ads, these are completely free, and you can gain more visibility by pinning a tweet with your Twitter Card to your profile page.

4. SNAPCHAT

Back in 2011, Snapchat was synonymous with risqué teen behavior. Since then, Snapchat has evolved into something so much more. And while it’s certainly not the cornerstone of every marketing strategy just yet, the channel has earned a reputation for fast growth and innovation.

• IMPERFECTION IS KEY

This might come across as surprising, but you have to be imperfect for your idea to resonate with your audience. Don’t get caught up in perfection. If you’re doing Snapchat right, it’s not going to be perfect. Your focus should be on finding a way to create authentic, compelling moments and stories, so try not to overthink it.

Casually capture moments and put up stories. Don’t put too much thought into it. Also, humor always helps.

• VARIETY

Focus on variety.

If you want to maintain a stable audience, it’s important that you commit to posting great Snapchat content. What makes a Snap or Story great? For starters: Variety. Snapchat users like to consume stories and information in different formats, and the app provides a lot of room for creative application. Be witty. Your users will always favor such content.

FIND THE RIGHT WORD

Writing great content is a choice. You can choose to put in the time and work required to create great content and build a prosperous brand. Or you can choose to take the easy path and write poor content – a path that will get you nowhere. It will only result in a waste of time, energy, and resources.

Here are a few tools that will help you in your quest to build credibility for your brand.

• POWER THESAURUS

If you’re stuck on a word, Power Thesaurus is a crowdsourced tool that provides users with a ton of alternative word choices from a community of writers.

• ZENPEN

If you’re having trouble staying focused, take help of this distraction-free writing tool. ZenPen creates a minimalist “writing zone” that’s designed to help you get words down without having to fuss with formatting right away.

• CLICHE FINDER

If you think that your writing might be coming off a little cheesy, you can use this tool to identify instances where you can be more specific.

Social Media ads have proven to be an effective means for generating new business. Whether your goal is to build brand awareness, get more website visits, or increase downloads of your mobile app, social media ads can help you access a huge, engaged audience.