As the world approaches the end of the decade, marketing is undergoing more and more changes. One of them is the development of SMM. This area becomes the core of most marketing strategies.
In the "online era" advertising in social networks is really important for any business. Today, the number of users of social networks is 2.8 billion. It is expected that in 2020 this figure will reach 2.9 billion, and in 2021 it will exceed 3 billion.
But simply using social networks is not enough. Even here there are elements that will not interest anyone. Therefore it is necessary to figure out how to use SMM in accordance with the latest trends.
Use all the features
For several years it was enough to run ads on Facebook and Instagram to make the project popular. On the one hand, it will work today, because these social networks still occupy the top of the ratings. On the other hand, this market has made a huge leap because every service plays an important role in marketing.
- Facebook;
- Instagram;
- LinkedIn;
- Badoo;
- Pinterest;
- Snapchat;
- Twitter;
- Youtube;
- Vkontakte;
- Sina Weibo;
- Renren.
Each service from this list has at least 200 million users. At the same time, some of them cover the whole world, and some are aimed only at certain areas (VK - CIS countries, Sina Weibo and Renren - mainly China).
There is an erroneous opinion that it is better to use only social networks that are popular around the world. But such a strategy threatens to lose several million audiences. Sina Weibo, for example, is much more popular than Facebook directly in China. By the way, the number of users of this network exceeds 500 million.
Time orientation
The effectiveness of advertising means that it should hurt as many users as possible. Firstly, this can be achieved by distributing posts and videos on social networks with the largest number of users.
But it is also worth considering the amount of time spent on the service. There are a lot of advertising posts in each network, so the user does not always fall on any particular one. The longer he stays online, the more likely he is to see your ad.
Youtube is not for nothing has become one of the most popular advertising sites. First of all, most of us were faced with a situation where the necessary video was transferred to something unnecessary, because it was “interesting.” In the end, instead of 15 minutes spent on the service for about an hour.
During this time, you can stumble upon dozens of videos that are in each video. It is important that you can skip the video only after 5 seconds. There is always a chance that during this time there will be interest and the user will see it through to the end, and then proceed to purchase the product.
Videos are flooding network
Everyone loves watching videos, because they give you the opportunity to relax. Marketers love videos for the highest conversion rate. Undoubtedly, today is the best way to familiarize users with the product.
Most social networks today allow you to post videos. They can be attached to posts Twitter and Facebook, and Instagram does allow you to insert a commercial in the tape or in the "Stories". Thus, the user precisely will see the post.
My opinion: it is better to post videos on Instagram. As you know, this service limits the duration to one minute. During this period it is quite possible to interest the user.
It is noteworthy that instagram users miss advertisements much less often. After all, it is laconic and very active precisely because of time constraints. Surprisingly, Instagram videos are more effective than YouTube videos.
It is predicted that by 2021 about 75% of the global Internet traffic will fall on video. Therefore, the creation of commercials is an obligatory part of both the entire marketing strategy and SMM separately.
Cooperation with streamers
Separately, I want to talk about such a direction as streaming live video. Twitch-like sites are gaining more and more popularity. Streamers are able to recruit tens of thousands of active viewers for several hours. This is a great chance to advertise your product.
One of the best options is direct cooperation with a streamer. For example, sponsoring MakataO (recording their games in PUBG) can bring up to 4 hours of continuous advertising of goods. So, having signed an agreement with a streamer, one of the points should indicate that the logo of your brand will be constantly displayed on the screen.
But I advise you to pay attention to promising streamers, rather than popular ones. They are easy to find, as information on developing channels spreads quickly. The main thing is to be the first to offer cooperation.
Many companies have not yet understood this, but streaming is one of the best directions for advertising a product. First, with the cooperation you instantly get a person who is trusted by a large audience. Secondly, it is daily marketing for several hours. Thirdly, this is a chance not to create direct advertising, which loses its effectiveness.
Creating of online reviews
Social networks are used not only for recreation and communication, but also for exploring new products. Facebook, Instagram and Youtube are increasingly filling accounts that tell about market updates. This is a good way to tell the consumer about your project.
About 80% of users trust online reviews as a product recommendation. In other words, 8 out of 10 at least once will buy a product, which they learned from the review. If the product is really good, then customers will tell about it to their friends. Success is guaranteed.
This trend can be used in two ways. The first is to create a review yourself. Only you know all the features of your product, which means you will be able to present it in a positive way, having told in detail about every detail.
The second is to transfer the task to marketers. The online review is not intended to create advertising, but to tell about the product. It seems that it is not difficult to do. But a person with no experience reviews will start writing something like “best project”, “perfect” and other similar phrases. Today they push the consumer away.
Consistent, informative product review - the trend for the next 5 years. It eliminates the element of advertising, but attracts much more attention of consumers and encourages them to action.
Creating branded accounts
Direct advertising is increasingly being missed, collaboration with popular bloggers also does not always show high conversion. It is very strange that many market newbies forget that you can create your own account, which itself will be an advertisement.
Promotion Instagram-page today is worth nothing. First, the user is actively chasing the Subscriptions-Subscribers indicator. Because they are not opposed to subscribe to the news of the next account. Why? Because they do not spend too much time viewing the publication, which means it will not create problems.
At the same time, the user will always be updated. And quality posts will be sent to friends, which is subject to further discussion and scalability. At the same time, investment in a similar way of marketing is minimal.
For a long time, the brand understood the logo, slogan and motto. Today, the company’s social media account is becoming a mandatory component of the brand. It conveys more information and inspires confidence to users.
Call for action
Social networks are a good option for quick product sales. Previously, after seeing an advertisement, a consumer had to look for a product and methods for its production. But it is not necessary to forget about the design of the product. Today it is enough to add the button "Go" or "Buy" at the end of the advertising post. It eliminates a lot of problems and pushes users to active actions.
Many consumers understand that after the transition they have a chance to learn a little more information about the project. Even if the end result - the sale - will not be, a call to action contributes to the recognition of the project.
Again, these buttons on social networks improve the “user experience”. They get a result much faster than by self-searching a web page or downloading an application. And the time today is very important for every person.
Games as part of social networks
Can we call games for smartphones social networks? Such as Clash of Clans or Hearthstone have a huge audience. What is important, gamers have the opportunity to communicate on different topics right inside the application. Accordingly, games are at least indirectly a social network.
Thus, they become another SMM trend. I'm not talking about commercials that can be blocked by buying a premium account. Players need to call for action in another way.
For example, in each game there is a very valuable, but scarce resource. You can offer players a reward by conditional "diamonds" for creating an account on your website.
As a rule, this method does not increase the level of sales to huge amounts. But the reputation and brand awareness is growing hundreds of times.
Fading content
Eliminate the possibility of "postpone for later." Video on Youtube can be added to the catalog “watch later”. Posting to Instagram can be bookmarked to explore links in it over time. This often leads to the fact that the user forgets about "postponed publications" and the effectiveness of advertising is reduced to zero.
Therefore it is necessary to use short, catchy posts with the warning of their removal after a certain period of time. One of the options - "Stories" on Instagram. They can not be saved and added to bookmarks, and after 24 hours they disappear. This will prompt users to take action.
In addition, you can buy advertising space directly from the social network. As a rule, if the post with the label "Advertisement" is shown to the client, there will be no second time. This is done to combat spam.
Most users know this. Therefore, seeing an interesting ad immediately follow the link. This trend has all chances to take the first place in the field of SMM, because it saves the user from annoying advertising of the same product.
Summing up...
I can say that the main trend of both SMM and all marketing is to free users from advertising. Its getting too much. Therefore, all ways of promoting the product should be aimed at eliminating direct advertising.
The task of marketing is not to impose desire, but to gain trust. Consumers respect themselves much more, therefore they react negatively to aggressive advertising. SMM has to cope with this task because it has many workarounds and ways to satisfy customers.
