Strategies & Trends Shaping Social Media Marketing in 2020

2020 will go down as the year that marketers stopped chasing new technologies and worked with what they have. The biggest trends facing marketers all relate to our/your ability to effectively use the tools that are already created. Closely review the image above. Social media and technology impact nearly everything in our (and our customers) lives. You need to find a way to incorporate your brand into your customer's life cycle.

A recent survey of hundreds of marketers (@SocialMedia2Day) representing companies of all sizes revealed the top 4 trends to be:

1. Video (creating and investing more),

2. The expansion of LinkedIn (and how to use for your personal/professional growth),

3. Influencers, and

4. Moving beyond pretty pictures and focusing on real-life engagement

What does this mean for you? How can you stay relevant? How can you make 2020 the year that social begins working for you? The answer is as complex as it is simple! There is no one-size-fits-all approach to the success of your marketing. Most likely you will find at least one that applies to your business.

Here are some tips to help make 2020 the best year possible for your business.

• Video is still king! (and won't be going anywhere anytime soon). The facts are out. They haven't changed for the past few years - video is king! People (including your customers) want and are asking for more video content. Video has the power to enable a deeper connection with your audience and significantly improve audience engagement.

Using video in every aspect of your business, from sales, marketing, human resources, and customer service.

Begin/continue using the power of "stories". Both Facebook and Instagram continue to add to their stories platforms. Here's a tip, if the "big guys" are investing time and money into changing/adding to their platform, that's where they are going to "push" the audience.

• LinkedIn - once considered the "old man" in the room. Originally built for the business professional to help engage and connect with current or prospective employers has grown up and entered the social networking game. They continue to add new features like making hashtags relevant, adding useful tools to groups, and making the site easier to use/navigate. LinkedIn, owned by Microsoft continues to make improvements to their site attracting businesses and consumers alike.

• Influencers - another (not new) social trend that is taking a gentle turn to micro-influencers (over macro-influencers like celebrities, athletes, etc...). The work for marketers comes in identifying the correct micro-influencers for your business. Once you've identified and scouted 1, 2, 3.... micro-influencers the fun begins. The key to any influencer program is in how it's managed. There are tons of free influencer management tools and documents online to help out.

• Moving beyond pictures and engaging - there was a time, not long ago, that you could simply post a pretty picture and receive tons of engagement (likes, shares, comments...). Those days and those meaningless metrics are out!

Where do you start? You need to do research to figure out where your audience like to spend thier time on social. Make a list of where, when, and how you will engage with your audience and then add those engagements to your calendar.

Wrapping up your 2020 social marketing trends:

Everything and I mean everything, relies on your ability to connect with your audience. That's what each of the items listed above equal. Another important element to engaging with your audience is to be an active listener. You'll understand your audience better and will gain more control over how your brand is viewed and spoken about.

As marketers, we need to be creative and constantly thinking of new ways to WOW our audience. I've shared a few of the most popular trends for 2020 but like most things digital, it will change, and change quickly. That's why understanding your audience and gaining control over the social channels you are already using is so important. As trends change you will be able to easily review and adopt those changes with your audience in mind the whole time.

Until next time...

Brent