If you’ve ever logged into a social media site, chances are you’ve experienced first-hand some type of social media marketing. Instagram shows you promoted images, Twitter sneaks ads into your feed, and Pinterest has a ‘buy it’ button. Since Facebook came onto the scene in 2004, social media trends have evolved into what we see today- a platform for mass communication in which social marketing has found a foothold. Exploring how you can improve sales with these trends has become the primary focus for social media marketing. With new platforms and innovative software emerging every day, the future looks bright for positive growth in this area.
Pew Research Center found that an estimated 90% of millennials (ages 18-29) use social networking sites daily, presenting a huge opportunity for customer engagement with this particular target audience. To remain competitive in this fast-paced market, businesses must be able to effectively connect with customers within their daily routines. Familiarize yourself with emerging social media trends to help improve your social media marketing strategies in ways that will make such meaningful connections possible. Let’s take a look at the top 4 social media trends to see how to improve sales in 2016.
Research indicates that just one minute of video is worth 1.8 million words. Video allows you to make a big impact on prospects in a more compact way. Posts with videos attract 3 times more inbound links than plain text posts. It is clear that video is quickly becoming the most popular way to consume messages in the social media sphere. Eye-catching graphics and attention-grabbing content keeps prospects engaged and intrigued. It is clear that visual content is the leading trend in social media marketing and sales plans for 2016. In fact, shoppers who view video are almost 2 times more likely to purchase than shoppers who don’t.
The types of marketing videos that will have a positive impact on ROI are ones that fall into one of four general categories; ‘how-to” videos, product demonstrations, conceptualization videos, and expert interviews. By giving customers the tools they need to utilize your product to its full potential, customers feel more confident making a purchase. When asking how to improve sales, video is certainly a valuable social marketing strategy and should be included in your sales pipeline for 2016. (Ving makes it easy to use video for engagement and impact!)
‘Make new friends, but keep the old’ is a familiar tune that we could learn some lessons from in social marketing. More established social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram continue to expand growth and innovation, and should remain as part of you social media marketing strategy for 2016. However, it’s acceptable to explore new platforms that are emerging, too. A great platform that is rising in popularity for social media marketing is Snapchat. With over 100 million daily active snapchatters, social media marketers are beginning to take advantage of this valuable market and it’s paying off. Because of its nature, the app already has users engaged, making it the perfect way to target an audience of prospective customers who are full of buying potential.
What sets this platform apart from the other leading competitors is its ability to provide private social media interaction. Users are looking to become more private and secure in their online communications, and Snapchat provides the perfect platform to do it. Marketers can tap into this private social world through ads that are placed within content that users choose to view, making them automatically more likely to connect. (Post the link to your Ving on any site, making it easy for you to engage with a broad audience!)
Gone are the days of robot-backed customer service! People want to deal with people when they have issues, complaints, or concerns. Customers expect a response if they have a problem or question, and they expect it in a timely manner, too. Social media provides companies with a great platform for handling customer service because of its real-time engagement.
Chipotle provides a great example of excellent social customer service through their Twitter account. Customers who tag them in a tweet with a concern, complaint, or compliment receive a response that is always signed with a first name. This simple gesture makes customers feel like their opinions were acknowledged by a real person, not just some automated customer service robot. Also, the public nature of social customer service allows others to see the help that’s been provided to customers, which might encourage prospects to try your product or service themselves.
A continuing trend from last year, optimizing your website for mobile use is an important step to success in today’s market. When making a plan on how to improve sales, it is vital to ensure your website is optimized for mobile use. Data shows that 4 out of 5 consumers shop from a smartphone and if your website takes more than 3 seconds to load, 57 percent of consumers will give up on you. If your marketing plan doesn’t accommodate for the fast-paced lifestyles that more and more people are adopting, your sales will rapidly decrease and you’ll quickly fall behind the competition.
Think about everything you personally expect from a website when you access it from your phone, then apply those standards to your own site. Ensure that CTAs are clear and easy to click on a smartphone for increased conversion rates and that the website is easily navigated for a more engaging user experience. (Vings can be viewed on any device, anywhere!)
With these innovative social media marketing trends in mind, it is easy to make a plan on how to improve sales for 2016. Remember to use these trends and Ving in your plan for success! Ving enables people to more effectively create, share, act upon, and track the critical information they need as they perform their day-to-day tasks. Include video in your Ving digital “packet” along with surveys, files, and photos to engage viewers through visual appeal. You can share your Ving through the platform of your choice (email, messaging, social network) and since vings are accessible from any device, engaging is made easy on the go. With these tools and knowledge of the upcoming social media trends, you no longer have to wonder how to improve sales in 2016.