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Top Six Social Media Trends that will define 2019
Social media is evolving constantly and so are the opportunities for brands to grow. How can we make the most of what follows in 2019? These 6 trends will help you understand it better. As a marketer / business leader we all have a strategy for our brands on social…
As the end of 2018 is in sight, here is how marketers can stay ahead of time and get their marketing tools in place as they prepare for an eventful 2019.
1. Creating contextual empathetic moments
The past decade has been big on realizations and deep diving into creating content that enhances user experiences; noticing the trend across social media the user attention span or daily sessions online have gone down tremendously however, active users across platforms have been increasing year by year.
The challenge that lies ahead of marketers / content creators is to engage the user within fragmented interactions and instantaneous responses.
The micro moments do not limit to the period between consuming and engaging with content but also are big on shift of intent. Each time our users pick up their mobile phones and browse their preferred platform they anticipate quick delivery.
It is these intent-rich moments when decisions are made and preferences shaped. The convergence of sales and ORM here will be of key importance and will bridge the gap between expectations and reality.
How to use Instagram stories to create micro moments for business: https://youtu.be/Xv-8hDlPfz8
2. Beyond branded content, exploring crowdsource advocacy content
I0 years in to the digital shift marketers need to get comfortable and learn to have fun with content. Now is the time where we do not only need content creators but curators too.
Keeping an eye out for the best content from our followers is the answer to 19/20 questions raised in every marketing meeting.
It not only helps you understand your audience better but, also helps us design the best personalised content marketing strategy.
Needless to say, It is through these insights that businesses are able to generate leads and maximise sales.
real experiences of the real customers = *effective marketing
(more credibility, more authenticity and more sales - The Gold Mine)
Best user generated campaigns of 2018:
https://www.cmo.com.au/article/605649/7-brands-great-user-generated-content-campaigns/
3. Real time marketing: Let’s react
Brands often find trouble finding the perfect balance between reacting to the ongoing trends and not going overboard with it.
It is essential to understand when you can have the say and when you might go out of context. Like any alternative marketing strategy, the real-time marketing has also evolved over the years. It has become a lot of customer-centric instead of simply following the most recent trends or current events.
Real time promoting analyses every
kind of client knowledge accessible and decide the client's behavior to succeed in bent them. The definition of real-time marketing has evolved over the years with a suite of best practices. Agencies /Brand managers need to adopt sophisticated marketing tools, new story telling tactics, and innovative creative approach followed by quick and polished execution to witness best results, brands like Zomato, Durex are some of the best examples of having the best RTM strategy, through their mass appeal and relevance they are not only open to talk about anything and everything but are also the trailblazers while at it by setting new examples from different genres everyday.
The key to a good RTM campaign are the 3 “Be”,
The key to a good RTM campaign is through these 3 responses:
Be Intuitive, Be Quick, Be Relatable.
4. Influencers and advocates: The better investment
2019 is going to be a big one for the leadership worldwide!
Why is it essential for leaders to be present on social media and more than anything, also engage with the audience? The social paradigm shift that requires C-suite to join the digital shift has to do largely with the credibility and responsibility of the business. Gone are the days when the presence over social media meant all about exploring and connecting with peers however, with the new cultural revolution or paradigm shift businesses can be built and destroyed in a very short period of time.
Even post 10 years of the digital revolution a shocking 61% of Fortune 500 CEOs are still not effectively active and participating. CEO.com. Despite rigorous trainings and consulting the challenge at hand is still the same – the age old ways of understanding and interpreting tweeting or engaging on LinkedIN.
The need of the hour isn’t alone to be able to voice the vision to your audience but, also to actively participate in conversations with the investors, media, business prospects, peers and employees to yield potent business results.
In a nutshell - a structured social digital transformation plan that clearly distinct between authentically social and fake social and bridges the gap between the leadership and its audience is the key to taking the bull by the horns. .
5. Micro infleuncers & customers advocacy
Being married to the idea of bringing celebrity endorsements isn’t a new concept, brands have loved it, adapted it and also exhausted too, however, the business impact created and its scale of effect is currently limited to impressions and engagement only.
It is not only essential to identify a way to quantify it more relatively but, is also necessary to define its relevance. We often tend to confuse audience with influence i.e. having a lot of Twitter/Instagram followers doesn’t give an individual the power to drive action, it only gives them power to drive awareness.
The paradox of influencer marketing is such, while merely attempting to influence the audience it results in to endorsements which clearly is a commercially created fiction. The need at large is to fight the feud and contribute towards substantiating the impact for sustenance of the method.
In 2019 and the years ahead, the future of influencer marketing will run parallel with brand advocates. Brand advocates can easily be defined as “turning enthusiastic customers/employees into a powerful marketing force.” When employees and customers actively promote your brand, the individuals in their social circles
receive first-hand info from real individuals they apprehend and trust.It creates a degree of legitimacy that merely cannot be achieved through alternative "hard sell" or paid promoting ways.
6. Personalization
Given the tremendous measure of data being transferred by individuals every day, it's turned out to be anything but difficult to get bits of knowledge into a wide range of data about the general population sitting behind the screen. This has opened the way for upgraded personalization, and that, thus, has expanded customer desire for the equivalent.
Content, items, messages - every last bit of it would now be able to be found on the shopper's buy history, clicked joins online life posts and other conduct. Netflix offers shows to watch dependent on your taste, Amazon and eBay demonstrate items like the ones you've purchased previously. What's more, this is before you significantly think about Google and Facebook - they know us all around and utilize this data to make our experience customized.
While customized promoting can be agitating it's likewise really helpful for the client, and clients are not prone to surrender the advantages at any point in the near future.
As much as 96% of advertisers trust that personalization progresses client relationship. Clients may stress over dubious security dangers, however despite everything they welcome the recommended item they've been searching for, and additionally the warning of the deal in their most loved shop. Regardless of the worries, personalization is obviously the best approach for advertisers to support battle execution.
easyJet’s heart warming 20 year celebration marketing campaign, was an ideal example making best use of personal information.
Read up about the campaign here: https://bit.ly/2R5I62k
Since we are now up to speed with the most recent online networking patterns, let’s get set for some revolutionary marketing battles for the year 2019.
Converting leads into customers is one of the biggest challenges faced by any company – a challenge that can be met through the application of inbound marketing. By invoking a genuine interest in the brand, customers will be more inclined towards the products and services that are offered.
Thinking specifically about inbound marketing projects, what are your company’s top priorities?
A major aspect of inbound marketing is the generation of organic reach, which can be done through the tried-and-tested practice of
Given different marketing challenges based on your industry and business model, you, as a marketer, can address your organization’s business pain points via creating content that is aligned the overarching business objectives. By generating a certain level of trust and rapport with your target audience through effective inbound marketing practices, generating traffic and leads becomes significantly easier.
What content distribution channels do you plan to add to your marketing efforts in the next 12 months?
The consensus in the marketing world is that video content is the easiest to digest, and the prominence of free video platforms like YouTube, Facebook Video, and Instagram help promote this notion.
Focusing on customer retention is the biggest acquisition lever you have in the long-term. Losing a prospect midway is incredibly frustrating for any company, however applying inbound marketing methodology – attract, convert, close, delight – can offset the negative impact of your customers leaving you too soon via effective nurturing and listening.
What is more difficult to do in sales compared to 2 or 3 years ago?
Outbound marketing technically forces the consumer base to interact with the brand – an action that has many negative connotations. By enticing your customers to have a vested interest in the brand through inbound marketing, the frequency of customer responses will unequivocally increase as a result of earning their attention over a period of time and creating value across the customer touchpoints.
In your opinion, what part of the sales process do reps struggle with most?
The entire process of identifying, prospecting, qualifying, and closing becomes easier when customers are genuinely interested in what the brand has to offer. However, sometimes, buyers, instead of following a linear journey arrive into a ‘spaghetti bowl’ – they’d still need directional content that can move help them move swiftly through the sales funnel. And that’s where using inbound marketing flourishes.
What has been the most successful channel for your sales representatives to connect with a prospect?
A direct call is always effective when it comes to connecting with a prospect, but if it seems too intrusive then other channels can be taken to contact a potential lead as well.
Which is the top source of leads for your sales organisation?
The major reason why inbound marketing is gaining so much traction is that – unlike outbound marketing – sales are generated by constructing a proper reputation for the brand, which will compel people to interact with the brand of their own volition. Thus, doing so will help improve the overall sales of the organisation by a considerable extent.
A disconnect between the sales and marketing divisions can prove to be quite costly – take the example of a 2015 case study, where it was noted that a disconnect between these processes led to
This graph speaks for itself – no matter how effectively your business might be functioning, it’s only through the application of quality
The business that want to ensure the success of their strategies must understand how imperative a Service-Level Agreement (SLA) is. It is a contract between the sales and marketing departments that defines the level of service expected from each division of the business. This helps facilitate a sense of transparency and allows for both departments to perform to their utmost potential.
At the end of the day, trust is the most significant factor that will compel a buyer into purchasing a product. Establishing this rapport is crucial to ensure the success of one’s business ventures.
How do you prefer to communicate for business purposes?
By keeping a track of consumer preferences and following the proper lines of communication, marketers will be able to deploy optimal marketing strategies and solutions to suitably target their audience and increase sales by a substantial margin.
So, what are the takeaways from this report?
How long has it been since you logged into your Facebook or Twitter using a laptop? We are assuming that you cannot even recall the last time you did it. Well, owing to the digital transformation affecting the businesses as well as consumers at a rate faster than ever, everything is in your hand; just a click away! Not only this, with growing digitalisation, searches are happening through the voice medium more than the traditionally written word searches, which makes it imperative for marketers to get the best out of their marketing automation efforts.
For instance, companies are increasingly using ‘Chatbots’ to deliver unmatched personalised customer care services to their target audience. Though the use of chatbots has increased and their scope has widened with brands using them to cater to all their customers’ needs and queries, the question that still remains is - are we personalising them and making them more humanistic? Automating marketing processes is essential, what is more important is personalising them. It is vital to understand which marketing processes to automate to maximise the efficacy of marketing automation.