Words: Belinda Connolly
Digital marketing strategies are continually evolving, and the start of a new business year is the perfect time to hone your online presence. From X to Insta, adding these hacks to your social media marketing strategies will help ensure you’re reaching the right audience with the right message at the right time.
How to make X work for your brand
If your goal is to grow your audience in 2024, you need to have a presence on X (formerly known as Twitter). After all, this is the platform that declares itself the number one platform for discovery.
Our friends at X have put together these tips to help your X content truly stand out in 2024:
- Use creativity when it comes to sharing visuals
- Post regularly
- Interact with your audience
- Regularly check and refine your results.
When they say ‘use creativity’ it is important to think of tools that can make your images shine. Most photo libraries like Shutterstock have AI generators, while Canva AI can help you create a post in mere moments.
Instagram: games and collabs
We have previously discussed how gamification and micro influencer collabs can help drive engagement on social media, and all signs point to these two trends continuing to grow in 2024.
Gamification, such as quick and fun quizzes, polls or competitions, are a popular way to engage followers. Be as creative as you like and don’t forget to use eye-catching visuals.
Partnering with a micro-influencer in your industry’s niche to create content or collaborate on campaigns that align with your brand, can help to build trust and credibility among followers.
Instagram carousels are a-go
Research revealed that during 2023 fewer eyeballs landed on reels but carousels were gaining traction. For business accounts, carousel posts have the highest engagement rate: The average engagement rate for a business account is 0.65% on Instagram, but carousels record an average 0.76% engagement rate.
Having said that, this update on Insta’s help centre for business accounts may seem confusing: ‘Instagram may transform your carousel image ads to video-like ads in Reels to allow for a new, immersive video experience.’ There is an opt-out option for brands that don’t want this.
TikTok favours the brave
TikTok’s What’s Next 2024 Trend Report believes that brands that are brave and embrace a transformative attitude will be the leaders. They say “taking strategic risks and being vulnerable is now the ultimate brand strategy.” Wondering how to put this into action? Try:
- Sharing behind-the-scenes content: This transparency builds trust and makes the brand more relatable
- Admitting mistakes: Use the opportunity to showcase the brand’s commitment to improvement and learning from errors
- Authentic storytelling: Share stories about the brand’s journey, challenges faced, and lessons learned by the founder to create a human connection with the audience.
Get interactive on Facebook
Followers love sharing their thoughts and opinions, and Facebook makes it easy to gather this data in a variety of ways. You can use insights shared by fans and followers to enhance your service and offerings, and even get inspired for future social media copy.
Try:
- Facebook Live Q&A sessions: By having brand representatives openly address questions from the audience, you embrace the vulnerability of live interaction and demonstrate transparency by responding to inquiries in real-time.
- Interactive polls: Gauge audience opinions on topics related to the brand or industry.
- Apology and solution posts, where appropriate: outline the steps being taken to rectify the situation, demonstrating accountability and a commitment to improvement.
Feeling brave and inspired but unsure where to start with your 2024 digital marketing strategy? We love helping brands launch or enhance their social media, so get in touch to see how we can help your business soar to new heights this year.
