How To Develop An Account-based Marketing Strategy?
May 06, 2022
10 min read
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The changing digital world can greatly influence business budgets, and marketers are asked to do more with less. As a result, demonstrating return on investment and maximizing efficiency are critical.
ABM is a marketing technique in which firms or accounts are targeted with highly tailored marketing campaigns. ABM marketers treat individual accounts as markets, creating tailored strategies and multichannel campaigns to meet the unique business needs of client buying groups.
ABM focuses a company's marketing efforts on a small number of critical accounts within a certain region. With the help of customized campaigns, the marketing message is adapted to each account's unique qualities and requirements.
It also offers a more comprehensive marketing approach than just lead generation, which is why it has grown in popularity. You may increase the worth of your most valuable accounts by driving upsells and cross-sells through current customer marketing.
The Main Components Of ABM
Account-based marketing has three components: Targeting, Interaction, and Measurement. Include these aspects in the core of your Saffron Edge marketing program to set your marketing team up for success
Targeting And Managing The Correct Accounts
ABM's technology can help you focus on and manage accounts that are worth your time and will provide the best Return On Investment (ROI). It allows you to streamline account targeting and maintenance rather than maintaining and synchronizing accounts and lists across many applications. Depending on your company's needs, refer to these aspects: product fit, quick wins, strategic relevance, competitors, and area.
Interaction Across Channels
Instead of handling each marketing channel independently, build and run coordinated and personalized campaigns across all of them using a single platform. It involves the usage of an account-based marketing solution, which integrates all of your marketing channels and establishes the foundation for sending targeted cross-channel campaigns to the relevant people.
Measuring And Optimizing Programs?
Because ABM focuses on a small number of high-value consumers, results are considerably easier to track than traditional marketing. Your ABM approach needs to be quantified to demonstrate growth and success over time. Make sure you pick a system that lets you create account dashboards for specific accounts, initiatives, objectives, and revenue-based account metrics in one location.
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Top Benefits Of Account-based Marketing Approach
The following methods can help you with your account-based marketing strategy:
1.Create A Personalized Offer For Each Customer
ABM can assist you in targeting each stakeholder in a target account with a high level of personalization. It involves a lot of personal research, which provides it an advantage over traditional marketing tactics. Account-based marketing relies heavily on relevance and personalization. Because most account-based marketing programs have a limited number of target accounts, campaigns and offers must have high conversion rates.
One strategy to adapt content marketing efforts is to provide offers tailored to a single target account. Because the report is so comprehensive, most potential purchasers feel obligated to read it.
2.Develop Offers Designed To Get Secured Meetings
There are several stakeholders involved in traditional B2B marketing. It can delay the regular sales and marketing process. 99.9% of marketers create products, especially to generate leads through webinars and white papers.
Salespeople can secure meetings with potential customers by employing these strategies. For example, a social analytics company may provide you with an hour-long live study report on how your company's social media activities compare to those of your competitors. Technology evaluations and security audits are two instances of free services.
3. Keep Your Brand In Front Of Customers Using Retargeting
It's an excellent method for retargeting a single account while its employees are online and consuming information. Such advances may be used and applied immediately to account-based marketing initiatives.
Demandbase account-based intelligence and targeting leverage IP addresses to identify a vendor's potential consumers while browsing the web. When these accounts visit a site in the Demandbase ad network, they are presented with the vendor's ad. Two additional B2B retargeting companies are Bizo and Retargeter.
4. Customize The Individual User Experience On Your Website
Because of its narrow emphasis, account-based marketing relies on high conversion rates. Using personalized landing pages is one way to accomplish this. Marketers can show different content depending on which account or individual is visiting the landing page with account-specific landing pages.
You can utilize personalization tactics to display the visitor's name, but keep in mind that certain customers might find this intrusive.
5. Design Sales Regions Geared At Converting Customers
It used to be usual practice to designate sales territory based on fairness or equality, but what if you could instead assign salespeople to certain regions depending on their likelihood of closing a deal? An organization assigns its representatives to certain accounts based on each employee's quality and social connections. You may be able to organize your region according to your sales history or existing agreements.
6. Using Executives To Test Direct Mail
As digital marketing became more prevalent, direct mail became obsolete. It is still possible to target certain groups of executives through direct mail. Why? Because many executives do not sign up for webinars or white papers, do not respond to unsolicited emails, and do not follow companies or salespeople on social media.
For example, before a major conference, a company shipped empty iPad boxes to executives with a letter encouraging them to come to the event booth to pick up the iPad. As a result, several recipients came into the store to chat with the employees.
7. Use Social Intelligence To Learn About Your Prospects' Interests
Account-based marketing focuses on tailoring communications to each client's specific goals and difficulties. Smart salespeople watch for changes in their target accounts and take advantage of them. You can leverage a public information source like Google Alerts to keep up with corporate news.
Social data is more beneficial than traditional press releases and articles in the account-based marketing strategy. When establishing a program, organizations should be flexible so that communications can be redirected or updated when new information becomes available. Enterprise-level social intelligence sales solutions include InsideView and LinkedIn.
8. Build A List Of Legitimate Role-based Contacts
Vendors can create lists based on a person's job title or responsibilities, ensuring that the contact is still active today. Account-based models can populate the database with the correct contacts using this list generation method.
A corporation might request "the person in charge of IT infrastructure" from a role-based list, which is more specific than a title. Reachforce and Televerde, for example, may help you create these types of lists.
9. Purchase Target Accounts' White Paper And Webinar Leads
Buyers could previously only filter leads from a media company by corporate size, title, or geographic area. Businesses can now filter their lead purchases by company name with an increasing number of online lead generation companies. It will cost more per lead, but it will tremendously benefit account-based marketing operations.
10. Create A One-to-one C-level Marketing Campaign
Companies may give employees responsibilities to establish relationships with specific buyer personas at their target accounts. In this case, reaching out to other C-level executives is a viable tactic. This person can get involved in the campaign in various ways, like writing an email or letter and making a phone call.
Personal and genuine outreach is required, and a business case for these executives to participate. This campaign's message needs to be written with the organization's help. An inside salesperson may make a follow-up phone call to the executive's administrative assistant to set up a meeting.
After the C-level executives have been assigned, companies can assign vice presidents, inside salespeople, and marketing to prospects at target accounts. The goal is to connect qualified personnel with qualified potential employees.
11. Use Non-sales Personnel To Discover Links To Your Target Accounts
We don't always consider the connections that other employees in the organization may have with potential clients. In LinkedIn Sales Navigator, TeamLink lets you see who else in your company is related to contacts at the target account. Leverage is a possibility that arises frequently.
Conclusion
We recommend establishing a short- and long-term plan for your account-based marketing strategy. Consider the technology strategy your team will need for a trial ABM program (end-to-end or supplemental) and what it will need to run your program at full scale.
There is no one-size-fits-all option between a comprehensive end-to-end ABM service and supplemental solutions to support existing marketing technology. Saffron Edge and key stakeholders should work together openly to choose the best plan for your company. You can reap the benefits of a customer-centric, lucrative marketing strategy.
Content Marketing for Cosmetics DTC Brand
It is no secret that the industry is not just about the advantages of the items but also the experience and emotion that they create as we navigate the ever-changing landscape of beauty. Creating an indulgent moment, a feeling of richness and refinement that makes us feel exceptional is the goal. The craft of enticing and evocative beauty writing is more crucial than ever. In this post, we'll look at how the correct words can evoke a sensual experience that makes us want these things and keep buying them. So be ready to enter a world of opulent beauty, and let's see how words may have a genuinely transformational effect. Why is Marketing the Brand important? A well-defined brand message and an efficient marketing plan are essential for success in the fiercely competitive beauty industry. Whether your product promises to give users a radiant glow, anti-aging benefits, or intensive hydration for their hair, establishing a clear and consistent brand identity is essential for gaining and keeping the loyalty of customers, boosting sales, and assuring market viability. It is clear from studying the most successful beauty firms throughout the world that many of them were founded by or received endorsements from social media celebrities. They stand out because of their capacity to build a relationship with their audience that feels like speaking with a friend. In the past, big businesses and well-known celebrities controlled the beauty sector, giving it an air of exclusivity. Yet, the beauty industry has changed into a more inclusive and varied community with the rise of blogging, vlogging, and social media, necessitating firms to adjust their messaging accordingly. It is more important than ever to stand out from the competition and maintain client involvement as the market develops. To do this, a strong content marketing strategy can be an effective tool. A basic blog post about "How to Obtain Bright Skin" is not enough to have an impact, though. A unique and original strategy for content marketing is necessary to grab the audience's interest. Successful marketing and branding tactics are essential for a brand to succeed in the beauty sector. In order to build a brand that connects with the target audience, encourages sales, and maintains durability in the rapidly changing beauty business, it is essential to use the correct message, marketing, and branding strategies. How has the audience evolved? The target market must be thoroughly understood for cosmetics marketing to be successful. Marketing initiatives could be equivalent to tossing messages into a bottle without knowing if anyone would read them if the audience is not thoroughly understood. Identifying and analyzing the needs, preferences, and habits of the target audience are crucial to prevent this. Brands may identify the problems that matter to their audience the most, the social media channels where they are most active, and the best ways to communicate with them by conducting audience analysis. Also, a routine analysis might reveal any demographic changes, which can assist in guiding product development and marketing tactics. CeraVe is one instance of a company that successfully recognized a change in its target market. Using TikTok, this mass-market skincare line, known for its no-nonsense clinical approach, reached a new demographic of Gen Z users. The startup teamed up with the influencer Hyram Yarbro , whose work with CeraVe attracted the attention of parent company L'Oreal. They collaborated to produce material for the platforms TikTok and YouTube, which are well-liked by Generation Z. CeraVe was able to expand its income and take advantage of the expansion in the skincare business by pivoting to capture the market through the appropriate channels. It is the perfect time for firms to review their marketing tactics since the skincare market is predicted to grow by 5.3% annually . Due to people spending more time at home, there is an increasing demand for skincare products, which is driving this growth. Understanding the target market is essential for effective marketing in the cosmetics sector. Companies can effectively target their target audience by customizing their marketing efforts by taking the time to understand their consumer's needs, preferences, and behaviors. This information is essential for spotting demographic changes and profiting from the expansion of a sector, which will improve revenue and market share. What connects with the audience? As the trend is nowadays, the audience looks for experience and not just a product. They want a lifestyle, a story, a ritual that they can indulge in and connect with. This is why storytelling is perhaps one of the most important things to incorporate into your marketing strategy. When it comes to the beauty industry, a substantial chunk of it is linked to sensuality and indulgence. These are the two possible central keywords around which most successful beauty marketing campaigns are built upon. In addition to their actual benefits, beauty products should also give consumers a sense of well-being, mood, and experience. For this reason, matcha, the newest green health fad, is being blended into cosmetics. Although it is unknown whether the amount of L-Theanine and antioxidants in matcha lip balm is sufficient to have a positive impact on one's health, using such a nourishing balm that is infused with antioxidant green tea, sweet vanilla, and calming coconut and cacao butter is irresistible and delicious. The value of enticing copywriting in the world of online beauty sales cannot be understated. Since clients cannot touch, feel, or smell the product, it must appeal to all the senses. You can use dry language like "this effective cream is formulated with shea butter, jojoba, and essential oils" or seductive and alluring language like "Experience the ultimate indulgence with our luxurious cream, crafted to soothe and nourish your skin with the finest shea butter. Infused with the calming essence of Blue Tansy essential oil and the decadent richness of cacao, this cream envelopes your senses, leaving your skin soft, smooth, and hydrated" While you go asleep, your skin is kept hydrated, soft, and smooth, never greasy. By turning normal skincare regimens into transforming beauty rituals, luxury brand La Prairie has perfected the art of persuasive advertising. The company transforms skincare from ordinary to spectacular by offering a sensory experience of stunning transformation. Utilizing names, packaging, and the brand story to arouse desire, the brand speaks to indulgence, legacy, and luxury. For instance, the brand uses caviar and white caviar in its formulae to produce a rich, desirable feeling that clients crave, as well as to make the user seem younger. Sensuous, descriptive copywriting is essential in the world of beauty since it may generate a sensuous experience that keeps clients wanting and purchasing your items. It is not just about drawing comparisons to food writing but also about arousing cravings where none previously existed. A well-written piece of copy can transport a customer into the bathroom, where they can splash water from a marble bowl and emerge with radiant, young-looking skin. Therefore, the beauty sector is suitable for sensual, detailed copywriting, and with the appropriate content, you can produce an opulent and indulgent experience that customers will crave. 3 Tips to Enhance Your Cosmetic Marketing Strategy After having extensively talked about how and why the beauty industry constantly evolves, let’s delve into what can work for your brand. Find your space For smaller businesses with constrained marketing expenditures, breaking into the competitive beauty and cosmetics sector can be difficult. It could appear that there is little opportunity for newcomers to make a splash because well-known firms dominate the market and spend a lot of money on promotions. But fear not, for there is a solution: finding your beauty niche. Focus on a tiny, underserved market and attack it with enthusiasm rather than attempting to compete with the industry titans in every respect. Maybe you have a cutting-edge skincare brand or a hair care line designed specifically for active athletes. You can target customers whose demands haven't been met by seeing a market gap that bigger organizations have missed or disregarded. This cultivates a responsive audience that is ready to discover more about your distinctive goods. According to Forbes, focusing on a market that bigger businesses have ignored or taken for granted can be a successful tactic. Take the effort to establish your product line and identify your niche. Customers who have been looking for products that fulfil their specific needs will be more responsive to your messaging if it is focused on what they have been looking for. Even the smallest beauty company may succeed in a competitive market with effective marketing and a little imagination. Know your Target Understanding your target demographic is the first step in creating marketing materials that will sell your beauty items. Are middle-aged males, pregnant women in their 30s, or teenage girls your target audience? It's crucial to take critical criteria like gender, age, money, career, lifestyle, veganism, skin type, and beauty concerns into account. You can hone your messaging to fully resonate with the particular requirements and preferences of your ideal consumer by developing a thorough understanding of this persona. When promoting your beauty items, don't, however, use generic or uninteresting words. If you want to accurately represent the opulent experience that your customers may expect, infuse your content with sophistication and elegance. Emphasize the premium components and unique formulations that set your brand apart from the competition. Promote your items' sensory experience, emphasizing sentiments of luxury and self-care. Craft the Perfect Copy Writing product descriptions that not only educate but also motivate potential customers to act is crucial for a beauty firm. Since you can't personally contact customers in person, it's critical to employ language that effectively communicates the advantages and worth of your skincare products. Explicitly stating how your solution resolves an issue is a crucial component of great product descriptions. Will your skincare product, for instance, aid customers in achieving a more youthful, radiant complexion? Will it address particular skin issues like dryness, acne, or fine lines? You may make it easier for clients to understand how your product fits into their skincare routine and why they should pick it over competing products on the market by stating the problem it solves. Don't stop there, though. You must appeal to your target market's emotions and desires if you want your product to stand out. To describe the feel, texture, and smell of your skin care product, use sensory language. Draw a mental picture of how it will improve their skin and confidence. The aim is to create product descriptions that persuasively sell your skincare products and encourage clients to up their beauty regimen. In Conclusion The beauty market is one that is continuously changing. Direct-to-consumer (DTC) marketing is experiencing explosive growth as a result of the quick shift to online purchasing, which has given brands new opportunities to target consumers directly. However, as the market gets more cutthroat, firms must develop cutting-edge strategies to stand out. Growth hacking, a marketing strategy that emphasizes quick experimentation to find the best ways to develop a firm, is one way to accomplish this. Growth hacking has the potential to completely transform brands in the cosmetics sector, as Saffron's success with Nude Envie demonstrates. Nude Envie is a cosmetic brand that had a number of issues, including slow growth, an unreliable website, poor Google advertisements, and a weak retention strategy. Saffron put a complete solution in place to deal with these problems, which led to steady revenue growth, better page visibility, and higher conversion rates. To improve Google Ads performance, they came up with a plan to redesign the website by optimizing it, creating a content strategy, and concentrating on demographically focused ads. They also focused on competitor-based link-targeting to build links that aided Nude Envie in gaining market share and elevating its domain authority. In order to contact visitors and current customers, different touch points were established as part of the retention strategy. These actions led to constant revenue growth for Nude Envie within four months as well as better page visibility and higher conversion rates. The solution ensured a sustainable business model for Nude Envie by increasing income generation by 100%. Consider contacting Saffron if you're a beauty brand hoping to experience a similar level of success. They are a top digital marketing firm that specializes in growth hacking for the beauty sector and will show you the best approaches to expand your company. ...
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The Top SEO Trends And Techniques You Need To Know!
The search engine market leader "Google" has a market share of 87.76%; therefore, a significant update in Google Algorithm means a drastic shift in SEO trends and techniques. It won't be wrong to say that SEO is quite unpredictable. Why? Because it keeps evolving year after year. It involves making specific changes to the web page design and content that make a site attractive. There is so much happening in the world of SEO that marketers are always on their toes. They have to ensure that their websites are following the top SEO trends and techniques. It allows them to keep their website rankings under their control. You see, online businesses don't want to end up on the wrong side of the new algorithm. As marketers, we understand the potential impact of vital search engine changes on websites. The following SEO strategies shall make you aware of the latest SEO trends likely to impact online businesses in 2021. Source: Pexels SEO is an exact science; it's more of an evolving art that hinges on the latest trends and forces of Google itself and the actions of other SEO. A huge aspect of SEO revolves around competitor analysis and determining the ranking factors behind any given keywords and phrases. As an increase in the online competition continues and new websites are being launched day by day, you have to rethink your content marketing strategy and invest in SEO. Web pages must meet specific requirements set by search engines like Google, and this is where SEO becomes very important. You must know what SEO trends are on the horizon to update your website accordingly and ensure that more customers and prospects find you in the search engine results. What Are The Top SEO Trends And Techniques of 2021? 2021 is here; it's the exact time to reflect on an eventful year for organic search and how to use that knowledge to create better SEO strategies for the upcoming decade. As an SEO company and services provider, you must stay aware of emerging latest SEO trends. It helps you incorporate them into your SEO strategies or website plan projects and ensure you are providing your clients with creative, sound business advice. As SEO professionals, you have to keep your clients informed of these business trends as well. So, let's dive into the 5 SEO trends that you need to know for 2021. Zero-clicks searches in top SEO trends: Google has evolved in recent years to deliver a better search experience for the end-user, like through Featured Snippets. Featured snippets, Knowledge graphs, Google's Local Packs, and so on, more than half of all searches are now "zero-click searches." Featured Snippets usually appear as number 1 organic result, commonly called Position 0. To take advantage of this feature and drive more clicks to your web page, you need to provide clear answers to commonly asked questions on your web page. Featured Snippets are evaluated and boosted to the top depending on their quantity and quality, which Google has a way of determining. Don't take this trend lightly, as 54.68% of clicks from Google originate from Featured Snippets, proving that they take more than half of search engine clicks. Featured Snippets represent an excellent opportunity for content writers since it gives you the ability to generate organic traffic even if you are not ranking at the number 1 position. Utilize influencers for boosting SEO People often feel inundated by intrusive advertisements, and they are looking for information that they can trust and authentic reviews. It leads to a rise in influencer marketing. Media companies and digital marketers are increasing their investment in influencer marketing because it has produced excellent results. Partnering or hiring with an influencer can help you amplify your content reach and create even more traffic to your website. They can also help you build valuable backlinks for your page. Backlinks are one of the most important factors that Google uses when calculating a web page's ranking. When generating your influencer marketing strategy, consider what type of content you want them to develop and how it can link back to your webpage. Be sure to partner with influencers that are relevant to your industry and your end-user. If they are an authority with a solid digital presence, their backlinks can be absolute gold. If you invest in influencer marketing, you will not only generate leads and improve brand awareness, but you will also boost your search engine rankings. Website security has become a necessity End-user safety is another trend that doesn't seem to do with SEO, but it is essential to the web page user experience. If visitors don't feel safe visiting a website, they're very likely to leave quickly. If a user sees a not secure warning appear, they may decide not to proceed to your website. As a result, bounce rates could affect the position of that website in the organic search listing. It is essential to enable the HTTPS protocol for your site. HTTPS gives web page users a secure connection that is both authenticated and encrypted. Google wants to provide its visitors with a secure browsing experience, so those that implement HTTPS may experience a minor SEO boost. If you collect personal information from your end-users on your web page via a web form, you have to protect their privacy. It's essential to assure your visitors that it will protect their data as long as they stay on the website. There are still many vulnerabilities on the page, but there are new security measures that one can implement every day into your web page. Is your website optimized for voice search? Before smartphones, people usually searched by plugging words into search engine boxes on their computers. With the high usage of mobile devices, voice searches have become a popular trend among internet visitors. These voice searches are done on phones and can be performed on home voice assistants such as the Samsung Smart TV, Amazon Echo, Voice Pod, etc. Knowing how to optimize your webpage for voice search can help you create more organic traffic if you understand and implement conversational searches into your SEO trend strategy. When using voice searches, the search engine must do a lot of work to get the relevant information that the visitor is looking for at that moment. This change is imminent, considering that by the year 2021, it is expected that 50% of all internet searches will be initiated through voice search. Your content should adapt to this new trend to stand ahead in the current search engines. Mobile UX will determine your ranking A webpage that does not have a mobile version may lose most of its visitors in the coming years as mobile websites are a growing SEO trend that will get even more popular in 2021. Since more people worldwide are obtaining smartphones as more mobile phone towers are being built with better connectivity and range. However, people collect information through their mobile phones is getting so advanced that it's not enough to have a mobile webpage. The interface has to be easy to read, grab visitors' attention, and provide an answer to their questions or at least keep them entertained. Since more people are searching from their mobile phones than from computers, it's crucial to have a mobile version for your webpage to reach many people interested in your product. You must optimize your pages for handy devices if you want to keep up with your competitor companies. And keep in mind that the higher you are in the Google mobile page index, the more famous your page will be. Conclusion The core mission of Google remains the same, providing end-users with relevant search results from the most trusted sources. Understanding this helps digital marketers to adopt SEO strategies to give an excellent user experience without any compromise. While Google continues to gain high market share and increase its value on the internet, it's no secret that a part of this valuation comes from ad revenue on their search engine results page. You should keep yourself updated with the latest SEO trends to keep your position ahead of your competitors. It would be best if you continue to target zero-click searches like featured snippets. It remains one of the best ways to dominate your competitors in the SERPs. You have to invest in influencer marketing because it has produced excellent results and creates more traffic to your webpage, which increases your bounce rate. Make sure that the users are visiting your page, and your webpage should secure the data provided by them. You should optimize your webpage for voice search by considering queries people may search and building out informational content around those queries. Your website should provide a mobile page and an interface that grabs the user's attention and provide them with a required answer. Are you looking for the ?best search engine optimisation agency? Contact our highly skilled SEO professionals; we offer fast, proven, and efficient solutions that align with the top SEO trends. We can give you excellent results and help you take your company to the next level. ...
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Social Media Advertising Trends To Watch In 2021 And Beyond For Your Business
Social media marketing demands a lot of time and attention because you need to constantly review your existing strategies and publish new types of content on the platform. To stay in a sink with the updates one needs to keep a close eye on new trends because social media marketing is constantly evolving and influencing the way businesses will work in the future. As we begin the year 2021, all social media platforms are introducing new features, updates, and are modifying their old algorithms. As the time ticks, social media trends are evolving each minute and therefore your Social media marketing tactics should also undergo a makeover. Remember Snapchat's Snap Streak feature? It was so addictive, do you think so? Users had to maintain Snap Streaks by sending snaps or photos to your friends every day. This was a huge trend! On the contrary, Instagram has features like Reels, which can last forever on your feed, and ‘Story’, which lasts for 24 hours only, are highly popular among young adults. Instagram Reels feature came as a quick alternative for Tik Tok, and now almost every social media platform is planning to add such features to their interface too. Instagram has over 500+ million active user profiles, which makes this platform the second largest platform after Facebook. So, it boils down to one thing, social media evolution is all about exploring, adapting, and innovating new trends. But that’s not the end, presenting new trends before the audience is not sufficient, it's all about how quickly one can introduce these features. These instant changes pose new challenges for brands and businesses. Remoulded algorithms and updates keep social media marketers on their toes. If you are a business leader, marketer, or entrepreneur and you use social media sites for your online business then we have tried to list down some of the top social media trends of 2021 that can help your brand to grow more so that you can ace your sales target. But why Social media platforms important for an online business. Social media is one of the most powerful tools when it comes to social media advertising. It helps in creating brand awareness, boosts audience engagement, and helps you in driving large traffic to your eCommerce website or shop. It can bring huge conversions for your business. Having a great social media presence can help you to induce loyalty and trust in your customers towards your business. Social Media Trends That Can Enhance Your Social media marketing Brands need to revisit their marketing campaigns User-generated content can help you in building trust Create short format high-quality audio-visual content Companies should focus on authentic communication Analyze trends followed by your industry leaders on social media The Instagram story can be a powerful tool for storytellingCreate buzz using social media platforms 1. Brands need to revisit their marketing campaigns You need to be spontaneous and creative at the same time. Earlier brands and businesses use to plan their social media posts, releases, and promotions way before the date of actual action. But the year 2020 left everyone bewildered and introduced a twist to these tactics. We saw advertising companies withdrawing their ad strategies, campaigns, and way of delivering their messages to the crowd. Due to the risks associated with the spread of Covid-19, we saw brands scrapping out product catalog posts and spreading awareness about safety measures like social distancing and the importance of sanitizing. Popular brands that used to hire professional actors for shooting brand endorsements were sharing photos of their employees with their families who were working from home. So one should stop planning their social media releases? Should you drop your annual social media plans? No, not completely! You can plan certain special days but you should be open to developing new ideas. You need a mix of both. Be flexible with your campaigns, messaging, and product launches. Follow the recent campaign trends, take advantage of viral hashtags, and engage with your audience on a personal level. 2. User-generated content can help you in building trust Social media advertising is not just about selling products and services, it is much more than that. Crafting user-generated content is a way to make your brand look more authentic, fresh, and reliable. As per the statistics provided by Stackla, 78% of users said that user-generated content influences their purchasing choices. We also saw that paid or promoted ads left various customers skeptical about the authenticity of their products. Therefore brands should use user-generated content to induce trust among their customers. Feature Raw Instagram stories - Post raw videos and images that you receive from your customers. People on the internet love content that is more human to them. You don’t need to just invest all your money on creating perfect videos or images, try sharing or featuring Instagram stories that come from your fans. It makes your brand look more authentic. Post About Social Issues - Don’t fill your Facebook or Instagram feed with product images and videos about your company, highlight some social issues too. Your customers will value your brand even more. It will also attract other like-minded individuals to your brand. You Can Save Money On Advertising - Featuring user-created content like images, videos, stories, etc allows you to save money on producing costly video content. Photoshoots or video recordings are not only expensive but also time-consuming. Use UGC that’ll allow you in lowering your social media expenditure. Saving UGC files is also a great idea because they can be used for some future campaigns. 3. Create short format high-quality video content You must be aware of the fact that videos on social media have a better reach and audience engagement as compared to any sort of content. Adding descriptions, offers, CTAs to your videos can drive audiences towards purchasing your products. As we have discussed earlier, recording videos can be expensive too. Therefore you should emphasize your Return On Investment. You can make this affordable by using a smartphone camera to shoot a video. You can use your smartphone camera to make engaging videos because features like Reels, stories, or IGTVs provide some really helpful editing options. Short format content like Reels can be used to create remarketing ads and sponsored ads. Another great feature from Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc is the Live feature. You can use live streams when you are introducing or launching a new product. Live streams can be used directly to connect with your audiences because from there you would be able to see their comments or opinions in real-time. Customers love it when they can ask questions on live streams. Remember, live streams can stay on your feed and new audiences can come and watch it later. The algorithm pushes such streams too! Your audiences will be able to see the unedited stream that will give the stream a human touch. When a large group of customers watches your live stream together, they feel as if they are a part of your family. 4. Companies should focus on authentic communication Customers on social media platforms tend to revisit their ‘following list’ from time to time and unfollow accounts that are redundant or irrelevant to them. As a brand, you can manage to engage your audience and keep them hooked on by posting content that can boost brand loyalty. How? Make sure to go live once a month or once a week. Talk to your customers, make sure you answer their questions and thank them for being a part of your online business. Post stories and photos of your office, working style, office activities, etc. You can also create ‘memory posts’ where you can recall a memory, for example - your first delivery order. You can also curate posts where you can thank them for their support in the journey so far. You can also post pictures or videos about your brand’s vision and mission. 5. Analyze trends followed by your industry leaders on social media Have you heard about ‘social listening’ on social media? Social listening means analyzing what trends your industry leaders are following currently and also listening to the demands of your online customers. You need to hear what they are trying to say. In short, you need to know what’s in demand? Without social listening, you won’t be able to figure out things that are currently popular. Pay attention to what investors and influencers are trying to convey. It’ll help you in gathering enough information about the ongoing trends. Plan your moves according to them. Use social media management tools that provide you updates about the current trends. By monitoring these trends, conversations, and actions you can figure out the best social media tactic for your brand as well. 6. The Instagram story can be a powerful tool for storytelling We have already talked about the importance of humanizing social media posts and campaigns. Instagram’s ‘story’ feature, which keeps the story on your feed for 24 hours, has been adopted by Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube ‘Shorts’ as well. These quick 15 second snippets can help you to introduce new products, offers, and deals. It also allows your customers to remain connected with your brand daily. On Instagram stories, you can set up question polls, QnA, GIFs, memes, and more. Such features give your fans a reason to check your profiles back again. 7. Use social media to boost purchase intent among your customers Instagram provides various types of user interfaces such as ‘Private account’, ‘Public account’, ‘Creator’, and ‘Business account’. It depends on your needs. Each of them provides a different set of features. For instance, a business account on Instagram can reap the benefits of the ‘Shops’ feature where they can display their product catalog. Customers can learn more about the products and services. A feature like this enhances the consumer experience and provides a user to do window shopping on the go. This feature can also allow a buyer to simply click on the link to place an order without leaving the app. Similar features are available on Facebook as well. These features are really helpful, especially for small and medium businesses. Conclusion Social media platforms have grown exponentially. The growth in their audience base says it all. Social media is one of the most powerful tools that can be used to empower your marketing efforts. From creating brand awareness, boosting audience engagement, to helping you in driving large traffic, Social media can help you to boost your revenues and bring large conversions. It can help you to induce loyalty and trust in your customers towards your business. Follow these top social media trends of 2021 to build a user base of dedicated fans and smash your sales targets. ...
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