Developments in the world of social media often serve as outsized factors in a brand’s overall marketing strategy. Twitter is now X, Facebook has launched Threads and TikTok continues to dominate short-form content. But what is happening beyond these headlines?
Staying attuned to the latest social media trends can help brands ensure that their media buys, ad spend and campaign strategies align with evolving consumer preferences and behaviors. To learn how 11 agencies are helping clients remain relevant and competitive in the ever-evolving digital landscape that is social media, check out the insights below from members of Forbes Agency Council.
1. Growing Consumer Loyalty To Creators
Consumer loyalty to creators is growing significantly, and creators are now posting across multiple social platforms and on their own stores and blogs. The result of these shifts is more direct engagement with creators, wherever they choose to be. Investing in creator collaborations, with media boosting those posts about your brand from their profile handles, is the most efficient buy in social media. – Rodney Mason, LTK
2. Evolving Policies On Political And Social Issue Ads
The evolving policies surrounding political and social issue ads, as well as those in sensitive industries, impact our paid media mix and approach. It’s an ever-changing effort to ensure we’re complying with current rules on this front and keeping up with the latest developments and that our strategies are still crafted accordingly to best reach target audiences throughout their daily online activity. – Rachel Winer, ROKK Solutions
3. Google Ads’ Increasing Costs And Declining Performance
Google Ads’ increasing costs and declining performance concern many marketers. SEO feels like chasing a moving target. The future? Zero-click content. As users want immediate answers, we must adjust our strategies to this evolving content wave. It’s crucial to position your brand precisely where people are consuming content most. Build a brand people love, and they will find you. – Qamar Zaman, KISS PR Brand Story Press Release Distribution
4. Social Commerce 2.0 Transforming Strategies
Embracing social commerce 2.0 by leveraging Instagram’s and Pinterest’s seamless shopping features transforms our strategy. Shoppable content boosts conversions within social platforms, optimizing ad spend and customer journeys for higher ROI. We’re refining our content and targeting strategies to capitalize on this new era of social commerce, guiding them seamlessly from discovery to purchase. – Fadi Agour, RPM: REAL PERFORMANCE MARKETING
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
5. The Rapid Growth Of YouTube Shorts
YouTube Shorts are growing very fast and becoming a much better tool to not only advertise on, but also help promote other long-form videos. Due to the average person’s attention span declining, it was inevitable that marketers would need to work hard to grab someone’s attention and get the point across much more quickly. We are seeing much more ad spend focused on short videos. – Andrew Maffettone, BlueTuskr
6. Increasing Use Of First-Party Conversion Data
Due to the unreliability of data from the likes of Meta, we are leveraging first-party data for our clients. This is especially important when running campaigns on both Meta and Google Ads, as each is going to try to claim success for a purchase conversion. So, optimizing and scaling accurately becomes a major headache. Using first-party conversion data has streamlined how we optimize and scale with speed. – Bernard May, National Positions
7. The Rise Of New Streaming Platforms
The demand for streaming content is growing, leading to the evolution of new streaming platforms such as Kicks, Afreeca TV, Bigo Live and Trovo, which are all competing for audience time and attention. We are including these streaming platforms in influencer marketing plans for our clients, as they allow us to reach new audiences and test new engagement and performance tools across various geographies. – Michael Kuzminov, HypeFactory
8. The Blurring Of Behavioral Use Cases In Social Media
The behavioral use cases in social media have become blurred to the point where it can be difficult for brands to navigate what kind of content should be on which channel. It is critical to analyze behavioral content against psychological needs. One way to execute on this data analysis is through the use of micro-influencers, which can have a profound impact on a brand’s social engagement. – Roger Hurni, Off Madison Ave
9. The Growing Use Of Social Media By B2B Customers
The growing use of social media by B2B customers is an important trend. Social doesn’t just drive sales of consumer goods to trendy youngsters on TikTok; it influences purchases in a business context too. B2B companies that don’t engage with social media are missing out. – Mike Maynard, Napier Partnership Limited
10. In-App Checkout Features In Social Commerce
The rise of social commerce with features such as in-app checkout has impacted our media buying and marketing strategy. It allows for direct conversions and streamlines the customer journey. We allocate more ad spend to visually compelling content, optimizing targeting based on valuable data insights. Social commerce taps into evolving purchasing behavior, maximizing brand impact and ROI. – Muhammad Eltiti, BOOST
11. TikTok’s Popularity Driving The Rise Of Video
The rise of video, driven by TikTok’s popularity, has been a clear sea change over the past five years or so. Assisting marketing teams and influencers with scripted content has been an emerging media area for us. Instagram Reels has emerged as a fairly popular second banana to TikTok as well, cementing the rise of video media today. – Justin Belmont, Prose
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