Social media use in the pandemic– how businesses can capital is eon it
THE pandemic has forced many businesses to grow, or indeed start, their online presence in order to reach more potential consumers. And along with having a website, this means that companies have also had to swiftly rethink how they reach and engage with people on their social media platforms in order to attract customers to their online offerings.
Social media and digital marketing expert Denise Whitmore is founder of The Social Media Department and has been working with many businesses in the south east over the past year, seeing how they have been altering their sales channels in order to survive the pandemic.
‘From my own experience working with the Local Enterprise Office, so many more businesses were seeking support for websites, mentoring and training,’ she said.
‘Many businesses upgraded and pivoted their business so they could sell online while others who had never even considered using social media were now seeking advice and setting up social media accounts for the first time, seeing the benefits of having a good online presence.’
According to Ms Whitmore, 2020 also saw ‘massive’ increases in consumers using social media to seek out goods and services.
‘ The social media platforms are most definitely reacting in releasing more social shopping features to wider audiences such as tagging products in Instagram posts and Stories, as well as the launch of the Business Suite on Facebook, streamlining the Commerce Manager, allowing shops on Facebook to create catalogues and even a checkout feature on the app itself in the US, which we will eventually see being rolled out across Europe very soon.’
Pointing to how Facebook also reacted to the increase in usage by creating a new Groups tab as well as Watch Parties for group video chats, she said businesses have also been utilising such Groups and Events for online events.
Looking to 2021, it will bring more use of Groups and Events, according to Ms Whitmore.
‘In 2020, the majority of users’ notifications were actually from their contacts interacting in Groups and Events. We’re also going to see a further increase in Live Video Streams after the pandemic and more interaction on the Stories feature of Facebook and Instagram.
‘Believe it or not, we are also going to see an increase in VR experiences on Facebook. Take Facebook Horizon, for example; that’s literally just been released to use with your Oculus VR Headset.’
Other things to watch out for, she said, include longer captions on Instagram, the use of hashtags on Facebook and a lot more social shopping, with businesses tagging their products in posts and stories.
In terms of ‘ influencers’, Whitmore predicts the rise of the ‘nano influencer’.
‘ This type of influencer has perhaps 1,0003,000 followers instead of the much larger influencer that we’re used to hearing about. The reason behind that is the smaller influencer has more of a personal relationship with their followers, getting up to 10 per cent engagement, compared to only 1 per cent engagement with those larger influencers with 60k-plus followers.’
Right now, then, what ways can businesses best capitalise on their social media platforms?
‘Businesses need to be taking their social media marketing seriously and looking at it as part of their marketing and sales strategies. Their social media platforms should be consistent in terms of branding and the voice of the business.’
She said companies should also be ensuring their social media is connected properly to their website and both are ‘ talking’ to each other.
‘Businesses should be running retargeting campaigns using social media to move potential customers down through that sales funnel, from that initial bare interest to an actual conversion on the website. There are so many ways of utilising these platforms, from creating audiences for Facebook ads to Messenger Marketing and email campaigns.’
Her chief advice for businesses, though, is to think out their content and their campaigns, looking at what kind of goals they want to achieve, being consistent with their posting and branding their content.
‘ Take a look at the likes of Canva for creating professional and branded content and videos. Also, look at Later for scheduling Instagram posts. Be consistent in your posting as well as realistic with the time of day. Look at your insights and analytics and see what’s working and what’s not, when your audience is online.’
She said the Facebook algorithm will rank your post in terms of ‘recency and relevance to your audience’.
‘It will also rank native video content (video uploaded directly rather than a YouTube link) much higher than static images.’
Finally, she said the goal should be to create content that encourages long conversations in the comments section of the post.
‘People want to engage with creative and unique content; it doesn’t always have to be selling.
‘Also, try using the extra features of the platforms, Instagram Guides, Reels and IGTV, and set up your Business Suite for Facebook and Instagram. These platforms like it when you use their new features, and it’ll make you stand out amongst your competitors.’