For successful brand promotion on social media, it is essential to keep up with the latest innovations. Businesses must constantly adapt to changing user preferences. Today, the Head of the SMM department, Maria Ponomareva, answers our questions and shares the most important trends in creating effective content for social networks.
Maria, what trend do you consider the most important for successful promotion on social media?
Undoubtedly, it is community building around the brand. Today, customers are no longer satisfied with just the product itself. They need to feel that the brand they chose reflects their values and lifestyle. Building a community on social media allows the brand to share its values and beliefs, gaining a loyal audience. Members of this community become brand advocates by recommending its products to friends and actively engaging with it on social media. This helps increase brand awareness, brings new opportunities, and continually provides user-generated content (UGC).
It seems that every brand is now present on social media. Do you think social media will become the main shopping platform in the future?
Social media play an increasingly important role in e-commerce. They allow brands to showcase their products in real-time, engage influencers in product promotion, and inspire users to create UGC content. The convenience and speed of shopping on social media, along with features that enable in-app purchases, make social media an attractive space for e-commerce. While this tool is not as developed and popular in the Czech Republic as it is in, for example, the United States, I believe the situation will change soon, and we will be shopping for Christmas gifts on Instagram.
Do you search for products and services on social media, or do you prefer internet search?
I search for everything on social media! I even read a study that says an increasing number of users prefer shopping on social media rather than on online marketplaces and websites. For instance, 44% of Instagram users buy groceries every week, with 28% of them planning their purchases in advance. This trend will only continue to grow. Therefore, it is essential for brands to create content that includes tips, reviews, and stories about their products. Brands should also ensure that the shopping experience is as convenient and fast as possible. Websites have already learned this, but social media is not there yet.
What is your favorite tool for promoting on social media?
I love the phenomenon of influencer marketing. It can be very beneficial, but I also realize that to achieve desired results with this tool, you have to carefully choose who to collaborate with. You also have to accept that not all collaborations will be successful.
Collaborating with influencers in SMM is becoming increasingly popular, especially with micro and macro-bloggers. Many companies prefer to work with a consistent list of influencers. When collaborating with bloggers, it is essential to monitor the frequency of advertisements and ensure they align with the brand’s philosophy and whether the brand’s product matches the bloggers’ lifestyle. This influences whether their audience will trust the product.
I also recommend that brands promoting only on Instagram choose influencers from other platforms, such as TikTok or YouTube, and not be afraid to collaborate with bloggers who do not focus on lifestyle themes. Give a chance to minorities and creative personalities who do not fit into the conventional framework. They usually have the most loyal audience, which responds well to advertising.
Certainly, I recommend this tool. Influencer marketing is an area where you can be creative and seek new solutions.
What other trends are worth mentioning?
An interesting trend is the creation of short videos in Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts format. They help increase brand awareness and engage the audience, allowing easy experimentation with various formats and themes. It is also important to adapt content to different platforms, considering their unique features, target audience, goals, and individual styles.
Which trend do you consider particularly promising?
The most promising trend in SMM is the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in content creation. AI assists in writing posts, generating ideas, suggesting topics, translating texts into different languages, providing personalized responses to customer queries, and creating publication plans. Tools like Stable Diffusion and DALL-E 2 for image generation and ChatGPT for text generation are already speeding up and automating content creation.
We even participated in a project where all content and products were created by artificial intelligence. We attach it below; be sure to check it out.
