Written by: Emma Tessler, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Marketing your brand on social media can be intimidating and overwhelming at times. Updates, trends, even new emerging platforms can create challenges, especially for entrepreneurs and small business owners. While staying up to date on social media trends and news likely isn’t a top priority for you, there are a few tips + tricks that can make this feel less of a chore.
Firstly, to understand what your consumer is looking for, begin consuming content they are consuming. If your audience demographic is younger than 35, it’s important to be consuming content on TikTok. Older than 40? Facebook is where you’ll need to be. Consuming content your audience is seeing will allow you to understand the trends and consumer activities outside of your brand's experience. Remember ‒ just because you don’t know or understand a trend doesn’t mean your audience is in the same boat. Your brand's social media feed shouldn’t necessarily be what you are interested in, but rather what your consumer is engaging and connecting with across all forums. This will help you skyrocket your analytics in no time.
Through this research, you’ll also be able to see what your competitors are doing. This is invaluable information to you in order to identify what they are doing well ‒ so you can do it better ‒ and where they are missing the mark ‒ so you can fill this gap in your industry. Do a quarterly analysis of your competition’s digital marketing so that you can get a big picture glance at how your brand can stay ahead and continuously stay at the top of your game. The goal here is to ensure you are setting yourself apart from your competitors ‒ and the only way to do that is to know what they are doing and take it up a notch.
In today’s world, it’s more important than ever to value different perspectives as well. Whether that’s consciously including more diversity into your content (this should be a high priority for every brand) or simply listening to team members in different age brackets, diversity will allow your brand to stand out. Historically, college students may have interned at your company and done the menial labor. Today, however, they are your most valuable asset when it comes to understanding and successfully executing social media marketing campaigns. Your Gen Z hires will tell you what’s cool and what’s not ‒ actually listening to them will allow you to make a major impact. Even if Gen Z isn’t your target audience, this age group understands social media in a way that’s different from any other generation. They are setting trends that will have an impact on the way you should market your brand. Their impact is felt by brands across all industries and different consumer markets. Gen Z’s impact and insight cannot be ignored if you want to stay relevant in the online space.
If you don’t have a younger perspective on your team to assist and lead with trend following, it’s important to do this on your own. Trends are what make or break your content at this point in time and they’re unique to each platform. For example, TikTok is setting the trends right now, then about two weeks later they move over to Instagram, and eventually trickle onto Facebook. Understanding this flow will help you forecast what’s coming and capitalize on these ever-changing trends. One way to do this is to set up Google Alerts for influencers and trending hashtags. You can easily set up multiple alerts for people, companies, and even words/phrases on a schedule so they don’t fill your inbox too often. You can also set up a news aggregator on a site like Feedly. A news aggregator, much like Google Alerts, will help you collect different content such as news articles, social media posts, images, and videos on a particular topic of your choice. This can help you create content with a deeper understanding of trends, news, etc. For Instagram specific tips (because we all know this app changes more frequently than any other), follow @mosseri and @creators for in the moment app updates.
Finally, work with a team to support you in finding and executing these trends. If you’re self-managing your social media marketing right now, or even working with a freelancer, you’ve likely been winging your content and overall marketing strategy. An Agency, such as Ninety Five Media, can provide you with so much more, including allowing you to take your time back to focus on the tasks you truly love doing. Having a system and strategies in place will help you see far greater success in the long run. Because ultimately, your goal is to monetize your brand's online presence, and an “all hands on deck” style agency will help you get there. Apply to work with Ninety Five Media HERE, if you’re a good fit our team will be in touch.
Remember ‒ social media marketing strategy isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. It’s important to understand your end goal and apply strategies that help you get there. These tips will expedite your success and I can’t wait for you to watch as your accounts flourish.
Emma Tessler, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Emma Tessler is the founder and CEO of Ninety Five Media, a new-age Digital Marketing Agency. After discovering digital marketing at a college internship and falling in love with it, Emma put this on the back burner to pursue her major of Interior Design at the Fashion Institute of Technology. However, just a few years later, she left this career to form her own Digital Marketing business, Ninety-Five Media. Today, Ninety Five Media works with scaling brands to monetize their online presence on social media platforms using strategic, current marketing strategies ‒ this is their signature Ninety Five Media Method. This Method helps their clients connect with ideal customers, build community, and convert audience members into paying clients. As a former Designer, Emma brings both creativity and strategy to her client's accounts to exponentially scale their online brand awareness.
