How to Win at Social in 2020

Winning at social media in 2020 requires more than using the right hashtags and posting at peak times. Although these still remain important, in 2020, there are two tactics that will bring you the results that you're after: creating engaging content that will get your business in front of the right audiences and constantly listening to these online communities.

What can you do right now as a business on social?

Get into Content Creation

It's very important for any company to have a defined monthly social media calendar that reflects the social media strategy of the business. Creating a template where you include your content categories, themes, copy and KPIs is crucial when it comes to managing your online presence. It makes it straightforward to schedule everything as well, leaving less room for errors. Plus, social media management tools give you precious time back - no more waisting hours with posting natively and on the go.

Now that we have established the technical details, you need to have high-quality content and be very active across these social media channels. Start by analysing your in-house capabilities - who in the social or content team can be responsible for ideation and content creation? A lot can be done with a DSLR camera and some unique ideas. Have ideation sessions with your team while bearing in mind your social strategy and there's no way you can go wrong.

After all, you need to shape you brand's tone of voice on social media and there are endless ways of doing that. Let me give you an example real quick, say you're a beauty retailer looking to launch a new lipstick on the market. Obviously your social media channels will play a key role in how that product will be perceived. So it's time for you to think outside the box by answering some simple, but effective questions:

Audience - Who (from all my followers) is going to LOVE this product?

Positioning - Why would they be interested to find out more about this lipstick? Think about the value this will bring, not the benefits (eg. 6+ hours lasting colour). The value in a long lasting colour can be that your customers don't need to worry about their make-up while at work and in meetings where they usually drink coffee or eat snacks. This positioning exercise will ideally be made with your channel owners in the business, including brand & marketing.

Online communications - Communicating the added value of your product to consumers is key. Don't shout about it though and focus on attraction social media marketing.

Visual Identity - Remember that an online user's attention span is around 3-5 seconds these days, so what will make that person stop and look at your posts? Inspire yourself from winning brands on social and bring your creativity on-board. Your assets would always need to represent your brand though, so have that in mind when you brainstorm.

Always innovate your content. Use the platform's capabilities to the max: IGTV, Instagram Polls, Instagram Questions for customer engagement, Twitter's quick nature that pushes brands to instant responses, live videos and beautifully designed stories.

Grow Your Online Community

If you're not replying to your customers' comments & DMs in at least 10 minutes from when they are posted, then you're missing out on growing an engaged community on social. In 2020, it's all about here and now. Having a polished feed won't help if you leave your customers waiting on responses. Your response rate will determine how well you do on social, so don't miss out on it.

Your tone of voice needs to be helpful & friendly and always designed to offer even more information that your customers need. Show them you care and your potential customers will notice your brand personality too.

To sum up, content creation and customer engagements will make all the difference in the world. You will grow quicker and you will have more qualified leads. Social is not about posting for the sake of it, but posting for bringing value to your community and growing your sales. Make the most out of it.

Need a helping hand with your social media management? I'm here for you! :)

Send me a quick e-mail at andrada@missandrada.com or a text at +447549032629 and let's start growing your social media channels together.