We sent our fantastic social team to Ad Week’s Social Media Week 2022 to learn everything there is to know about what’s up and coming in social.
We’re not gatekeepers here at Altair, so we wanted to bring you the top 10 things you need to know from this years SMW.
Social Media Consumer Expect Their Experiences To Be Relevant
We’ve been saying it for years. Content should be customised to each platform. There is benefit and a place for cross using content for each platform but let’s think about what each of the platforms are used for. Instagram is for aesthetics and community building, TikTok is for short form entertaining and engaging content, Twitter is for momental content. You need to think about what is going to perform well on what platform. Test and learn, it’s the only way you’re going to know what your audience likes. But always consider the relevancy of the content to the platform.
Test, Learn and Scale
Following on from our above point, you need to be constantly testing and learning. Social is a testing and learning environment. What works for you one quarter, may not work for you next. Don’t stick to what you know, push the boundaries and continue to test. From audiences to creatives, there’s so much to try.
Influencers should be seen as their own channel
The value of influencers is imperative and is something we see continue to crop up year on year. There’s a big misconception that influencers are an element of a social strategy or a PR strategy but that’s not the case. Influencers are their own individual channel and should be treated as such. With specific KPIs, metrics, strategies and targeting. It’s time to start taking influencers seriously.
Big brands are investing less in influencer marketing
As big brands start to pull back their spends and cutting out the channels they see as less important, smaller brands are now jumping on the opportunity to engage top creators and work with some of the best in the business.
TikTok is no longer a nice to have, it is a necessity
There’s a reason we won’t shut up about TikTok and no it’s not just for children. Did you know 22.4% of TikTok users are 20-29 and 21.7% are 30-39? (thesocialshepherd). There is no denying the power of TikTok. You must have it as part of your social strategy.
Communities over audiences
Your audience is a community. You can’t just talk at them. You need to listen to their needs, respond to them. They’re people after all. You must build a community with your customers to create long term trust.
Play to your niche
Pick your niche and play to it. You can do this by creating bespoke messaging and creative to each of your niche audiences.
Create thumb stopping ads
On average we consume between 4,000-10,000 advertisements in a day. (webtribunal.net) You need to create thumb stopping ads to get noticed. Make the content native to the platform and not look like an ad to get people to notice it.
Social spends are expected to increase drastically over the next few years
With the recent cost of living crisis coming into full effect, it is now not the time to pull back your spends. Let’s take the 2008 recession as an example. Back when Burger King was as popular as McDonald’s. Why did this change? Over the recession McDonald’s kept their advertising up, driving brand awareness, resulting in their rise to popularity. This means you shouldn’t stop advertising. Continue to keep up your brand awareness up even in trying times and invest this on social media.
Drive initiatives that create meaningful mutual value
We discussed this in a previous LinkedIn Newsletter, but you can no longer expect people to give over their information for nothing. ‘Sign up for the latest news’ isn’t going to cut it anymore. You need to think about what you can offer in exchange for their information. Make the value mutually beneficial.
If you’re interested in talking to us more about anything we learned at Social Media Week, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
By Megan O’Brien
Content & Digital PR Manager
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