February Social Digest
Smarty Social Media
We are a boutique, full-service social media agency specializing in health and technology marketing.
We’re excited to share our latest social media roundup of the most noteworthy stories and updates we spotted across the social landscape in February.?
From Instagram's Creator Marketplace expansion to Pinterest's efforts to build awareness of their updated ad tools and the impact of micro-communities on social marketing, there's plenty to explore and learn from in this month’s newsletter.
So join us as we uncover the latest trends, strategies, and developments currently shaping the landscape of social media marketing!
Why Every Business Should be Using Multiple Social Media Accounts (via Business.com)
This article, published by Business.com in early February, highlights the importance for businesses to maintain a presence on multiple social media platforms, beyond just Instagram, YouTube, or Twitter.?
The article highlights several reasons and benefits for brands to adopt this strategy, including:
By leveraging multiple social networks for specific marketing activities - like Instagram for showcasing products, TikTok for engaging with a younger audience through entertaining and creative content, and LinkedIn for connecting with professionals and potential collaborators - you can benefit from each platform’s unique features and audience to more effectively tell your brand story, driving stronger audience engagement, brand awareness and an overall improvement on your social media investments.??
Smarty’s Take?? We’ve long recognized the importance and value of maintaining a robust presence across multiple social media platforms for our clients' online success. This article underscores the importance of diversifying social media strategies to reach a broader audience, improve search engine rankings, and provide exceptional customer service. Recognizing resource limitations, it's imperative for brands to prioritize platforms where their target audience is most active and receptive. By leveraging insights from different platforms, we can develop tailored strategies that capitalize on each platform's unique features and audience demographics. This approach not only ensures our clients remain competitive but also enables us to efficiently manage their social media accounts through planning, automation, and performance analysis. Ultimately, by implementing the practices outlined in this article, we can maximize our clients' online visibility, engagement, and overall business growth.??
In 2024, Focus on Executive Social Media Management vs. Corporate (via Forbes)
In this digital age, social media has become an indispensable tool for businesses to connect with their audiences, build brand identity, and foster relationships. With nearly 5 billion social media users worldwide, the importance of a strong social media strategy cannot be overstated. However, while maintaining a corporate social presence is crucial, focusing solely on corporate channels may not yield the desired results, especially when it comes to driving sales and revenue.?
This Forbes article highlights how in today's landscape, people crave genuine connections, and this is where executive social media management comes into play. By showcasing the personalities and perspectives of company leaders, brands can establish deeper connections with their audiences, build trust, and ultimately drive greater consumer loyalty and spending.?
Research shows that consumers are more likely to engage with brands whose CEOs are active on social media, highlighting the significant impact of executive presence on consumer behavior.
To harness the power of executive social media effectively, it's essential to focus on authenticity, consistency, and finding a niche within the digital landscape.?
By sharing personal stories, offering industry insights, and maintaining regular engagement, executives can establish themselves as authentic voices within their respective industries, driving leads, building brand advocacy, and supporting talent strategy in ways that a corporate presence alone cannot achieve.?
As we navigate the ever-evolving social media landscape, prioritizing executive social media management will be crucial for organizations looking to establish genuine connections, drive growth, and stay ahead of the curve.
Smarty’s Take?? We recognize the pivotal role executive social media management plays in shaping brand perception and driving consumer engagement. Our executive leadership team supports our agency’s social presence by showcasing the personalities and insights of our team, helping to build our credibility and agency culture, while also allowing clients to forge authentic connections with us, leading to increased engagement, loyalty, and retention. Our agency leverages this approach to tailor strategies that elevate our clients' brand identity, foster consumer trust, and stay ahead of the competition in an ever-evolving digital landscape.
Why Now is the Time to Pay Attention to Micro-Communities on Social (via MarTech.org)
This article delves into the growing trend of micro-communities within the digital landscape, highlighting their role as secluded hubs offering a sense of belonging and connection.??
Unlike mainstream social platforms, micro-communities - like Discord servers, Facebook groups, Subreddits, etc. - offer a refuge for like-minded individuals seeking meaningful connections and shared experiences. As social media marketers, recognizing the significance of these niche groups is crucial. They represent a goldmine of insights into specific interests, behaviors, and trends that can inform targeted marketing strategies for brands looking to reach niche audiences.?
By authentically engaging with these groups, brands can build trust, loyalty, and advocacy among members.?
The article goes on to offer practical tactics for marketers of all business sizes to tap into micro-communities, from subscriber-only chats to advocacy programs.?
Ultimately, embracing micro-communities as a marketer means adopting a collaborative mindset and prioritizing genuine engagement to drive deeper connections with audiences.
Smarty’s Take?? The insights from this article are invaluable for social agencies like ours that work with clients in niche business verticals, like healthcare and MedTech. Micro-communities provide a unique opportunity for authentic engagement, gathering insightful data, and tailoring strategies to specific patient populations. By understanding and engaging with these communities, we can build trust, gather valuable feedback, and ensure we’re maintaining ethical communication practices. This approach allows our clients to better target their social media marketing campaigns and content creation to resonate with relevant online audiences, ultimately driving meaningful business outcomes for our clients.
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Making it Easier for Brands and Influencers to Connect on Instagram (via Tech Crunch)
Instagram announced that it’s broadening its marketplace tool to facilitate brand-creator collaborations in eight new countries, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Japan, India, and Brazil.
Initially tested in the US in 2022, the platform has since onboarded thousands of creators and brands, with Meta, Instagram's parent company, now extending invitations to Chinese export brands.?
Marketers are now empowered to engage creators for various types of collaborations, including paid partnerships and partnership ads. Partnership ads allow advertisers to amplify organic content as advertisements, maximizing reach and engagement.
Creators can seamlessly join the marketplace through a professional dashboard within the Instagram app. Within this dashboard, creators can curate their content, highlight their areas of expertise, and specify brands and interests relevant to them. Meta’s sophisticated machine learning algorithm will then help to facilitate seamless matchmaking between those influencers and brands for specific marketing campaigns.?
Additionally, brands have the option to manually search for creators and apply filters based on creator and audience categories, ensuring precise targeting and alignment with campaign objectives.
While Instagram's marketplace tool represents a significant step forward in facilitating brand-creator collaborations, TechCrunch notes that competitors like Snap, YouTube, and TikTok already offer similar functionalities.?
Smarty’s Take?? Instagram's expansion of its marketplace tool to facilitate brand-creator collaborations in new countries represents a huge opportunity for our agency as we continue to refine our influencer marketing strategies. This update also opens more global opportunities, streamlining collaboration processes and providing access to diverse talent pools that may have previously taken hours to identify. Leveraging Meta's machine learning algorithm and manual search options will help us to identify more targeted influencer matches, enhancing campaign effectiveness and gaining a competitive advantage for clients looking to partner with relevant creators in 2024.?
Pinterest Launches New Campaign to Highlight the Opportunities of Pin Ads (via Social Media Today)
As you may have read in our “2023 Year in Review” Social Newsletter, Pinterest reemerged as a significant social player last year, experiencing a surge in popularity, particularly driven by its engagement with Gen Z-ers.
As interest in Pinterest continues to grow, the platform has launched a global ad campaign aimed at promoting its evolving ad tools with a comedic twist, employing movie clichés to highlight the platform's value to digital marketers.?
Dubbed "The P is for Performance," the campaign features action-packed mini-movies showcasing how Pinterest ads drive tangible results beyond brand awareness. The attention-grabbing initiative aims to encourage more brand partners to consider leveraging Pin ads to reach new audiences.
As Pinterest boasts 450 million users, primarily with shopping intent, and increasing usage among younger demographics, the campaign underscores the platform's potential for advertisers. This push signals Pinterest's efforts to capitalize on revenue opportunities by encouraging brands to invest more in Pin campaigns, thereby diversifying its income streams across regions.?
Initially targeting the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia through paid social, programmatic, and trade publication channels, the campaign is slated to expand globally later this year.
Smarty’s Take?? In our ‘2023 Year in Review’ newsletter, we noted how Pinterest has signaled to the market a clear intention to innovate and make advertising on the platform more accessible for brands that may have, historically, overlooked their network as a viable social marketing channel. This article reaffirms that commitment, as Pinterest attempts to educate brands on exciting, new ways they can leverage ad tools to help promote their products and services. We’re already exploring organic and paid opportunities on Pinterest for 2024, and if you haven’t already, you should be too!??
As we wrap up our second social newsletter of 2024, here are a few of the key takeaways from February that our agency will be mindful of as we continue to move forward through Q1:
Business.com emphasized the importance of maintaining a presence across multiple social media platforms, citing benefits such as expanded reach, improved SEO, enhanced customer service, and a competitive advantage. At Smarty, we've long recognized this significance, tailoring strategies to capitalize on each platform's unique features and audience demographics, ultimately maximizing our clients' online visibility and engagement.
Forbes highlighted the shift towards executive social media management, emphasizing the power of authentic connections forged through showcasing the personalities of company leaders. We integrate this approach into our agency's social presence, fostering genuine connections with our audiences while supporting our clients in doing the same.
MarTech explored the rise of micro-communities, niche hubs offering meaningful connections for like-minded individuals. Leveraging insights from these communities allows us to tailor strategies for niche business verticals, driving authentic engagement and meaningful outcomes for our clients.
Instagram's expansion of its marketplace tool, as reported by TechCrunch, presents a significant opportunity for influencer marketing. With Meta's machine learning algorithm and manual search options, we can now identify more targeted influencer matches, enhancing campaign effectiveness and gaining a competitive advantage for the brands we work with.?
Lastly, Pinterest's ad campaign, highlighted by Social Media Today, underscores the platform's value for advertisers, particularly in reaching Gen Z-ers with shopping intent. As Pinterest continues to innovate, we're exploring organic and paid opportunities on the platform, benefiting from the network's ongoing commitment to innovation and positive online engagement.?
These insights from February reaffirm our commitment to staying at the forefront of social media marketing trends, leveraging diverse strategies and platforms to drive meaningful results for our clients. We hope you identified something within these stories to better assist with your own social media marketing efforts, but as always, are open to connecting if you’re looking for a little help!?
See you next month :)?