YOUR "Innovative" Social Media Advertising?

The social media marketing field is crowded with businesses and personal brands trying to gain visibility; in fact, Jayson DeMer's "What Works in Online Marketing" survey found that 95 percent of marketers are planning to either increase their social media marketing budgets or keep them the same..

With that many competitors in the field, your campaign needs to be innovative if it's going to survive - but what exactly makes a campaign "innovative," and how can you achieve it?

Related Article: YOUR Offline Business Social Media?

Why Innovation Is Important?

First, let's take a look at why innovation is important.

Differentiation

You need to differentiate your brand from those of your competitors if you're going to stand out. Your prospective followers have dozens of businesses to choose from, and if your posts look the same as everyone else's, you're going to blend into the background as meaningless white noise. Doing something innovative instantly makes you stand out, and sometimes, that extra visibility is all it takes to win a follower's loyalty.

Novelty

When you do something innovative, you're also presenting your followers with something novel - something they've never seen before. This interests most people, and makes you more memorable at the same time.

Leadership

If you try something for the first time, even if you fail, you'll be seen as a leader in the industry for attempting it. People have a deep respect for pioneers and innovators, so any experiments you conduct will likely be met with interest and appreciation.

Key Qualities

At this point, I'd like to outline what I see as the three general qualities that define an innovative social media marketing campaign:

Related Article: 7 Social Media Tips For Leadership?

A Unique Voice

First, you need a unique brand voice, or at least a unique direction. Your voice should be a culmination of your values as a business, your target audience, and a juxtaposition of your business with competing businesses. Ideally, your voice will be appealing to your customers, different from those of your competitors, and representative of your brand’s personality. Sometimes, a tone is all it takes to differentiate content as belonging to one brand over another.

A Surprise

You can achieve novelty by giving your followers a surprise - and therefore triggering cognitive processes linked to memory. Surprises, by definition, deviate from the norm, making them innovative, and you can present them in a number of different ways. You might, for example, surprise your followers by giving your video a twist ending, or by shocking them with a statistic you recently found in your original research. You could also surprise them by posting something your industry does't usually like to talk about.

An Unmatched Framework

Innovation in social media is also usually marked by a defiance of traditional formatting. That may include shorter or longer posts than usual, a more or less formal way of phrasing things, or the inclusion of a content type that isn't usually posted.

Related Article: YOUR Social Media Platform Persona?

Driving Innovation

So how can you inspire more innovation in your own social media campaigns? It's tough, if not impossible, to force creativity to happen, but you can use these strategies to come up with more innovative thoughts and ideas:

Remove Yourself From The Game

I frequently encourage entrepreneurs and marketers to step up their social media game by studying the actions of others, taking inspiration and learning by example. Watching how your competitors post (and how their followers respond), for example, can teach you what types of content do and don't work in your industry. However, if you want to be a true innovator, it may be better to remove yourself from the game entirely. Take a social media break, or spend more time on different platforms, watching different brands than you're used to. Get out of the routine.

Cross-Reference

You can also innovate by taking inspiration from other areas. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr are all very different social media platforms, with very different ways to post and interact, but all of them have thriving fan bases. Drawing formatting or content inspiration from one platform and hybridizing it with formatting and archetypes from another may be a useful way to come up with something novel for your fans.

Related Article: A Social Media Creativity Boost?

Break Some Rules

There are some informal "rules" for how to post and what to post on different platforms, and for the most part, they work well. However, if you want to distinguish yourself, you're going to have to be okay with breaking some of them.

Focus On An Emotion

One of the most important factors for viral content is the ability to strike an emotional chord with readers. You can stand out as a thought leader and innovator simply by evoking the right emotion, in the right way, and at the right time. You can do this, and surprise your readers at the same time, by stirring up controversy, such as by taking a strong stance or taking issue with one of your competitors.

Related Article: Making Your Social Marketing Personal?

Avoid Committee Approaches

Finally, try to avoid the "design by committee" approach to social media management. Multiple voices tend to cancel each other out and produce a vanilla, predictable finished product. Instead, designate one person to be in charge of posting, and allow their voice to stand out through the brand.

Obviously, being weird or different isn't automatically going to make your campaign a success. Doing something truly innovative is a risk, albeit one that typically pays off over the long term. In addition to your most innovative, groundbreaking content, I encourage you to create a strong foundation with more predictably successful content, including blog posts, whitepapers, and interactions with your most loyal followers.

Over time, you'll develop a reputation as a thought leader without alienating the rest of your fan base, and your social media campaign will undoubtedly benefit.

Guest Authored By Jayson DeMers. Jayson is Founder and CEO of AudienceBloom. He "de-mystifys SEO and online marketing for business owners." Jayson graduated from the University of Washington in 2008 with a degree in Business Administration (Marketing), and immediately entered the professional online marketing world. He founded AudienceBloom in April 2010, and has since become a columnist for Forbes, Search Engine Journal, Search Engine Watch, and Huffington Post. Jayson guest lectures for marketing classes at the University of Washington, and currently resides in Seattle, WA. Follow Jayson on X.

Related Article: Social Media Tools YOU Really Need?

Obviously, being weird or different isn't automatically going to make your campaign a success.

Doing something truly innovative is a risk, albeit one that typically pays off over the long term.

In addition to your most innovative, groundbreaking content, I encourage you to create a strong foundation with more predictably successful content, including blog posts, whitepapers, and interactions with your most loyal followers.."

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  Post Crafted by Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at YourWorldBrand.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Loveland, Colorado. I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)

5 Digital Advertising Social Media Trends?

Five social media trends that will impact digital advertising..

Social media has become a critical ingredient to every advertiser’s marketing mix. Gone are the days in which social media was simply used for product discovery and awareness.

Related Article: Branding And Social Media Marketing Weapons?

Today, social media marketing plays an increasingly important role in driving intent and conversion within the consumer journey. But the world of social media is dynamic and in constant change.

Keeping up with social media evolution can be challenging for many marketers. From Facebook hearings to influencer transparency, here are five trends and areas of focus that advertisers should keep an eye on to stay on top of the social media marketing game.

Keeping up with social media evolution can be challenging for many marketers. From Facebook hearings to influencer transparency, here are five trends and areas of focus that advertisers should keep an eye on to stay on top of the social media marketing game.

Related Article: Social Media Marketing Steps To Success?

Organic Reach Is Changing

The organic world of social content has been unfolding for some time and reflects a broader trend of the evolution happening in SEO. As Google, Facebook and Amazon cracked down with more updates and AI-driven technology, marketers have had to become savvier to reach consumers.

What does this mean for social media marketers? It’s time to change the game by investing in more useful, high-quality content that consumers actually want to see and engage with. Despite all the headlines about Facebook’s algorithm changes, it didn’t wipe out brands that effectively used organic content -- it weeded out those that didn’t. If your messaging didn’t produce “meaningful interactions” among users, you weren’t set up to win in the first place.

The next generation of content marketers needs to know how to create content that builds a bridge between business goals and consumer needs and desires. Invest in creating engaging social content, and you will continue to win organic social.

Related Article: YOUR Social Media Content Is The Next BIG Thing?

Social Ad Spend Continues To Rise

This year, Zenith Media predicts that online advertisers will outspend TV advertisers by $40 billion. A whopping 40% of this year's global ad spend will take place online. And more specifically, ad spend on social media is expected to increase by more than 20%, totaling $58 billion.

Even with the increased focus on paid social, the key to conversion for social media marketing lies in the call to action (CTA). Instagram has seen success from its “Shoppable Tags,” especially within the retail industry. As new and improved CTA options pop up everywhere from Snapchat to Twitter to YouTube, smart advertisers should continue to test new ways to garner action and sales from social media campaigns.

Facebook Still Reigns Supreme

Despite all the negative publicity regarding its data privacy and security practices, coupled with disappointing Q2 Wall Street performance, consumers still flock to the tech titan by the billions. Facebook's daily active users continued to rise in the second quarter to 2.23 billion, solidifying its stronghold as the most impactful social media platform for advertisers.

Related Article: Adjusting YOUR Business Social Media Presence?

Chatbots Are Winning

The world has gone artificial intelligence crazy and, for marketers focused on storytelling, chatbots are the newest shiny thing to test on social media marketing programs. Chatbots within platforms like Facebook Messenger can help content marketers effectively communicate with an audience via an enhanced customer experience.

Leveraging its vast amount of user data, Facebook’s Messenger platform continues to add functions like in-chat payment, built-in natural language processing (NLP) and Handover Protocol. Though these tools are still in beta mode, some companies, like the beauty retailer Sephora, have already experienced success. As more companies embrace chatbot functionality, brands can improve customer service, engagement, speed to close, conversion rates and overall experience.

Related Article: YOUR Artificial Intelligence Social Media Marketing?

Ephemeral Content Will Lead The Pack For Younger Consumers

With billions of daily video views happening on Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram, marketers should not ignore the engagement that ephemeral (or short-lived) content can provide, especially with millennials and Generation Z-ers. Ephemeral content allows the user to engage with a brand on a more authentic level.

A well-crafted ephemeral content strategy can deliver stronger brand engagement and loyalty using the right mix of images, influencers and rich media, such as video. Marketers and their creative designers should reenvision their video strategy for ephemeral, given the content is short-lived and designed to create FOMO (fear of missing out), no matter the industry.

Leveraging CTAs is key to return on investment, and for ephemeral content that means the use of Snap Codes or Instagram Nametags. Through buyer personas and other audience segmentation tools, marketers can leverage ephemeral content as the purest form of social media storytelling.

Guest Authored By Joe Marinucci. Joe is Founder and CEO of Digital Media Solutions. Follow Joe on Twitter.

Related Article: Building An Engaging Social Media Presence?

"Marketers should expect more changes in the social media landscape in the near term.

The role of social media marketing will continue to evolve. Combining the power of continuous reach and the ability to optimize and target will elevate the winners on this platform to the next level. -JoeMarinucci

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  Post Crafted By:

  Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at YourWorldBrand.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Salt Lake City, UT. where I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)

Are YOUR Social Media Consumers Burned Out?

Are consumers burning out on social media?

It’s a troubling sign when Facebook publishes research to answer a serious question, one that we’ve all likely been trying to avoid for some time now: “Is social media bad for us?”

Related Article: Social Media Mistakes YOUR Company Makes?

Let’s not forget that social media has made a positive impact on how we interact with people, how we consume interesting and timely content, and how we share important moments in our lives.

However, as with everything, it isn’t without its flaws. Simply consuming content passively, without any sort of interaction, has been shown to put people in a bad mood in just 10 minutes!

On the other hand, positive interactions with friends and family -- from celebrating important milestones to reminiscing on the past -- can help people feel a greater sense of joy and a stronger sense of community, even if those interactions are purely digital.

While the research ultimately concluded that social media could either negatively or positively skew people's overall sense of well-being, depending on how it's used, social media can still do a world of good as long as it remains “social” in nature.

Unfortunately, it’s become more of a catalyst for social isolation. Here’s an extreme, yet funny take on this:

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Even celebrities like Ed Sheeran made resolutions earlier in the year to spend less time with their smartphones -- going as far as cutting them out of their lives entirely. Why? Because people are getting burned out.

It used to be all about having fun or getting the latest news of the day. Now, it’s hard to get through a day on social media without feeling like the world is falling apart.

In many ways, it’s now become an around-the-clock angry stream of consciousness --  fueled by salacious, hyperbolic, and often false click-inducing content, which is, more often than not, accompanied by an equally vile and hate-filled stream of commentary. I am no wallflower by any means –- and I have no problem joining in a spirited debate on social media –- but, let’s face it, the situation has become pretty bad.

Even worse is the rapid influx of branded content taking center stage on our social newsfeeds. It’s really no surprise, then, that people are starting to feel disconnected from their own social feeds.

Related Article: Keeping YOUR Social Media Marketing Current?

It’s almost as if their own social media experience belongs less to them and their social community of friends, family, and colleagues, and more to the brands that want to capture their attention.

However, because social media has become so intertwined in our daily lives, we really can’t just give it up and shut it out altogether, even though it sometimes feels like that’s our best option. Instead, we should ask ourselves: “Is it actually possible to foster meaningful interactions through social anymore?”

Facebook realized that, given the current state of social, people simply can’t. That’s why the company decided to take the newsfeed experience in a different direction this year, putting a spotlight on the personal moments in people’s lives that allow them to connect with each other in more relevant and meaningful ways. What this basically means is that posts from brands and businesses have done a pretty bang up job of crowding those personal moments out.

But Facebook’s shifting course isn’t necessarily a bad thing, even though it will force you to change your overall approach to Facebook. Here’s why. Consumers, especially millennials, are tired of brands “shouting at them” via social media.

Related Article: How Facebook's Changes Impact YOUR Social Media Marketing?

In a Lithium study, we found that 74 percent of “digital natives” – millennials (aged 20-39) and Gen Z (aged 16-19) – object to being targeted by brands in their social media feeds, with 56 percent reporting they’ve either cut back or stopped using social media entirely due to ads in their feed. Even worse, only 54 percent of younger consumers trust social networks. No wonder why brands are finding it harder to cut through the noise.

People don’t want the digital world becoming an endless string of promotional or “clickbait” content. Brands need to help lead this charge.

Fortunately, there are a few things you can do now to help consumers cope with burnout. The added benefit is that it’ll also help you demonstrate that your brand’s goal is to make their lives better in some way -- rather than to intrude on their relationships.

Now, here’s the truth: consumers know brands are constantly trying to sell them something. They get it. We all get it –- because we are all consumers. So, stop for a minute and think about what you, as a consumer, need from brands as well as how you ideally want to be treated by them through social media.

Then, follow these steps to get consumers back on your side:

Related Article: Finding YOUR Target Audience On Social Media?

1. Rebuild Trust

For all the good things that social media has done to create new and more impactful customer-brand relationships, it has also compromised the trust that consumers have with brands, simply by becoming a water hose of promotional content.

But that doesn’t mean all hope is lost. Consumers want to have a positive relationship with your brand. You just have to be much more proactive about enabling those relationships. To do this, you need to shift your entire approach for communicating and marketing to your customers through social.

This involves thinking about social media less as just another channel for broadcasting promotions or publishing branded content and more like a platform for building relationships with customers. A good place to start is by simply being where your consumers already are or where they need you to be. Your brand is only as strong as your most loyal customers. The bonus is on you to help them see how important they are to your brand.

When they need your help, enthusiastically lend a helping hand. When they ask a question, answer immediately. When they give you feedback, say thank you. It really is as easy as that. Show your customers that you truly care, and they’ll reward you with their trust, loyalty, and positive word of mouth.

Related Article: Putting The "Social" Into YOUR Social Media?

2. Master The Basics of Digital Customer Service

This is a no-brainer. If a customer reaches out to your brand on social media for any reason, be ready to respond – and fast! Every time. Part of winning the loyalty and love of consumers is by mastering and, more often than not, over-delivering on the basics of customer service.

It sounds really easy in principle, but you’d be surprised that the vast majority of brands out there just don’t cut it. In fact, a mere 10 percent of brands we recently surveyed have invested in the right tools, platforms, and resources to grow and scale their digital footprint effectively – including their social customer service efforts.

If you care about your current customers just as much as you care about earning the loyalty of new customers, then you’ve got to approach social with a customer-first mindset. This includes investing in the right tools that make it easy to respond quickly. Doing so is pretty much the only way you can earn the trust and loyalty of customers today. Brands are competing more than ever before on customer experience. If you don’t deliver, your customers will look the other way.

Related Article: Tweaks To Elevate YOUR Brand?

3. Don't Broadcast. Engage!

One great way to deliver truly amazing digital customer experiences is to fundamentally change how you communicate with consumers via social. A lot of research we’ve seen lately points to one thing: consumers aren’t interested in a one-way dialogue with brands.

If you want their attention, you have to engage them in real conversations. Funny thing is, they really want you to do that, too. As fickle as consumers may seem today – especially digital-first consumers who thrive on instant gratification – they are more than happy to engage with brands as long as brands give them a good reason to.

If your prerogative is to broadcast one promotion after another, it’s almost guaranteed they’ll quickly tune you out. However, if you authentically engage with them and do whatever you can to personalize the interactions you have with them, there’s a good chance they’ll respond – and even become your biggest advocates over time (it won’t happen instantly).

Related Article: Surefire Explosive Social Media Engagement?

4. Grow Your Base of Advocates

Perfect segue – and another reason why it’s so important to take the time to build and nurture relationships with your best customers through social media. As Facebook and other social media networks crack down on the amount of brand-oriented content that gets surfaced organically in a person’s newsfeed, you’re going to have to be much more proactive about enlisting your biggest advocates to do some of the heavy lifting for you.

What does that entail? You need to get them talking about your brand or sharing interesting content that you’ve posted on your social channels to help outsmart the changes to news feed algorithms that are most definitely no longer in your favor. The more people share your content and talk positively about your brand, the more likely your content will be algorithmically tagged as “quality content” and eventually surface higher up in more people’s news feeds.

The reality is, every time Facebook changes its algorithm, brands have to think one step ahead. In this case, however, it’s a bigger call-to-action than that; it’s about putting your customers first – their wants, needs, and expectations – and empowering them to be a megaphone for your brand in the most genuine and authentic ways possible. That’s how you will be able to make the most of the latest algorithm changes.

Related Article: Connecting With Customers On Social Media?

What To Do Now?

So, what’s the big takeaway here? Consumers (which includes all of you, too!) are getting tired of social media and are ready and willing to tune it out completely.

As a brand, you have a choice: continue to lead them down the path of burnout or empower them to use social media to create a stronger relationship with you.

Remember, at the end of the day, we’re all consumers, too. If you feel even the slightest inclination to slow down your social media consumption, there’s a good chance your target consumers are feeling the same urge. Step into their shoes and ask yourself, “How would I want my brand to speak to me via social media if I were my audience members?”

Guest Authored By Dayle Hall. Dayle is SVP of Marketing for Lithium Technologies. In his role, Dayle is the head of marketing, responsible for all strategic marketing activities for the company including branding, positioning, communications, customer acquisition programs and go-to-market strategy. Dayle is a marketing executive with 19+ years’ experience across all marketing disciplines. Prior to joining Lithium, Dayle led Corporate Marketing and Corporate Communications at Aruba Networks. He has also held multiple marketing roles at Cisco and Oracle. Follow Dayle on Twitter.

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Remember, at the end of the day, we’re all consumers, too.

If you feel even the slightest inclination to slow down your social media consumption, there’s a good chance your target consumers are feeling the same urge.

Step into their shoes and ask yourself, “How would I want my brand to speak to me via social media if I were my audience members?” -DayleHall

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  Authored by:

  Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at YourWorldBr@nd.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Loveland, Colorado. I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)