YOUR Social Media Listening Power?

When you think about social media do you think about what your next post is going to do for your brand?  

How many new followers, likes, and shares you can garner?

Related Article: Shut Up And Listen Social Media?

It seems social media these days is all about saying something. Sometimes it doesn’t matter if what you are saying is important or not, as long as it gets you noticed.

But if that is all you are doing, you are missing the point.

Recently Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg changed the mission of the platform from making the world more open and connected, to giving people the power to build community and bring the world closer together.  To do that you not only have to be present, but you have to communicate. Half of all communication is listening; some among us might say listening is even more important than talking.

What if we looked at a credit union’s social media presence from that perspective? How many of you fear a negative comment, dread a sub-par review, have anxiety that someone will go rogue in the wee hours of the night? Don’t pretend these things can’t or won’t happen… listen for them and be prepared to address them.

Related Article: YOUR Social Media Brand Screenplay?

Listen Everywhere

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? If someone complains about your credit union on Twitter but your credit union decided not to establish a Twitter profile, does that Tweet still exist? Just because you didn’t see the Tweet doesn’t mean the rest of the Twitterverse didn’t see it. The riskiest thing you can do is to choose to ignore a particular platform or social media all together. Be present and at least listen.

Have a Plan

You can’t please all the people all the time. And when that time comes, your gut instinct may be to delete that post. Don’t necessarily go with your gut. Sometimes deleting something negative can create even more negative posts. Unless the post contains information or content that would cause more harm, such as exposing nonpublic personal information or language that might open you up for regulatory review, take your time, work with your team–and within your strategic plan–to address the concern.

In a study done by Bazaarvoice, 7 in 10 respondents indicated that when and how a business responds to posts impacts their perception of the level of care, support and the overall trustworthiness of the brand. In fact, studies show that consumers are more skeptical of businesses that have only positive reviews.

Related Article: YOUR Social Media Brand Screenplay?

Avoid Being Self-Centered

Your credit union’s Vendor Management Program covers many issues, but are you able to continually listen across social media, news sites, blogs, complaint sites, etc. for mentions of your vendors or partners? Due to the nature of vendor relationships in the financial industry, what happens with vendors and partners can heavily impact your business. Don’t be the last to find out.

Technology can help you manage all your social listening. You don’t have to rely solely on Google alerts archived in your inbox. Today’s tools can scan social networks and the web for a wide variety of content and allow you to customize how you receive, manage and store your search results.

We live in a world of information overload, but don’t let that information overwhelm you. Listen for everything – good and bad – and deal with each result strategically. If you do that, you will start to notice that you have more followers, likes and shares after all. Build that community instead of creating a one-sided platform where you are talking, but not listening.

Guest Authored By Jeffrey Harper. Jeffrey is the President of BSG Financial Group. He brings more than 25 years of industry experience. ​He heads up the Sales and Marketing divisions of the company. Jeff plays a pivotal role in growing the company through innovation, marketing, compliance and customer support. Follow Jeff on Twitter.

Related Article: YOUR Social Media Platform Persona?

We live in a world of information overload, but don’t let that information overwhelm you.

Listen for everything – good and bad – and deal with each result strategically..

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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 ;)

Social Media Not Working For YOUR Business?

Why social media isn't working for your business, and 6 things you can do about it..

Get your followers to also follow you in other places where you can reach them.

Related Article: Overcoming YOUR Social Media Challenges?

“Facebook profit hits an all-time high, unaffected by recent scandals—so far.”

“X posts record $100 million profit but loses 1 million users.”

The above are recent headlines from top publications about the profitability of two of the biggest social media networks’ advertising business models.

It gets interesting.

The following screenshot (courtesy of Statista) shows Instagram’s revenue from 2015 projected through 2021.

Related Article: Should YOUR Business Advertise On Instagram?

With social media sites posting record profits every quarter, and with projections of an increase in their revenue year over year—based on the advertising business model they rely on—certainly, the businesses that advertise with them must be making bank? Not necessarily.

According to recent research from MDG Advertising, only 20 percent of businesses are able to measure the impact of social media on their bottom lines. A whopping 44 percent do not know if social media is working for them. In fact, a particular study provides an even clearer picture: 62 percent of small businesses report that Facebook ads aren’t working for them.

The question then, is: Should you do away with social media? That would be foolish. Social media sites aren’t going away anytime soon. In fact, they will continue to be more of a force to reckon with. And for every business reporting social media to be ineffective, there is another experiencing massive success. You just have to know what you’re doing.

If you can work on the following six things, you can rest assured of an increase in the effectiveness of your social media efforts:

Related Article: Marketing Strategies To Transcend YOUR Industry?

Realize That 'Social Media' Isn't A Business Model

Many business owners fail at getting results from their social media efforts because they expect “social media” to be their business model. For these businesses, regardless of the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of other measures they put in place, they assume that all will work well once they can commit a lot of time and money into promoting their business on social media.

It doesn’t work that way.

Even for the social media networks, social media isn’t their business model—most top social media networks have an ads business model and, as a result, optimize every aspect of the experience on their platform to ensure that people keep advertising and paying them money.

If you want to get results from social media, you should realize that social media—no matter how much you are spending on advertising—is only a means to an end: It will get you clicks and exposure to users, but everything else from there on depends on you.

Related Article: Successful Social Media For YOUR Small Business?

Start Tracking Your ROI

There’s only one way to know if your social media efforts are working, and that is by tracking your return on investment.

Social media can be very deceptive: If you put out a post or an ad and get thousands of likes, it is easy to assume that your efforts are successful. Not necessarily.

You only know if your social media efforts work if you track. What is the cost of a click? How many clicks do you need to turn a profit? Did you set up conversion tracking? Most social media networks provide tools and means for you to track how your efforts are performing on social media, so start using them.

Related Article: What Other Peoples Advertising Can Teach YOU?

Leverage The Familiarity Principle

The familiarity principle states that we tend to be more receptive to, and liking of, something with more exposure to it. Depending on your industry and several factors, it can be difficult to effectively measure your ROI—or generate profit—if you only focus on people’s first exposure to your brand. This is where the familiarity principle comes in, which you can take advantage of through retargeting.

Retargeting is so powerful that research shows that it can increase your click-through rate by 76 percent, your brand awareness by 1,046 percent and your sales by 50 percent.

Don’t be too obsessed with getting new users: Retarget old users and visitors—they are more likely to convert.

Related Article: Applying YOUR 2018 Marketing Data Science?

Ensure An Optimal Website Experience

When using social media, it is important to be prepared: Your content can go viral, your ad can suddenly become a hit and so many things can happen. It is even more important to realize that people are now more impatient than ever—any delay can be dangerous, so much so that a single second delay can cost a business 7 percent in conversions.

You don’t want to be like Best Buy on one of the busiest days of the year, when it had to find out on social media that its website was down.

If you’re using social media for your business, then you’re most likely directing the social media visits to your website. Here are some tips to optimize your website experience:

Ensure that you have a good, reliable server: If you host yourself, carefully monitor things, particularly during periods of peak traffic. If you pay for a host, make sure that you’re not using a host with regular performance issues. Otherwise, look for a better host (my review of web hosting companies breaks down various web hosts by performance, so you don’t need to look far).

Related Article: Top CEO Social Media Strategy?

Don’t just rely on external information about the performance of your website and server:

There are website uptime monitoring tools that help you track the performance of your website around the clock, notifying you of any downtime, lag in performance and other errors, so that you don’t have to find out on social media, and so it doesn’t affect your sales.

Realize that the faster your website, the better your conversions: According to research monitoring real-time data from 33 major retailers, improving page load time from eight to two seconds boosted conversions by 74 percent. Disable unnecessary add-ons, optimize your images, enable server caching and take other steps to ensure your website experience is faster.

Realize that there are more social media users on mobile than on desktop: Ensure your mobile website is well set up and that mobile users are automatically redirected there.

Related Article: YOUR Explosive Social Media Growth Strategy?

Reduce Your Social Media Ad Cost By Retaining And Nurturing Users

In an attempt to ensure more profitability, social media networks will continue to make it difficult for businesses to reach their followers on their platform for free. Research shows that organic reach on social media is declining, and that it has been doing so for years. It won’t change anytime soon.

As much as you can, get your social media users to also follow you in other places where you can reach them without having to break the bank. This could be through email newsletters or push notifications.

Use incentives if you have to. This makes it easy to reach them repeatedly, with multiple offers, for a fraction of what it would cost to reach them on social media.

Related Article: 7 Gary Vaynerchuk Social Media Tips?

Listen And Engage

60 minutes: That’s how long 72 percent of Twitter users are willing to wait for a response, and 84 percent of people expect companies to respond to their social media posts within 24 hours.

While social media can serve as a great way to get new users and improve profitability, it can also serve as a coffin for your brand if you fail to listen and engage to what people are saying. Word can quickly spread, and you have a disaster before you know it.

Guest Authored By John Stevens. John is founder and CEO of web hosting tracker Hosting Facts.

Related Article: YOUR Social Media Listening Power?

When users complain on social media, you want to listen and respond in a way that people see that you’re paying attention.

Not only will this help your brand image, but it will also help contribute to new users discovering your brand...

• 

  Post Crafted By:

  Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at GetMoreHere.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Loveland, CO. 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 ;)

YOUR Upcoming 2025 Marketing Trends?

Biggest Marketing Trends for 2025

We’ve almost reached the end of 2024, and marketers around the world are beginning to lay out their plans for the coming year. 

But with so much change and uncertainty in the air, it can be tricky to know exactly how best to build strategies for the future, so to help you get a handle on the challenges that lie ahead, we asked some leading marketing experts for their thoughts on the biggest trends of 2025. 

Related Article: 4 Steps To YOUR Social Media Brand?

Table of Contents

Gen Alpha Digital Culture

Leverage Cultural Intelligence

Faster AI Adoption

Quality is

Brand Health Focus

AI Adding Value

The Power of Collaboration

Rising Narrative Attacks

Personalization & Trust

AI Regulation Benefits

Brands Adopt Unhinged Digital Culture

The Webby Awards Team

This year, we saw niche, absurd obsessions take center stage online. Chronically online humor is in the way Gen Z and Gen Alpha speak, in their content, and in their expectations of brands. It’s a trend that is bleeding beyond the walls of TikTok. Given the speed viral trends take off—and the ease of using Generative AI to create absurd content—”brainrot” or “unhinged” humor are present in our digital spaces, as well as branded work.

Consumers are open to absurdity, so jump in when it makes sense. Tap into shared language, but consider your timing with absurd trends. Be authentic; make sure chronically online trends work with your brand voice. To give your brand more credibility, work with content creators who are already known for their fun and “chaotic” content. 

If it works for your brand, lean into “unhinged” executions, and let your content take on a life of its own. Brands like Teletubbies HQ and Nutter Butter have made waves with their attention-grabbing executions. We expect to see more marketing that creates new paths for audiences to share joy. 

And ultimately, in 2025 marketers may be faced with two choices: lean into creating absurdity in their creative work, or build experiences for audiences to find a reprieve.

Related Article: Kevin Hart Social Media Branding?

Cultural Intelligence as a Strategic Anchor

Melanie Klausner, Executive Vice President; New York Lead, In a world where cultural shifts are accelerated by technology, social media, and global interconnectedness, brands need to move from just observing trends to actively using data and intelligence to anticipate cultural shifts and be ready to meet them. True cultural intelligence goes beyond trend-watching; it’s about deeply understanding the layered nuances of culture and actively engaging with it.

It’s not only about responding to change but also about helping shape it. By aligning with the values, behaviors, and expectations of their audiences in real time, brands can create lasting connections that go beyond relevance—they build trust and become integral to the conversations that matter most.

The brands that bring deeper cultural context into co-creation, content and connecting more meaningfully with their audiences will stand out. Going forward, cultural relevance will be less of an add-on and more of a strategic anchor.

Related Article: 7 Gary Vaynerchuk Social Media Tips?

Accelerated AI Adoption & Impact

Jim Reynolds, Executive Vice President - GTM, AI, Edelman PR

2024 was a whirlwind of a year for marketers and communicators. They faced unexpected global crises, 64 global elections, Twitter fully transitioned into X, and TikTok trends fueled every cultural change one could imagine. And oh yeah... Google decided not to kill the cookie after all. 

As we look retrospectively and ask what we predict will impact marketers and communicators in 2025, I resoundingly come back to the concept of AI. The speed of AI adoption will go even faster than expected and change everything. Conventional adoption would have you think that it will crawl at a slow pace, but as we’ve seen through the emergence of AI being embedded in every device, from the iPhone to your toaster, it will change how we market (and rapidly).  

Now that we’ve seen generational model updates to drive faster and more complete access to insights and research out of tools like Meltwater and the improvement of generative image and video tools like Runway and Adobe’s Firefly, digital avatar platforms like Synthesia AI are inching toward near-human-like interactions and just like that, the marketer’s toolkit has evolved. Marketers and communicators who do not adapt to the age of AI in their daily work will be left behind. 

That gap will become even more apparent when a moment like Oreos Dunk In The Dark allows the AI-enabled marketing team to seize that moment and make a cultural impact like no other. We will no longer watch in awe as communicators work quickly. It will become table stakes.

Related Article: Crucial Social Media Strategy For YOUR Brand?

Quality Matters More Than Ever

Carolyn Sklar, VP of Brand Communications and Corporate Brand at Danone North America

This might sound traditional, but one word comes to mind as I think about 2025: quality (or maybe it’s because I finally finished Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance… IYKYK). Consumers are going to continue to be inundated by more content and more offerings from more brands, but the truth is their reality leaves them with less attention, less time and less resources to give.

Comprehensive quality across marketing touchpoints will be an important distinction. When you invest in partnerships, content, and experiences – are those leading to quality relationships and a quality impression of your brand? Are you looking with clear eyes at the changing media landscape to invest in places where a quality impression is possible, and will make an impact in the circular (less linear) version of consumers’ decision-making process?

Certainly, AI and other significant marketing trends of 2025 will play a huge role in how we market, but it will be important to set filters for quality (measurable!) interactions between your brand consumer, across paid, owned and earned. Looking inward, quality of connection will matter internally both in-house and with agency partners. We all have fragmented attention, too, and need to lead the work and teams in a way that creates an environment for quality ideas to be created.

Related Article: Social Media For YOUR Local Business?

Brand Health Takes Center Stage

Chris Hackney, Chief Product Officer, Meltwater

CMOs are moving away from reactive to proactive brand health strategies. Because of this, marketers are rethinking their reliance on conventional methods, like sporadic market research surveys. While helpful, this data is not enough — and quickly becomes outdated.

The availability of advanced data analytics and AI tools, such as those offered by Meltwater, provide marketing departments with real-time brand reputation monitoring and measurement to gain a comprehensive view of their brand perception

Teams can act on these insights more immediately through AI-driven summaries that help marketing teams understand the public discussions about their brand, track competitor brand sentiment, and adjust strategies on the fly based on real-time feedback

Crisis monitoring, integrated within a brand’s tech ecosystem, is now a cornerstone of effective brand health management. Automated spike detection and analysis provides an early warning system that helps comms professionals get ahead of any potential crisis quickly. As these technologies become more accessible, brands that invest in real-time, AI-powered monitoring systems are well-positioned to protect their reputation and capitalize on new opportunities with precision and agility. 

Related Article: Instagram Tips For YOUR Small Business?

Embracing AI Will Secure Ancillary Benefits 

Erica Fields, Executive Vice President, Head of NA DXT and I& A, WE Communications

Recent data from WE Communications and USC Annenberg Center for Public Relations reveals that communicators who use AI more frequently report being more excited to come to work, and are 93% more likely to say they feel valued at work. This makes a clear case for a culture mandate; empower your teams to embrace AI and, in turn, enhance their relationship to their jobs. 

As more comms organizations look to create AI-forward work cultures, the data shows the two strongest predictors of success are encouragement from an employer and giving individuals latitude to find ways of working with AI that benefit them. This means managers have an opportunity to be even more declarative about where and how AI can be prioritized and give room to help team members interpret that guidance in their unique ways and watch them flourish.

Related Article: YOUR Video Content Is King?

Storytelling and Breakdown of Echo Chambers 

Nicolette Addesa, Public Relations Lead, EY Canada

Individuals are becoming increasingly conscious of the echo chambers created by our mediated consumption of information. By 2025, I anticipate this growing awareness will motivate people to explore diverse media outlets and broaden their sources of information

To be a good media storyteller, one must actively consume media and stay informed about local, national, and global events. Understanding current trends and issues is crucial. Utilizing technology efficiently helps in keeping up with the fast-paced media landscape. By being well-informed, storytellers can craft narratives that stand out and contribute meaningfully, rather than adding to the noise.

This awareness ensures that stories are relevant, impactful, and capable of shaping the world positively. Engaging with diverse media sources and perspectives enriches storytelling, fostering a deeper connection with audiences and promoting a more informed and empathetic society.

Related Article: Should YOUR Business Advertise On Instagram?

Marketing Takes the Lead in Collaboration

Alexandra Sabb Bjertnaes, Chief Strategy Officer, Meltwater

As marketers, we’re all perfectly aware that organizational silos can seriously inhibit the success of a business, putting up walls between teams that need to work together for shared success. And we know that we can be instrumental in solving the problem since 73% of marketers say their organizations are seen as strategic partners to other business functions. 

I believe the drive to increase collaboration in marketing will be a significant trend in the near future since our own data shows that online conversations about the issue have increased by 41% percent year on year

To achieve this, marketing leaders should align their goals with the wider business objectives, and this means ensuring that both marketing goals and business objectives are properly documented and communicated in the organization. 

This is a strategic problem, but it’s not impossible to solve. 

Related Article: Powerful Gen Z Marketing Tips?

Optimizing Content for AI Chatbots

Brittany Paxman, Managing Partner, Point 600

In 2025, optimizing for AI will increase in importance. Rather than just using AI to create content and workflows that cater to humans, AI will be used to create content that appeals to other AI bots. AI will increasingly be an intermediary for humans. Humans will still interact and be the ultimate decision-makers, but AI will filter, recommend, and segment content and experiences for humans

Search used to be the front door for marketing, and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) was the strategy for engagement. Now, rather than SEO, we’re entering the era of AIO — AI Optimization. If you want to reach human audiences, you must first optimize for the AI bots that those humans are using. This will include the myriad stakeholders that marketers and communicators interact with, including consumers, journalists, B2B decision makers, analysts. The takeaway: start optimizing your content and plans for consumption by AI bots and not just humans. 

AI-Driven “Narrative Attacks” on the Rise

Matt Alario, VP Partnerships, Blackbird.AI

Narrative attacks intertwined with cyber threats will be critical challenges for marketing and communications teams. Major brands have faced backlash when their initiatives clashed with cultural debates. Viral content dominates social media, and brands can quickly be targeted by coordinated disinformation campaigns aiming to damage their reputation and bottom line. The rise of AI in marketing also raises risks of narrative attacks created by deepfakes, disinformation, and manipulated content being weaponized against companies.

Related Article: The Art of YOUR Storytelling in Business?

Executives must prioritize narrative intelligence and social listening applications to navigate this emerging threat vector. This means real-time monitoring for coordinated attacks, partnering with cybersecurity experts, and having a crisis communications plan informed by real-time narratives.

Brands that understand the emerging threat of narrative attacks and allocate resources accordingly will be resilient. Marketing and communication leaders can protect their brand's integrity and consumer trust by focusing on prevention and being ready to respond decisively

Building Trust Through AI-Driven Personalization

Robert Harles, Founder & CEO, dig.human 

In 2025, AI will be essential in delivering hyper-personalized marketing experiences, but its true value lies in using it to build customer trust. By analyzing data like browsing behavior, purchase history, and social media activity, AI can create real-time, individualized content tailored to each customer’s needs and preferences. As voice and visual search technologies become more integrated, brands will be able to offer even more tailored experiences, enhancing convenience and engagement

However, for AI to foster trust, marketers must avoid common pitfalls. One key error is using AI to over-personalize in ways that feel intrusive or overly predictive, which can alienate customers. If AI recommendations feel too “creepy” or disconnected from real preferences, it may reduce customer trust. Additionally, transparency is critical—brands must clearly communicate how AI algorithms are used and how personal data is collected, stored, and protected. Without this transparency, consumers may feel their privacy is at risk.

Related Article: What Other Peoples Advertising Can Teach YOU

Marketers who prioritize customer trust by ensuring their AI-driven personalization efforts are respectful, relevant, and secure will build stronger relationships. By focusing on delivering value through personalized experiences that respect privacy, brands can use AI not just to engage customers, but to earn and maintain their loyalty in an increasingly data-conscious world, and mitigate the risk of inevitable AI backlash

New AI Regulations Will Benefit Marketers

Rob Key, Founder & CEO, Converseon

Greater emerging regulations for the design and deployment of AI will begin to impact media and social listening. A greater focus on accuracy, elimination of bias, model validation, tracking, auditing, and human-in-the-loop governance will rise to meet both internal AI policies and governance,  as well as new regulations such as the AI EU Act, which apply not just to the builders of AI, but also “deployers”.

These new standards however will come with greater benefits for the industry: greater trust in the data, more adoption, lower cost of operations (especially data corrections), and the ability more effectively utilize this data for more advanced use cases, such as predictive intelligence - including correlating this data to outcomes such as sales and shareholder value.

Guest Authored By Lance Concannon. Lance has 20+ years experience as a journalist, and tech marketer, with a focus on digital and social media.

Related Article: The Best Social Platform For YOUR Business?

Marketing Trends 2025 Conclusion

2025 looks set to be an eventful year, with lots of change in the marketing industry and the wider world. 

We hope some of these thoughts from our selection of experts will help you to navigate the way ahead, but if you want some more insight into the big changes facing marketing next year, download Meltwaters 2025 Marketing Trends Guide.

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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 Scottsdale, AZ 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 ;)