Twenty-two percent of consumers use social media to discover new products. Meanwhile, sixty-eight percent of consumers utilize social media to stay updated on brands’ products and services, emphasizing the growth of social shopping.
Social media presents a significant power in marketing in 2024, as demonstrated in these data. These trends highlight the importance of staying abreast of social media marketing trends.
Social Media Marketing Trends in 2024
Businesses must exert more effort in their social media marketing, and knowing the latest social media marketing trends can help in leveraging the power of social media.
AI and Automation
Artificial intelligence (AI) has reshaped the digital landscape and has seamlessly integrated into people’s everyday lives, through various facets like social media.
HubSpot’s latest survey on The State of AI in Marketing in 2023 revealed that artificial intelligence is predominantly utilized by marketers for the following purposes:
- 33% employ it to generate ideas and inspiration.
- 28% utilize it for copywriting tasks.
- 26% rely on it for crafting marketing images.
- 25% use it to condense texts into key points.
- 23% leverage it for translating marketing content into various languages.
These figures only prove the continued significance of AI. Leveraging this technology, along with automation tools, can help you stay abreast of social marketing trends, enabling you to rise ahead of your competitors.
Artificial intelligence tools can also help you gain a comprehensive and insightful understanding of your audience. Doing this allows you to foster genuine engagement with your customers and deepen your connections with them. These, in turn, may result in higher conversion rates.
Pay-Per-Click Automation
Ranking organically on social media platforms, particularly Facebook, has become extremely challenging. As of July 2023, the typical engagement rate for an organic Facebook post had dwindled from 2.58% to just a mere 1.52%. This decrease led many marketers to question the platform’s effectiveness in reaching and engaging audiences.
But while there is a decline in organic reach, Facebook is still the largest social media platform, with over 3 billion active users. Therefore, businesses cannot entirely dismiss this platform from their marketing campaigns.
To combat the ongoing decrease in organic reach, marketers can instead invest in paid advertising, especially now that Facebook has been pushing for monetization. While it is not among the latest trends in social media advertising, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising endures to stand as one of the most excellent strategies to regain lost reach from the decline of organic reach.
PPC is an online marketing technique where advertisers pay a fee whenever users click their ads. It is designed to assist marketers in providing guaranteed visibility through paid ads. PPC can help businesses ensure exposure to target audiences despite algorithm changes and decreasing organic search.
Search Optimization
Search optimization involves improving the visibility of a website on search engine results pages (SERPs). This process is about optimizing various aspects of the website, such as content, keywords, and metadata, to increase the flow of organic traffic from search engines like Google.
Many SEO specialists have observed a 45% surge in voice search inquiries. This transformation requires a shift in keyword tactics that prioritizes natural language and question-driven queries.
You may seek help from an affordable SEO specialist in the Philippines to employ voice search optimization in your marketing efforts. This ensures that your content is tailored to match the conversational tone and long-tail keywords commonly used in voice searches. Search optimization increases the likelihood of your brand appearing in voice search results, boosting organic traffic and visibility.
Purpose-Driven Marketing
Nowadays, people are increasingly becoming more conscious shoppers who verify whether a brand aligns with their values and perspectives. This shift has spurred the adoption of purpose-driven marketing, wherein brands define and communicate a mission beyond profit.
Purpose-driven marketing typically focuses on social, environmental, or community goals. By anchoring your brand to a specific purpose, you can establish deeper connections with consumers and nurture long-term loyalty.
Authentic Content
In a survey conducted by Stackla, 88% of consumers prioritize authenticity when selecting which brands to support. When you are genuine, your audience perceives and senses it. Authenticity allows your market to trust you, interact with your content, and help you develop a loyal customer base. This, combined with transparency, can make you stand out amidst flawless feeds.
User-generated content (UGC) is among the latest B2B social media marketing trends you can employ to display authenticity. When users themselves create content about your brand or product, it adds credibility and social proof, as these reviews come directly from people who have interacted with your brand.
UGC tends to feel more genuine and relatable to other users, fostering trust and connection. Additionally, user-generated content can help you demonstrate that your brand values and appreciates its community.
Social Listening
With social media becoming an integral component of digital marketing, understanding your audience becomes even more imperative, and social listening is one way to do this.
Social listening is one of the most current social media marketing trends that deals with monitoring a business’s social media for any interaction. This includes mentions of your brand, discussions related to your industry, competitors, or specific topics, and customer feedback.
Social listening is an effective strategy that can help you grasp your customers’ needs and concerns. It also enables you to understand the context of conversations, aiding you in providing your audience with content that may be relevant to their needs and wants.
You can utilize the insights you can gather from social listening to improve customer service, strengthen brand loyalty, and enhance their overall business performance.
Video Content
As of 2024, data about smartphone users worldwide reached 6.93 billion, representing 85.68% of the world’s population.
Following these numbers, it is likely that most smartphone owners rely on their devices to discover brands and make purchases. Businesses can leverage these numbers and incorporate video content into their social media platforms. This engaging format can effectively capture the attention of mobile users and drive sales conversions.
Both short-form and long-form videos have been revolutionizing today’s digital realm. Short videos, such as TikTok or Instagram Reels, offer quick bursts of content that are ideal for capturing attention in a fast-paced online environment. On the other hand, long-form videos, like those found on YouTube or Instagram TV (IGTV), allow for more in-depth storytelling and engagement with the audience.
Incorporating a mix of short and long-form video content with the help of social media outsourcing companies can help your business cater to various consumer preferences. This can also help you maximize your brand’s impact across different platforms.
Where is the Audience Now?
Apart from staying abreast of the latest social media marketing trends, it is also imperative to check where your audience spends their time online.
Knowing where your audience is will not only help you verify what platforms your customers are most active on but also enable you to tailor your marketing efforts more effectively. Identifying these channels allows you to optimize your strategies and maximize your reach and impact.
Some of the most common social media platforms today are:
- X (formerly Twitter)
- YouTube
- TikTok
Conclusion
Social media’s presence and influence on digital marketing is something you can no longer ignore. As platforms continue to evolve and adapt, businesses must embrace this reality and develop effective social media tactics to remain competitive and engage with their target audiences effectively.
Digital Marketing Philippines (DMP) is an SEO company that also provides social media marketing services, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises. Availing of our offerings allows you to navigate the complexities of today’s digital world.
With years of experience under our belt, we can assure you that we have what it takes to provide you with effective marketing solutions based on your needs and budget.
Contact DMP today to consult with our social media marketing specialists.
READ MORE:
The Power of Reels in Social Media Marketing (Infographic)
How Outsourcing Social Media Provides Competitive Advantage
Maximize Visibility with Combined SEO and Social Media Strategy
Sources:
https://www.salesforce.com/in/resources/guides/role-of-ai-in-marketing/
https://www.impactmybiz.com/blog/what-is-social-shopping/
https://www.facebook.com/business/news/Organic-Reach-on-Facebook
https://blog.hootsuite.com/organic-reach-declining/
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/understanding-recent-decline-facebook-reach-effective-sawrav-das/
https://searchengineland.com/guide/what-is-seo
https://www.boia.org/blog/voice-search-optimization-how-accessibility-enhances-vso
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/power-authenticity-social-media-more-than-just-jennifer-mcdougall/
https://www.oktopost.com/blog/b2b-social-media-trends/
https://growthmarketinggenie.com/blog/social-listening-and-why-its-important/
Jomer B. Gregorio is a well-rounded expert when it comes digital marketing. Jomer is also known as a semantic SEO evangelist and practitioner. Check out our Digital Marketing Services today and let us help you in achieving positive and profitable results for your business.