Even if you aren’t the most tech-savvy person in the world, you certainly understand the huge impact that social media has had on our world over the last decade or so. Social media is one of the most popular platforms in the world today, and sites like Facebook and Twitter are among the biggest on the internet. Most likely, you already have at least one social media account, if not several. Understanding how to take advantage of social media trends and use them to benefit your business is a skill that takes some time to learn, but is worth your time and effort.
Basically, social media trends are the things that are most popular at the moment. They are the pieces of news that are being discussed, or the videos that are getting passed around from friend to friends. Sometimes, social media trends are obvious and predictable – such as when there is a big world event upcoming. Other times, they can come out of nowhere, as is the case with breaking news or even something humorous that just happens to become popular. Not all social media trends will represent a marketing opportunity for your business, but you should be ready to take advantage of the ones that do.
Getting Established on Social Media
Of course, before you are able to capitalize on the visibility that social media trends can provide, you need to be an established presence on social media to begin with. You need to have active accounts on the most popular social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and more. These accounts give you an opportunity to connect directly with your customers and can help you to educate your audience more about what you offer and why you deserve their business. It isn’t enough to just set up your social media accounts and let them sit there – they need to be an active and valued part of your overall marketing strategy.
Keep it Focused on Business
One of the most-common mistakes that business owners make when using social media is turning their business accounts into personal feeds. It doesn’t matter if you like a cat video that is going around the internet – unless it is somehow related to your business, it won’t help you from a marketing perspective. Make sure that your activity on social media is intentionally designed to attract potential customers. It isn’t about the sheer number of ‘likes’ or ‘follows’ that you achieve. Rather, the goal is to attract people who will actually convert into sales and dollars.
This rule of thumb is especially important as it relates to social media trends. There are any number of given social media trends going on at any point in time, but most of them are not going to be relevant to your business. While you want to take advantage of the popularity of these trends, you need to pick and choose the right time and place to get involved. Unless you can somehow relate the trend back to your business in a logical and meaningful way, you might be best to stay out of it and wait for a better opportunity. Trying to capitalize on every single trend you come across is a good way to scare off your following and have people quickly tune you out.
Tread Lightly on Sensitive Subjects
As you are thinking of ways to use social media trends to your advantage, make sure you use some discretion when it comes to serious topics. It is in bad taste to try and further your business on the back of a real-world tragedy or other negative event. Often social media trends are tied closely to the news, and that news is frequently related to a loss of life in some way or another. The last thing you want to do is be seen as a business that wishes to capitalize on other people’s misfortune, so steer clear of these kinds of trends.
Consider Using Contests to Engage Audience
By taking part in the discussion of some of the most-popular social media trends of the day, you might be able to gain some attention or even add some followers to your count. However, that doesn’t mean that you are really going to be engaged with the audience and get closer to making any sales. To do that, you will want to provide the audience a reason to get involved with you and even provide you with some of their information. Contests that are held over social media channels, and related to social media trends, are a great way to do just that.
If you are considering using a social media contest to increase interest in your business, use the following tips to guide you through the process.
- Make sure it is legal. Before you start any contest, do your homework and make sure that what you are going to do complies with all relevant laws. Also, make sure your plan complies with the Terms of Service on the website you are going to host it on. You don’t want any of your social media accounts suspended because you break the rules – even if it was an accident.
- Offer something of real value. No one is going to want to enter a contest if the prize isn’t worth wasting time for. Make sure you are offering something that is both exciting for someone to win, and also relates closely to your business. Ideally, you would be able to give away one of your own products so hopefully those who don’t win the contest will consider then making a purchase.
- Keep it simple. A complicated sign up process is a sure way to get people to ignore your contest. Make it as easy as possible for them to enter so they won’t decide to give up halfway through.
Using social media trends to benefit your business is all about engagement with your current and potential customers. Only when you are able to find ways to interact with your audience in a positive manner will you really be able to unlock the potential that social media contains. If you would like some help getting your social media efforts on the right track, feel free to contact us at iZIMAX today.
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