Outsource2Us is providing an in depth four part series, deconstructing four of the most important social media trends predictions for 2022.
HubSpot has recently released its highly insightful 2022 Social Media Trends report. The team at Outsource2Us are going to deconstruct four trends that will impact the way businesses use social media in a four-part series.
Part One. Cookie crack down results in changes to social ads.
By 2023, Google hopes to phase out cookie tracking, leaving the future of social advertising undefined. HTTP cookies are electronic tags and must be accepted by a user before they can collect their web browsing data and compartmentalise that data into files. Based on this stored information, web apps and websites can tailor a user’s online experience to increase relevance of advertising and ultimately generate more conversions.
This phase out of cookies means that businesses are going to have to find new ways to meet the ever-evolving preferences of the ‘now’ consumer and their desire for personalisation.
Ways to accelerate your brand without cookies
User Generated Content
In a world of misinformation and overly pushed or invasive advertisements, user generated content is one of the most trusted sources of information on social media, and businesses must tap into this.
With the increased number of consumers installing ad blockers and actively trying to avoid ads, businesses must get creative with how they reach consumers.
It has been proven repeatedly that consumers trust other consumers’ opinions on a product or service over the opinions of the actual business itself. Tapping into that shared consumer trust is crucial.
Some ways to encourage consumers to share content:
Simply ask. Ask users to share the content in the business’s social media posts description, for example, “share this tip with your friends.”
Give incentives to share, such as contests with prizes.
Get reviews – send personalised emails to past clients with a link to the business’s Google reviews section.
Target the right audience
Facebook alone has 52,000 data points on each user, providing advertisers with an immense amount of data, decreasing the need for cookies. With such a great amount of data comes the opportunity for advertisers to do extremely targeted and personalised ads. The more personalised and targeted an ad is, the more likely a lead or conversion is to come from it. In our experience, Facebook advertising consistently proves to be one of the most profitable forms of advertising for our clients because of its targeting abilities.
Metrics are the future
For marketing specifically, metrics allow businesses to both track and measure the performance of a marketing campaign.
Thankfully, cookies are not necessary to utilise metrics in marketing. Metrics take many forms, for email marketing they can be seen in open rates, click-through-rates, and conversion rates. For social media, metrics can be measured based on impressions, engagement, and reach of a post. You can also collect marketing metrics from focus groups, questionnaires, and surveys.
All marketing related business decisions should be data-driven, drawing on consumer insights collected from the metrics. Businesses must develop a complete analytical picture of its customers, shaping its strategy around that picture.
This means that CRM systems, like HubSpot, Monday.com and Vision6, are going to continue to grow in popularity amongst small to medium size businesses, replacing cookies.
Engage, educate, and entertain
Consumers are online more than ever; the pandemic accelerated the adoption of new technologies and applications. This has resulted in consumers wanting that next level of information and connectedness they are missing from the outside world.
Nailing the tone of an ad is inherently difficult. But tapping into the consumer need for additional information and providing insightful content can increase the effectiveness of an ad, for example, educational based content, providing free tips that relate to your business’s industry.
For businesses to create a sense of connectedness they are going to have to start getting in front of the camera more and more, creating visually appealing and easily consumable content. Consumers want to see the people behind the business.
That’s all we have for Part One of our Four Part Series, deconstructing the HubSpot Social Media Trends report for 2022. Stay tuned for Part Two of this series where we will unpack the idea of omnichannel engagement.
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