Social Media marketing is never dull — and this year’s #SocialPro, Las Vegas,  confirmed just that.
Emergent platforms are taking off in full force, generating robust growth over a short period of time. For marketers and brands on the lookout to capitalize on the growing (and new) audiences, now’s the time to pay attention. The future is here.
Three particular sessions this year spoke to the rapidly growing platforms:
Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest. Each presentation was delightfully informative and mind-altering.
Pinterest!
Matt Siltala, president and founder of Avalaunch Media, showed up to preach the Pinterest good news — and, boy, did he ever. Before we dive in, it should be noted that his beard was very impressive… and he incorporated a Walking Dead theme into his entire deck. So, Matt deserves a few extra style points for that.
As far as the content went, it was equally as mind-blowing. Seriously, check out the stats he provided (also, please note that we’re referencing Matt for the following statistics):
- Pinterest has 100 million monthly active users. ONE HUNDRED MILLION!
- Pinterest usage doubled since 2012
- Evergreen content has a bigger lifespan on Pinterest than anywhere else
- 75 percent of traffic comes through mobile
In line with Matt’s brilliant Walking Dead theme, he presented a Pinterest survival guide. Here’s a bit of the guide:
- Rather than going the personal route, create a business account and get it verified.
- When creating your custom boards, do so with keyword research data in mind.
- Expand your pins beyond just content from your website. Think about the message your brand wants to be associated with and pin accordingly.
- Be creative! Think DIY and “how to” content… infographics… anything eye-catching.
- Pin it up! Pin around the clock — include links that drive traffic directly to your site.
- Think about uploading pins with optimized file names and promoting new boards in already popular boards… through this, you can optimize for social.
- If your content is taking off, pin that content in additional areas.
- Not using pin alerts? Start!
- Don’t forget to be social. Interact as a brand with those who share interests and content.
- Don’t forget about using promoted pins.
Even if you, as a brand, are not ready at the moment to run out and pin around the clock, it’s important to start the process of account creation and practice. Just take a look at the numbers listed above. There are 100 million monthly active users… that’s an audience just waiting to meet your brand.
Snapchat!
Nick Cicero, the founder and CEO of Delmondo took the stage for this one, giving some clear and exciting perspective into the world of Snapchat. His advice? Use Snapchat for your brand, and claim your name now! Why? According to Nick, Snapchat went from 4 million to 6 million views in two weeks — and brands are making their way to the scene.
Dissecting the reasons behind Snapchat’s growing popularity, Nick noted that it’s a platform that can be one-to-one and one-to-many… users can send stories and personal content. It’s versatile and simple. Win, win.
While Snapchat started for friend-based interactions, it’s expanded to successfully include brands. Sponsored geofilters have opened the door for fantastic branding opportunities — users can customize their own live stories that pertain to your brand with your logo through the sponsored geofilter feature. Plus, brands are discovering the power of live story video ads and discovery video ads.
So, how are these brands getting in? Collaborations and takeovers, along with influencer campaigns, polls, content and screen shots.
Convinced Snapchat is where your brand should be? Nick offered a few tips for success:
- Quality over quantity. In other words, make your snaps worth it for the audience… make it count.
- Don’t be afraid to use video. Many brands are seeing success from stepping outside the boundaries of still shot photos.
- Don’t forget to check the metrics. You can do so by clicking on your own story.
Instagram!
Who doesn’t love Instagram?! Jenn Deering Davis, editor-in-chief at Union Metrics does, with good reason.
Here’s the first slide from Jenn’s presentation — and it says a lot. Forty billion photos, 400 million monthly active users… in five years. Instagram has taken the social media world by storm, providing, yet again, a new audience for marketers to mingle with.
Jenn went on to show the magnitude of potential interactions on Instagram, stating that 80 million new photos are shared every single day.
OK, so it’s pretty clear Instagram is important. The next question is: What’s the best time to post to Instagram? The key is to test! However, Jenn advised that brands should try to post content outside of normal business hours (in the U.S.). As far as frequency, content lives up to 3 days — the key is to find the right cadence.
So, how do you get more engagement with content? Post the RIGHT content that is high quality. At this point, photos get more engagement than video (typically). Also, if you use hashtags correctly, you’ll get at least 30 percent more engagement, while at the same time allowing new people to discover your content. When it comes to your hashtag game, think big (hashtags), with a side of niche hashtags to keep you from getting lost in the crowd.
If there’s one lesson to be learned, it’s that brands should consider up-and-coming social media platforms. They’re not on the fringe — they’re where it’s at.
