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Intro to Social Media Trends 2022

In 2020, the average internet user spent over two hours online. 

Daily. 

Since then, the line between our digital lives and our real ones has blurred even further. 

We’re in the age where you can spot a product on Tiktok, source it off of Facebook or Instagram, and have it delivered to your exact location by an app that’s tied into your Snapchat. The age where you can get your answers crowd-sourced through an app that sets it to music and dances. The age where the world has shrunk to fit into a 9.7 inch screen. 

We’re in the age of the social-media-ification of the internet. Over the next 6,000 words, we’ll be going through which social media trends will be taking this a step further in 2022.

Social Media Marketing Golden Rules for 2022

1. There are different personas for different socials. Use them. 
2. Any content above 15 minutes has to be visually compelling, informational, and ideally interactive. 
3. Bite-sized content is superior to long content in most cases – but not in all cases (this guide is a case in point).
4. Pick your influencers carefully and work with them for longer. 
5. If you don’t engage with your consumers, your consumers won’t engage with you. 
6. Talk. Post content. Use your social media. Having a beautiful feed you only update once in a blue moon is not a social media presence. 
7. If you’re going to jump onto a trending hashtag, research what it’s about, or risk getting raked over the coals. 

The Internet of Social Media

In the early days of the internet, before social media, there were forums: places on the web where people could create an account and talk. Forums are largely constrained to one topic, and with answers less rapid-fire than what you’d expect on social media – and with a lot less reach. 

In the greater scheme of things, social media was always going to happen. That it’s become such a powerhouse is understandable: as the internet got faster and faster, communication needed to keep up. 

And thus: social media. 

Up until 2019, social media was merely growing. 

Once the world went into lockdown, that growth exploded. 

The average penetration rate for social media in 2021 was 53.6%. 

It’s going to get bigger in 2022.  

Here’s what we’re predicting per platform. 

Social Media Trend 1: Social Commerce Boom

Statistics

• In 2020, social commerce generated about $475BN in revenue. 
• 1 in 3 consumers find new brands on social media. 
• Social commerce is set to grow at a CAGR of 28.4% from 2021 – 2028.

Overview

There is at least one product you bought because of social media. 

Whether it’s #tiktokmademebuyit, Facebook marketplace, or Instagram’s shop section, social media has gone hybrid. It’s no longer used just to advertise; as more people log onto the web from mobile devices, and the internet becomes increasingly inter-connected, the old ways of e-commerce just aren’t enough. 

For brands, opening a store-front on social media is another step towards being ever more accessible, ever more reachable, by their core audience. It opens up opportunities for connection. 

It makes marketing, with the right investment, easier. 

And it isn’t going to go away. In 2022, social media shopping is going to grow. 

Social eCommerce on Facebook

Facebook’s had a pretty rough year: from scandal to rebrand, the company’s been getting raked over the coals by the internet since the Cambridge Analytica scandal – and it’s still the number one most popular social media platform in use. That said, the cracks in Facebook are there, and they’re getting bigger. With companies like Tiktok introducing a whole new idea of bite-sized, high value content that anyone can feasibly put out, Facebook has needed to innovate its product offerings. 

With its biggest revenue coming from advertising, you can see where this is going. 

Brands thrive on Facebook. As one of the original social medias – the social media to kick off all social medias – brands have had time to figure out how to use Facebook to talk to their audiences, and how to make those audiences listen and engage. 

Now the next big step is to make them buy. 

Facebook and Instagram are both going to get in on the eCommerce ground next year, with Facebook already making moves to introduce their e-commerce set up into groups. With over 2 billion in e-commerce in 2020, digital shopping and e-commerce is poised to increase as people try and maintain the same level of post-pandemic convenience that they had during and after lockdown.

Which brands did Social eCommerce right on Facebook?

La Roche-Posay Vietnam launched a new sun care product using Facebook Creative Shop. By creating an ad that ran prior to the event, La Roche-Posay encouraged viewers interested in the product to RSVP and opt into a notification to alert them when the live shopping event started.

La Roche-Posay’s presenters also encouraged viewers to use a coded hashtag in the comments to trigger a conversation via Messenger that would allow them to purchase the product through messenger. 

Over 10,000 viewers tuned into the La Roche-Posay page during the Facebook Live event, and there was a 1.8X increase in return on ad spend and a 77% increase in add to cart. 

Social eCommerce on Instagram

Instagram is also heading into the eCommerce game, but it’s going to take a little bit longer than Facebook to really start seeing movement. That said, brands that can get in on the ground floor of selling on Instagram can control the conversation – but it has to be a conversion that people want to listen to.

Small business owners and brands with aesthetically-pleasing products are especially going to do well on Instagram. Audiences who are used to seeing beautiful product shots are especially susceptible for Instagram eCommerce, and while Reels are a relatively new addition to Instagram’s lineup, they’ve been slowly climbing in popularity. 

What Instagram does better than Facebook is in marketing. 

Facebook has the reach, the audiences, and the benefit of being the most popular site on the internet for social media. 

Instagram is overall better for brands who want to build a following. 

Who did Social Commerce right on Instagram?

GrowUs, a Korean haircare brand, is an online-only brand that needed to create an online shopping experience to encourage brand engagement and sales. It developed video ads that used product features, and created an online store on Instagram where they could learn more about the product before making the ultimate purchase. 

There were 3X more purchases per website visits from people who viewed video ads with the product ads, and over 1.7X more content views from website visitors who shopped via video ads. 

Social eCommerce on TikTok

2020’s breakout pandemic star, Tiktok is a brand dream for e-commerce – but you have to talk the talk. The brands that are going to make it on Tiktok and sell their products need to fold their brand identity into what is popular on Tiktok: catchy jingles, snappy editing, and tongue-in-cheek references. 

We’ve seen the effects of Tiktok virality before. Between cult-favourite brands and ‘discoveries’, products or small businesses that make it into #tiktokmademebuyit see their profits go sky-high. With 2022 coming up, and very few other ways for Tiktok to generate other income, we’re predicting that Tiktok is going to lean into its eCommerce and small-business-friendly aspects to create an eCommerce powerhouse for the digitally-savvy. 

Who did Social Commerce right on TikTok?

Levi’s, one of the oldest American clothing brands, leveraged its advertising partnership with TikTok to elevate themselves above the COVID-19 lockdown. By using TikTok’s ‘Shop Now’ button, consumers could make purchases through the attached links. Levi’s also pulled in four mega-influencers on the platform to reach users. 

It more than doubled its product views, and its digital business is now worth 15% of its total revenue. 

Social cCommerce on Youtube

Youtube’s lacking popularity when it comes to marketing and advertising is going to pivot in 2022 as creators and advertisers try to find a platform to move away from Facebook and to personalise the shopping experience. With live streaming and e-selling set to see a boost in 2022, Youtube is poised to make the most of this category. More brands will adopt Youtube as a key platform, using Youtube’s superior video and live-streaming software to boost brand connections and create a persona that lives and breathes their values. 

And with Youtube as one of the original video-streaming platforms, it’s had the time to refine and create a platform that any creator can capitalise on. 

Who did Social Commerce right on Youtube?

Youtube is still in the testing phase of its integrated shopping experiences, however early tests are incredibly promising. Simply Nailogical, a Youtube nail influencer, debuted her new nail polish collection to 2.8 million fans, and generated over 170K views. 

This year, Youtube is also going to debut a week-long livestream shopping event. 

Social Media Trend 2: Oh, Hey, It’s Me! (Or User-Generated Content)

Statistics

• The global user-generated content market size is expected to reach $18.65BN by 2028 and to grow at a CAGR of 26.6% between 2021 and 2028. 
• 93% of marketers agree that consumers trust content created by customers more than content created by brands. 
• User-generated content tops marketing tactics by influencing over 90% of shoppers’ purchasing decisions. 

Overview

User-generated content is always a draw. 

In 2022, it’s going to be one of the strongest assets that brands can use – and it’s going to be necessary for most brands. 

We’ve talked a little bit about how important authenticity is to brand relationships. We’ve talked about the importance of having people talk about what you’re doing: free press, on the one hand, but also an unbiased opinion. 

Face it. Even with your own best intentions, a message from your brand is going to be biased. 

That’s not the case with user-generated content. In a year where authenticity and genuine content is king, user-generated content is especially important for brands who are struggling to build engagement and make people care about their product. 

The power of social is stronger, and far wider reaching, than any other message system at the moment. It’s coming off a year of unrivalled, staggering growth, where social media was everything from a way of connecting to each other to customer care, a help line, and a shopping channel. 

Real content, authenticity, and creators with credibility and the capacity to build lasting relationships are going to become a cornerstone of brand communication in 2022.

But it won’t look anything like the brand communication you’re used to. Memes, dances, songs, jokes: these are the things that carry on social media, and brands that can figure out a way of talking the social talk without compromising on their brand voice will see a definite uptick in how consumers relate to and engage with the brand. 

User-generated content on Facebook

Brand love on Facebook is always tricky, however user-generated content might manage to fill in the brand love gap. The only problem: user-generated content isn’t really the kind of thing that Facebook manages to do very well. 

If you’re interested in user-generated content on Facebook, our suggestion is to make use of the Groups. Brands who open up a Group can collect all their key consumers in one location, and build brand love within these pages. 

Who did user-generated content right on Facebook?

Toyota’s ‘Feeling the Street’ campaign is always a masterclass in UGC done right. Over a period of six weeks, Toyota collected the best user content created on Instagram and makes it into standout Facebook ads. 

An oldie but an excellent example, Toyoto’s 2016 campaign generated over 1.2 million likes, comments, and shares, and Toyoto also managed a 440% increase year-over-year in ad engagement. 

User-generated content on Instagram

Instagram’s built for UGC: the tag function makes it easy to trace all content underneath a particular brand or hashtag, and Instagram’s focus on high-quality images makes finding repostable brand content really easy. On Instagram, engagement can be a struggle, so finding a key content creator is fundamental to benefitting from the user-generated content trend.

Whatever content creator you opt for, make sure to think in terms of continuous content. Opt for a content creator you can see working with over a long period of time. 

Who did user-generated content right on Instagram?

Gymshark, a fitness brand, invited their fans to join in the #NHSSWeatySelfie challenge, where people who exercised and posted it on Instagram could raise £5 for every piece of Instagram user-generated content tagged. 

Over 35,000 pieces of content were generated, and Gymshark raised £180,000 for Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital Charities.

User-generated content on Tiktok

The duet feature is excellent for user-generated content that puts your brand front and centre, but it’s not the only way to capitalise on user-generated content. Tiktok’s creators are always looking for a good hook or a joke; the problem is that brands that want to make it on Tiktok should be prepared for a change in the way that they’re perceived.

Who did user-generated content right on TikTok?

Chobani, a yogurt brand, wanted to advertise their new Chobani Flip yogurt. They started a hashtag on Tiktok and tagged in influencers to spread the word about their new yogurt, and kicked off a competition where 25 winners could win a case of their new yogurt. 

The campaign was a big success, generating over 8.2BN views for the #SwitchTheChobaniFlip challenge. 

@mattpeterson_

Only eating @Chobani Flip for an entire day! Join the #SwitchTheChobaniFlip challenge for a chance to win a limited edition product! #ad

♬ Work It – Missy Elliott

User-generated content on Youtube

For longer user-generated content, Youtube is unbeatable. 

It already has the history and the set-up to generate longer video, and the reach to make sure that audiences looking for a particular product or service can find what they’re looking for. 

The base for all Youtube communications needs to be information. With the possibility of longer content, brands who market on Youtube need to make sure that their content is worth watching – especially if you’re going to opt for longer content. Think behind the scenes and how it’s made, detailed product reviews and walk-throughs, and documentary-style videos that walk a potential customer through every part of the product or service.

Who did user-generated content right on Youtube?

GoPro’s Youtube channel has been active since 2013, and is largely credited for pioneering the user-generated content movement. 

GoPro has been incorporating videos from its fans into its marketing strategy since then, and its channel has since collected over 2,000 user generated videos and over 10.5 million subscribers. 

Social Media Trend 3: Creators Are King

Statistics

• 89% of viewers trust creators’ recommendations on Youtube. 
• The global influencing market value has more than doubled since 2019. 
• 42% of marketers consider influencer marketing one of their top revenue-generating tactics. 

Overview

You need to sell a product, a service, a lifestyle, or a brand. 

You need a story, one that’s relatable and funny, one that your audience will resonate with. 

To do that, you need to tap into creator culture. 

Creators are everywhere. According to SignalFire, over 50 million people globally consider themselves creators and it’s time to start using them – whether or not they have the reach or the followers to compete with some of the biggest influencers. 

We’ve spoken a little bit about micro-influencers before. 

But there’s another step further: you need to make sure that the creator you pick corresponds to the platform you want to advertise on. 

And you need to make sure the content you want advertised matches with your creator. 

Creators on Facebook

Facebook is one of the oldest social medias, but its credibility is on the low side, especially after the previous year. Brands who want to advertise on Facebook can’t rely on a single creator; they need a multitude. 

They need a community. 

That solves the problem of credibility. With multiple creators making the same claim, it’s harder to disprove – and much easier to get across the multiple viewpoints you need for truly authentic marketing. 

Who got it right with creators on Facebook?

Gymondo, an online subscription-based fitness and health coaching programme, wanted to increase its online subscription sales without increasing the cost per acquisition of its normal marketing activity on Facebook. 

By adding influencers to its direct response campaign, Gymondo decreased cost per acquisition by 28% and saw an increase in engagement when using macro influencers. 

Creators on Instagram

Think micro-niche. Think up-and-coming influencers with an unmatched style. 

Content on Instagram is rife with filters and editing. It can all blend into more of the same, and you want your content to stand out, so make sure the creator you pick stands out for you. 

This year, authenticity is key. Whatever micro-influencer you decide to work with, you need to have a deep understanding of the content that they already put out. You need to know where your product fits into it. 

Any age works for Instagram. Just avoid the big names. 

Who got it right with creators on Instagram?

To advertise their latest in-house perfume collection, Sephora, a makeup brand, launched a campaign with neuroscientist Jessica Herrington and Roman Bratschi, Instagram creators that could create digital, sensory experiences to help sell their products when stores were shut down and consumers were unable to shop in-store. 

They saw increased ad recall with the creator assets and a higher lift in purchase intent following the campaign. 

Creators on Tiktok

Here’s something for you: Tiktok is the opposite. 

When you advertise on Tiktok, you should absolutely look for the biggest name you can get. 

However, keep in mind that creator content on Tiktok looks different. Your brand needs to be bulletproof if you’re going to throw the gauntlet to the creators on Tiktok, since any little gap or weakness will be found and exploited. Small businesses, brands with a quirky customer-facing side, and companies who understand that marketing should be fun will do best here. 

On Tiktok, your biggest asset is going to be engaging with your creators. Tag, comment, and spread the message wide. The bigger the community connection, the more people will want to hop on the trend. 

Who got it right with creators on TikTok?

Dunkin Donuts saw an opportunity to capitalise on rising star Charli D’Amelo’s TikTok fame. D’Amelio, who was consistently seen in her videos holding a Dunkin Donuts coffee, posts videos on her TikTok of popular dancing and her Dunkin order. 

By hiring D’Amelio as a brand ambassador, Dunkin Donuts already saw a boost – but they wanted more. 

In the early fall of 2020, they released a limited edition ‘the Charli’ drink, created by D’Amelio herself, and immediately saw a massive boost in their third quarter sales, a 57% increase in app downloads ,and a 20% increase in cold brew sales. 

Creators on Youtube

Youtube is a little weird when it comes to creator content. Most people who go on Youtube to watch creators don’t necessarily do it for the products or services they talk about. 

To capitalise on the creator trend on Youtube, you need a creator whose editing style fits into what you want to say – and you’ll want to go unconventional. Don’t opt for the standard: branch out, see what collaborations you can come up with to give your brand an extra dimension. 

This doesn’t mean you should find a creator whose content is at odds with your product. 

But it does mean thinking deeper about what associations you can build for your brand that go beyond the standard audiences. 

Who got it right with creators on Youtube?

LG Electronics wanted to increase their Youtube reach for the launch of a new television, and partnered up with HYPR to find an influencer to collab with. HYPR suggested Lewis Hilsenteger, a Youtube influencer most known for his ‘Unbox Therapy’ channel where he gives product reviews and unboxes things. 

With Hilsenteger on board, they provided a television for him to giveaway on his channel and provided enough content for Hilsenteger to run through all of his social media, including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Youtube was the most popular platform, with 385,069 unique views, but the campaign attracted the attention of over four million people in total. 

Social Media Trend 4: I’m Listening

Statistics

• Digital customer service interactions are projected to increase by 40%. 
• 79% of consumers expect a response from a brand within 24 hours; 40% expect one within one hour. 
• There has been a 51% increase in customer service requests since the pandemic. 

Overview

Everyone needs connection, and everyone needs it immediately. 

Especially your customers. 

The early days of lockdown had stores shutting down wholesale and online web-stores springing up overnight to take over. That was good: the niche for online shopping has grown since, and the shopping experience in general has been streamlined. 

However, it also highlighted a particular eCommerce issue that companies struggled to fix. 

If your store is entirely online, and your team is working from home, who’s answering your customer support questions?

Brands that went digital in 2020 in a panic to turn a profit during the pandemic bit off more than they could chew, and they noticed it immediately. Customers who received products they were less than thrilled with couldn’t get into contact with the company fast enough. 

But the company sometimes took days to reply. 

We live in the age of immediate gratification. Shows are downloaded to our phones and play without a single ad break. If we have a question we want answered, food we’re craving, a particular song we want to listen to at that precise moment, we can get it immediately. 

Social media can’t just be for advertising anymore. 

In 2022, social media is going to pivot into use. Customer expectations are higher than ever, and the ‘reply within 48 hours/two business days/one week’ response doesn’t cut it anymore. 

You have a perfect customer connection vehicle already there.

Use it. 

Customer service on Facebook

With the majority of businesses using Facebook as their ‘corporate’ social media, it’s not surprising that this is one area where the trend really shines. Putting a chatbot on Facebook to answer customer questions is necessary, not just because people expect it: it’s also a good way of adding a much-needed depth to normal social media use. 

Facebook customer service has to be detailed. A good rule of thumb is to think of every possible question that a customer can have, and to programme a response that answers that question – even if it seems silly. 

This trend works best for more corporate brands, the ones whose following on Facebook is already substantial, or who are looking to break into a better way of using social media. It also works for brands who can’t have much in the way of user-generated content, or whose products and services aren’t photographable. 

Information-heavy, dedicated, and immediate: that’s what you should strive for for Facebook customer service.

Who got customer service right on Facebook?

Zappos, a clothing retailer, is so serious about fast and efficient customer service that they’ve made it a cornerstone of their business. Their Facebook page’s About section says: ‘we’re here for you 24/7’, and in 2019, they really lived up to their name. 

When they sent out the wrong size shoe for a bachelorette party by mistake, Zappos overnighted the right pair of shoes, added a wedding survival kit, and included a personal note from an employee, leaving one happy, satisfied customer, and a lot of generated goodwill. 

Customer service on Instagram

Instagram can go a little more personal with this trend. The darling of small businesses and best-friend brands, Instagram isn’t tied to the same formality that Facebook is, and you should use it to your advantage. 

Answers on Instagram should be informal, and should give a little more than just information. This is an excellent platform for brands that cater to the aesthetic: home, beauty, crafts, skincare, makeup. 

Give advice. Give more than you’re asked. Make sure each customer request feels personal. 

A bot can be programmed for this, but we also recommend a dedicated customer service agent for those requests that just can’t be anticipated. 

Who got customer service right on Instagram?

Erigo, an Indonesian menswear brand, wanted to increase sales and reach new customers during the COVID-19 pandemic, when most stores were shut. They also had to contend with Ramadan, as the campaign would run during April and May. 

Targeting men who had never interacted with Erigo before, they created an Instagram Direct campaign where clicking on the ad connected the consumers with a personal stylist, who could give them advice in real-time. Every person who clicked on the ad would also get a direct link to Erigo’s Shopee page, and a discount code.

Over six weeks, they saw 1.9X greater basket sizes from customers who clicked to Instagram Direct, managed to assist over 8,000 consumers, and increased brand awareness.

Customer service on Tiktok

Tiktok customer service is fun. 

And it’s a brand-building investment. 

The nature of Tiktok’s bite-sized content means that any customer service queries have to be taken at face value, and it’s hard to programme a bot to answer customer questions. That said, using Tiktok as your customer service platform gives you the opportunity to emphasize how your customers can relate to your brand. 

It’s going to be impossible to answer every customer question. We still recommend you have an alternative way of reaching out to your customers, otherwise you’re going to spend all your time crafting response videos. 

That said, for the ones you do answer, make sure you answer them well. Talk about your products. Show behind the scenes footage. Tiktok is the platform where that sort of content skyrockets your popularity. 

Don’t waste it. 

Who got customer service right on TikTok?

Pair Eyewear, a direct-to-consumer eyewear brand, uses Tiktok to answer customer service questions, from what type of lenses their glasses come with to how long it’s going to take to ship a particular product. 

Since joining Tiktok, they’ve seen at least 10% of its sales coming from Tiktok every month, and can attribute over $400,000 worth of sales from TikTok in a month due to organic posts. 

@paireyewear

We’ve got the secret to stylish eyewear. ? #TheLarkin #PairEyewear #WearPair #tiktokcomedy #tiktokmademebuyit

♬ original sound – George Jnr McKeon

Customer service on Youtube

We’ll be honest: answering customer questions on Youtube is not the best use of this platform. 

For one thing, Youtube is built for longer content. For another, the customer queries you’re going to get on Youtube might not be the ones you want to answer publicly. 

However, there is a way. 

Customer questions on Youtube where you can extract a sizeable amount of information can do well, especially for brands that focus on DIY, home improvement, gaming, and makeup. It doesn’t have to be a 30-minute video, but a ten or fifteen minute video that goes into how to use a product can help cut down the customer service questions you do get. 

Batch your customer service questions into groups. Figure out the ones that are asked most frequently, the ones that you will keep repeating over and over again. 

Make a step by step video explaining how to use the product. You’ll be surprised at how many people will appreciate the extra guidance – especially if your products can be a little confusing to figure out how to use. 

Who got customer service right on Youtube?

Skullcandy‘s Youtube, although in a niche category, is popular for the in-depth advice they offer to their consumers. With over 147K subscribers and views heading into the millions, Skullcandy’s Youtube channel serves more as a community hub than brand advertisement. 

Their troubleshoot and user guide categories are the most popular, each generating high viewing numbers. 

Social Media Trend 5: Into the [____]-Verse

Statistics

• 75% of consumers expect retailers to offer an augmented reality experience. 
• Conversion rates for AR engagement are up by 90% post-COVID. 
• Brand recall increased by up to 70% after using AR for engagement. 

Overview

Augmented reality. Virtual reality. Multiverse. Metaverse. 

Real life into virtual. 

Technology has come a long, long way since the first cellphone, the first webpage, the first email sent to the first internet user, to the point where the tech we use now and the tech (most) of us grew up with look like they’re from different universes. 

And that’s only going to get more prominent as technology improves. 

Augmented reality and virtual reality have already been used for other aspects of marketing. In 2022, they’re going to get bigger, especially for brands that can take advantage of ‘try before you by’ filters. From trying on lipsticks virtually to taking a walk through a custom-crafted brand park, experiential doesn’t have to be in real life anymore. 

Experiential lives in the virtual. 

AR & VR on Facebook

Facebook has rebranded as Meta. 

Their reason: to bring forward a different way of online experiences. Of living online. Of being. 

While the definition of the metaverse has yet to be understood, as an early pioneer, Facebook is going to be the platform to watch for the metaverse. We’re still a few years out from seeing the full extent of what can be done, and from seeing brands engage with it – but brands who start planning their metaverse expansion from now can be among the first. 

Think big. 

But until then: you can’t really go wrong with augmented reality filters. 

There’s already been some successful AR campaigns on Facebook that have really elevated the possibilities of what can be done with marketing. AR filters are also incredibly compelling: it allows consumers to experience a product or a service without the risk of purchasing, and usually results in higher conversions. 

Brands that sell experiences – travel, technology, food – will perform the best with AR filters. However, it doesn’t mean other brands won’t. If you can sell your product as an experience, AR filters can help you make that experience memorable. 

Who got AR right on Facebook?

Made.com, a UK-based online furniture retailer, wanted to use new technology to increase brand awareness and attract new customers – and also take advantage of the lockdown, which had prevented them from opening their stores. 

They added an augmented reality experience that allowed people with iOS devices to position furniture inside their homes. 

The AR filter increased ad recall by 40%, purchases by 2.5X, and also saw an added 63,000 visits to the website via the AR experience. 

AR & VR on Instagram

AR and VR on Instagram is sophisticated, but that’s not a surprise. It’s owned by Facebook, after all. 

However, AR and VR on Instagram is far more intensive than what Facebook has currently achieved. Brands that opt for VR and AR on filters can really share a product, service, or an experience at a deeper level than what’s currently achievable on Facebook – and it can bring a lot of nuance and depth to brands that have an Instagram, but struggle to engage with their consumers. 

Beauty brands and institutional brands can especially do well using this trend – particularly if they’re a little bit niche. Other brands can also benefit, but you have to take an angle that your website and other socials can’t fit, and the more beautifully done, the better. 

Who got AR right on Instagram?

Samsung wanted to increase awareness of its new Neo QLED 4K and 8K televisions in Jordan and Iraq during a time when COVID-19 had closed all retail stores. 

They created a series of interactive ads using an augmented reality filter which allowed consumers to place the television inside their own home. 

The campaign ran from July 5 – 21st and saw an increase in ad recall and brand favourability. 

AR & VR on Tiktok

There’s been some early adoption of AR for TikTok, but more is always better – especially for big, ‘older’ brands that want to attract a newer audience or the younger generation. The innovation and the experience of seeing a familiar brand engaging with AR and showing a different facet of the product can help widen the audience demographic and increase the brand’s reach. 

Who got AR right on TikTok?

Netflix Germany wanted to raise awareness for its new TV show: “Sing On! Germany” within the German market. 

It partnered up with Tiktok to release a branded hashtag challenge, inviting the TikTok community to send in Karaoke videos. To further incentivise people to take part, they used an augmented-reality filter to simulate a karaoke booth for deeper immersion. 

The campaign generated over 600 million views in ten days, and increased awareness for the show massively. 

@electra_pain

Anzeige | Ich liebe Karaoke ? Ob Gesangstalent oder nicht, der Effekt macht echt Spaß ?? Bin gespannt auf eure Videos! ? #NetflixDE #SingOnGermany

♬ Originalton – Electra Pain

AR & VR on Youtube

Youtube have had AR filters in ads since 2019, mostly circled around the ‘try it’ beauty feature that corporations such as MAC have also included on their website. 

There hasn’t been much more development in Youtube AR or VR ads since then. 

We predict that DIY and home improvement brands can definitely generate a buzz if they advertise using AR filters on Youtube, but given that Youtube’s ad policies have started to generate a negative buzz across the internet, consider advertising on Youtube very carefully.  

There is such a thing as bad press. 

Who got AR right on Youtube?

Youtube has come late to the augmented reality campaign game, with their first branded effort releasing just the previous year: a virtual makeup try-on to run right alongside your favourite beauty influencer. 

The earliest campaign for augmented reality on Youtube was run by MAC Cosmetics, who allowed fans of Roxette Arisa to try on the same products that she was wearing in her video. 

Early results show that 30% of viewers enabled the AR experience in the Youtube iOS app, as well as spent over 80 seconds trying on lipsticks. 

Coming Soon: Web 3.0

There are more trends en-route for 2022, but they’ll take a while to start appearing. As we said in our marketing trends blog, trends aren’t contained to a specific year, and they don’t start at the same time. 

Web 3.0 is something we’re going to see more of in 2022. It’s going to impact the internet on a level that we haven’t even anticipated – we’ve only just started noticing how far-reaching Web 2.0 is. 

But it’s happening. 

And you need to be prepared. 

Why Web 3 matters ?

— Chris Dixon (@cdixon) September 26, 2021

What is Web 3.0?

When we talk about blockchain, the metaverse, and NFTs, we’re talking about Web 3.0. We’re talking about a web controlled by, and designed by, the people rather than by big tech corporations, governments, or brands. We’re talking about an internet that’s open and transparent. 

We’re talking about a decentralised internet where users can control every tiny aspect of their digital lives: from how they see their search results to what kind of recommendations they get.

How is web 3.0 going to affect marketing?

The key quality of Web 3.0 is freedom. 

That means freedom from monitoring, freedom from control, and freedom from advertising. It means an internet that’s similar to Web 1.0: a massive information resource accessible by everyone without someone at the centre controlling it all. 

For marketing, this is going to affect the way brands have to interact and communicate with their consumers. Their audiences are going to shrink, even as their reach is going to grow, and they’re going to need to invest in the right ways to talk online to attract consumer attention. The days of addressing consumers ‘at large’ and managing to reel in one or two by accident are over; with Web 3.0, brands have to segment their audiences and address based on individual characteristics. 

There’s also going to be a shift in how brands talk. Static ads will drop in popularity as hybrid spaces grow more and more complex, and virtual-real experiences will take over from segmented experiences that are either virtual or real. Furthermore, convenience is going to lead to multi-channel apps that can fulfill all a consumer’s needs without the need to go bouncing between different locations.

What do we need to keep in mind about web 3.0?

This has already started. 

We’re not kidding. 

Web 3.0 might take a while to happen in the way we envision because the technology and infrastructure needed aren’t ready yet. 

But the mental shift has already happened. 

Brands have become more than brands. Consumers want more than just products. They want to engage with and talk to companies that understand them, that have their best interests at heart, and that want to do better. Brands who can start to move towards this from now are ready to take on Web 3.0 when the technology is ready. 

Brands who aren’t, need to catch up, or risk being unable to once Web 3.0 rolls around. 

And it is coming. Sooner or later, your brand has to change. 

You might as well do it now. 

Conclusion

Social media marketing has come a long way from what we’re used to. Regardless of which platform you use, it’s hard to advertise nowadays without the traction and the reach you get from social media. 

It’s an investment. It’s a tool. 

It’s necessary. 

But whether it’s useful to you or not depends on how well you use it, and how much time you spend growing your audiences. 

We’re heading towards a point where a digital presence is necessary to connect with your consumers, and where your consumers are located all over. Whether that’s going to be social media for you is not our call. 

But we think it should be. 

And if you’re struggling to figure out how to make the best use of the platform you’re on, we’re happy to guide you through it.

Want to read more marketing trends for 2022?

Here are a few more resources we’ve put together, with more on the way:

Marketing Trends 2022: The Year of Conflict

SEO Trends 2022: More Human

Web Design Trends 2022

B2B Marketing Trends 2022

Seven Regional Marketing Trends We Want To See More Of

The post Social Media Trends 2022: The Year of More appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

Social media success, for a lot of brands, won’t look too dissimilar from social media success in general. Likes, comments, the fabled virality: a brand’s success on social media isn’t difficult to spot. 

This creates a problem. 

Social media success for brands isn’t the same as social media success for individuals. A social media campaign that did well might not necessarily have generated the kind of vanity metrics that it could have: maybe it’s just not that kind of campaign. It’s still a success – but it looks different from what social media success normally looks like. 

Campaigns that focus solely on vanity metrics are going to hit a wall eventually, and that wall is generating enough revenue to keep going. 

When we come up with a campaign, vanity metrics are on the sidelines: important, but not the crux of the campaign. 

Our crux is always sales. Generating sales, generating brand love that leads to sales, increasing sales: it all comes back down to sales. 

Vanity metrics are important. For established brands, they’re a check-in point to see if they still have the same pull over their audience. For new brands, they can heighten a brand’s awareness. 

But they don’t always lead to payoff. Building a campaign based just on vanity metrics is easy enough to do; just pick a trending topic, load up your post with hashtags, make sure to use the boldest colours – you’re all over the internet in no time. 

Does it have a tangible, lasting effect? Maybe. Maybe not. 

It’s a risky strategy to build your business on. 

And you need to know what you want to build your business on. Once you have a goal, it’s just a matter of fitting your strategy and KPIs around that goal.

Here’s a few examples on how. 

1. Gift a Kinnie Moment: using social media for a website launch

The challenge: introduce a newly-launched website during the first lockdown; maintain and elevate brand awareness. 

The situation: Gift a Kinnie Moment was launched a couple of months after the pandemic hit Malta – people were self-isolating, the outdoor world was shut down, and everyone was tired and worried about the future.

The strategy: The aim of this campaign was to promote the newly launched Kinnie website by sharing some love during a time of uncertainty. Through the site, people were invited to nominate friends and family to receive a Kinnie Gift delivered straight to their door. 

Since the objective was to get users onto the kinnie.com website, we launched a landing page campaign on social media through a set of ads that would showcase the mechanism of the promotion. 

Furthermore, we wanted to keep audiences engaged with the Kinnie website, so we introduced teasers for Kinnie recipe videos that could be watched for free on the website. 

The results: During the campaign, we received 6 times the number of entries that we’d planned for. 

The recipe videos increased Link Clicks by 12.6% and landing page views by 28%.

2. 1Run Campaign: the good kind of social media

The challenge: achieve €15,000 in marathon sponsorships; elevate the runners’ profiles on social media. 

 The situation: We supported two superhumans, Patrick and Claudio, on their journey through raising funds and promoting equal opportunities for all. 

Their responsibility was to run the entire 190km coastline of Malta and Gozo in a single 35-hour marathon.

Ours was to handle all their communication efforts to help them achieve their €15,000 target for the Education Support Fund administered by Kopin and JRS.

The strategy: To achieve their target, both runners needed a solid social media presence – and although the cause was a great one, we understood that people liking and commenting on a post would not generate the funds that the runners set out to achieve. 

We also had a €160 social media budget allocated to both Facebook and Instagram.

Therefore, our main aim was to target people who would donate and share the cause with their friends and families. 

During the weekend of the run, we kept the social media strategy going, employing hijack tactics to make it into the news feeds of as wide an audience as possible. With styled our social media updates like a news report, checking in live on Facebook and Instagram throughout the run. It meant having the Switch team covering the event for a solid 48 hours, taking turns to keep the stream of content flowing.

The result: We managed to reach 400,000 users, and had 21,000 engaged users during the two weeks leading up to the event and during the 35 hours run. 

We also helped raise over €23,000 for the cause.

3. Sigma: Competition submissions

The challenge: amplify SIGMA’s brand awareness; capitalise on the lockdown surge of home-DIY jobs; increase SIGMA’s brand love. 

The situation: Lockdown 2020 changed a lot of things, and the sales and advertising industries felt it deep. With things shutting down overnight, the reality was this: a lot of sectors took a hard hit. 

SIGMA was the outlier. When industrial purchases slowed, domestic purchases skyrocketed – and it gave off enough of a beacon that our client approached us with a challenge: can we make it bigger? And could we do it in spite of the magnified online marketing currently going on?

The strategy: The root of any good campaign is figuring out why people would want to look at it. With SIGMA paints, that was easy: people were taking advantage of the lockdown to spruce up their homes, and home projects always come with a built-in supply of local interest. 

So we built our strategy around that. We released a call for DIY projects and boosted posts asking locals to share their Lockdown Masterpieces with us. The only caveat? They had to be using SIGMA paints. 

The response was overwhelmingly positive, and we had to limit our selections quickly. Once we’d shortlisted ten sites, we went in person to view them and plan for a proper photoshoot; the final six were placed on social media, and people could vote for their favourites. 

Each photo had the owners of the location right in front of it to capitalise on personal equity and play with Facebook’s organic reach. After all, this was a people’s competition: we wanted to make sure that people were the front focus of the entire campaign. 

The result: Most ads generated a reach of over 95K each, and the competition contributed to an increase of 167.5% in organic page impressions. 

4. Lucy: purchases 

The challenge: create an e-commerce website for the LUCY Makeup Store with quick turnaround; promote makeup purchases during COVID-19 lockdown. 

The situation: When Franks approached us to launch an eCommerce project for Lucy Makeup Store, we were in the midst of the COVID pandemic. All of the physical stores had to remain closed and to counter the loss in revenue, LUCY needed to be online as fast as possible. 

The strategy: Building the website took priority for the initial start of the campaign, but with only two weeks’ development needed, our main goal became bringing in traffic to the website and generating sales. 

Our client came with a strong social media following of the biggest makeup fans on the island and we were able to leverage this audience in order to find other people that would love shopping at lucymakeup.com.

The off-page communications were split into two main types: evergreen and short-term campaigns. This approach ensured a steady stream of relevant content which in turn allowed us to generate a stable amount of traffic to the website, expand the Lucy audience, and keep our sales growing 

The result: We achieved an average 17% return on investment from month-to-month and our month-to-month ROI in March 2021 showed a 54X increase. 

5. Pjazza Kinnie: Showing brand love through tags

The challenge: maintain the Pjazza Kinnie event throughout COVID-19; create brand love through the use of social media tags. 

The situation: One of our favourite events must be Pjazza Kinnie at the Farsons Beer Festival in 2019. 

Our goal was to make a soft-drink stand out among the crowds, the noise, and the alcohol, and to build brand love for Kinnie at an event where the main feature and focus was alcohol. 

The strategy: We created a curated art corner that people could reach through a tunnel made of individually-programmed Kinnie-coloured lights. With live music and art exhibitions, people came to Pjazza Kinnie despite the lack of alcohol and stayed for the environment.

Our measurement of success wasn’t only defined by the foot traffic in the Pjazza Kinnie area, but also by the number of mentions that the space would generate online. 

The result: by the end of the event, half of the mentions that happened on social media about the festival were about Pjazza Kinnie, resulting in the soft-drink area being amongst the most talked of that year’s edition of the beer festival.

6. MCAST: Student Registration

The challenge: increase applications to MCAST; launch new prospectus; reach a broader audience than normal. 

The situation: Education in Malta is highly competitive, and several private and public entities already offer overlapping prospectuses. When MCAST approached us, it had a definitive understanding that its reputation should be a deciding factor for its students. 

The strategy: We operated on the assumption that we’d be communicating with two different sets of audiences: the students themselves, as well as parents who still exert an influence on their child’s education choices. We used ads and on-page content to increase awareness about MCAST’s multiple offerings, as well as chartering their career choices throughout the time they spent at MCAST. 

Our second-stage messaging focused all on MCAST benefits and the support that MCAST offered its students. 

Finally, we used the conversion stage to let audiences know that applications were open to help students make that final decision. 

Throughout all three stages of communication, we created information streams that added information about the college, life on the MCAST campus, and chartered different educational pathways. Our messaging remained simple throughout to appeal to the widest range of audience members. 

The result: Although our budget was small, we achieved over 327k impressions with the on-page posts, while the ads reached over 2.5 million impressions. 

7. Absolut: making content relevant to your market 

The challenge: increase social media engagement on the Absolut Malta Facebook page; create brand love through digital marketing. 

The situation: The content shared on the Absolut Malta Facebook Page was all produced by the Absolut global team: beautiful and high-value production content. However, the productions seemed far more similar to billboards and less like relevant Facebook posts. 

The strategy: if we wanted to build an audience of engaged users, we had to think of producing content that was both relevant and interesting to the people we were talking to. Following the creative direction established by the global team, we added a Maltese twist to our communication. Here are a few examples:

The result: On average, the localised posts received 1,300% times more engagement than the generic global content with only 50% more boost behind them.

What have we learned here?

Be deliberate with your communication. 

Social media has given markets access to achieving different goals – so whether you want to grow your brand love through user-generated content, generate leads, convert users or simply reach a wider audience, do make sure that every piece of content that your brand goes out with has a strategy in mind which includes a goal. And if you need a little support to achieve this, reach out – we’ll be happy to have a chat on how to maximise your social media efforts.

The post 7 Successful Social Media Campaigns (That Didn’t Focus on Vanity Metrics) appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

And we’re not just saying that.

For 2020, online traffic was 24% higher than it is now for the same month. Daily use of social media increased for 4 in 10 internet users globally, and apps that prioritised video and audio saw a marked jump in their popularity. 

With a sizable portion of the world’s consumers captive, it should have been a golden era for brand communication. 

The reality was different. 

Brands did capitalise on the benefits of having an audience that couldn’t escape advertising – but it didn’t always work out. They had to tread carefully to make sure that the audience they were speaking to didn’t turn away from the ads they’d taken time to put together; that those ads struck home, and turned into profit. 

A year ago, we wrote our eBook on how brands could do that (psst! it’s free – take a look!). 

A year later, we’re taking a look at what we wrote and seeing how it’s changed. 

Social Media: General

In 2020, we finished off our social media chapter with the following tips: 

1. Your tone needs to be relevant to the situation – show empathy and awareness.
2. Get creative. Look for alternative ways to create value for your customers, to support and educate them, whether it’s about your industry or the current situation.
3. Quality over quantity – don’t let your brand speak because it wants to say something. Your brand need only speak when it actually has something to say. 
4. Be relevant but not necessarily by speaking about the current situation. Everyone else is doing that. Be empathetic but also original. 
5. Engage with your audience by asking for direct feedback. Uncertain times are no time for broadcasts, they are times for active conversation.

In 2021, we say: 

The more we get into the days after the initial pandemic panic, the more we’re starting to see that COVID-19 didn’t exactly break the mold on communicating and advertising: it just brought to light what we always knew all along. 

The tips that we wrote in 2020 hold value today, they’ll hold value tomorrow, and they’ll hold value a hundred years from now. 

People are obsessed with social media. 

It’s where they go, whether it’s to look for news, follow their favourite celebrity, or dig up something to form an opinion on. For brands, this is a good thing: an audience on social media is an audience you can track, analyse, and monetise. 

But you need to know how to hold onto that audience first. 

And to hold onto that audience, you need to be human. Your social media needs to be human. Your brand needs to be human. 

You need to be human. 

Social Media: Strategies

In 2020, we wrote: 

Should I change my social media strategy? Yes, but let’s pick that apart. Firstly, no matter what product you’re selling, you should definitely take the time to look through your editorial calendar for the next few months, and make sure that your subject matter is constantly realigned with current realities and that there is empathy and compassion in your tone going forward. Anything that might sound tonedeaf can and will bring you the backlash that you definitely don’t need at this time. 

In 2021, we’re saying: 

That still holds true. You need an editorial calendar to make the most of social media – it’s not a ‘post something off the top of your head’ kind of medium any more. Social media takes planning, careful analysis, and tweaking to make it profitable and successful. Are there brands that get away with no planning? Sure. But the chances of you being one of those brands are small and growing smaller as a fed-up population uses their tiny amount of power where it matters most – on brands. 

As for if you should change your social media strategy – is it working for you? Are you happy with the way your socials are running? Can it be better? We’re personally a fan of changing your social media strategy until you’re sure it can’t get better. That can mean anything, depending on the brand you have. 

CASE STUDY: Google’s ‘Get Back to What You Love’ came a little bit out of the left field if you weren’t aware of their COVID-19 advertising campaign, but if you’re a fan of how Google tells its stories, you’ll notice what we’re about to tell you – the strategy is a work of art. Google’s perfected the understated narrative, and going back to their pandemic ‘search bar’-style advert was the perfect duological loop to enter into the next phase of their pandemic marketing. 

Social media: Content

In 2020, we wrote: 

Get creative! How can you create value online? Can you take your knowledge and teach? Can you offer product reviews? Can you start live video broadcasts

with Q&As? Can you find ways to educate your audience about your field? The goal is to add more individual, customised value versus what someone could find online themselves.

Whatever you do, don’t stop talking, otherwise you’ll be forgotten. However, remember that your content has to be in context with where your audience is. If your audience’s house is on fire, now isn’t the time to educate them on fire safety. 

In 2021, we’re saying: 

Creativity is still relevant. Creativity is always going to be relevant. People are so used to passive, low-effort posts that having a post that gives them something to think about will reach through the screen and grab their attention. Additionally, people love free content. Giving them valuable content – based on what you can teach, what you can do, what you can give – is one of the best ways to build a relationship with your audience that lasts. 

This doesn’t mean you should take over everyone’s feeds constantly. You need laser-precision. You need to know when to post what you’re posting so that it intersects with your audience’s life, not gives them another choice to make: listen to you, or keep doing what you’re doing? 

You need to talk. You need to make that conversation matter. And you need to make the content of that conversation relevant. 

This hasn’t changed post-pandemic. 

It just showed us how important it is. 

CASE STUDY: Extra’s ‘For When It’s Time’ made the rounds way back when it came out, and even within our agency, it’s controversial: people found it gross, people found it genius, people loved the direction, people thought it was overblown. Love it or hate it, you have to admit: it’s eye-catching, it’s funny, and it’s creative. That makes it memorable. And when something is memorable, you’ve hooked an audience into listening to you, seeing what you’re going to get up to next, and following what you do in the hopes they’ll see more of what makes them laugh. 

Social Media: Community

In 2020, we wrote: 

During a time of uncertainty, people look for support and reassurance whilst trying to adapt to a new way of living, communicating and working. They will be turning to online communities for this purpose. Facebook Groups provide fertile ground for long-lasting connections with your audience, especially at a time of uncertainty.

In 2021, we’re saying: 

Facebook groups are amazing – if you’re willing to spend some time building a community there. Though people are spending less time online than they were during the pandemic, those connections that they’ve brokered – with brands, with each other – will last through that, so if you’ve spent time building those connections, here’s our advice: keep them going. An audience that feels for your brand the same way they feel for their friends is fundamental to make it on social media.

CASE STUDY: Guinness’ advertising consistently rated highly among people who watched them, whether it’s because they follow the brand directly on social media or were directed to it, and this is why. Even if you’re not a Guinness drinker, ‘Welcome Back’ makes you a part of the fold, gives you a reason to feel like you belong. That’s powerful. Profit is never going to stand in for community, and Guinness shows us why. 

Social Media: What’s Changed?

We said at the start that COVID-19 didn’t change social media; it just made us more aware of what it actually means to use it. To start a social media account and make it work for you takes time. 

It takes patience and effort. It takes empathy. It takes the understanding that your brand is never going to go back to the days when it could advertise half off, and float on from year to year. Price is important; it’s no longer the only thing that’s important. 

What your brand did, and didn’t do, when people needed it matters more. How your brand talks matters more. 

In essence, nothing has changed about social media. 

A lot has changed about the people who use it. It’s become more unforgiving, less likely to avoid disaster, and more likely to create problems for you if you don’t use it right. 

So use it right. Read our ebook, read our articles, ask us questions if you want. 

We’re here to help.

The post What Do We Do Now? Social Media Strategies for (Almost) Post-Pandemic appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

What started as a way to share files and images, keep in touch with old friends, and connect to other people through the internet has ballooned into its own unique internet subculture and social language, and created an industry based around conversations. 

And it isn’t just because the tech has changed. In many ways, the same tech that formed the exoskeleton of Web 1.0 stayed for Web 2.0. 

But we use it in a completely different way. 

The audiences, and how they communicate, have changed. So have the ways in which they communicate: from public chat to tiny, microscopic pockets on the internet; from sweeping forums to a particular, and singular, post on a singular page. 

Social media.

Whether it’s a brand poll on Instagram, a Facebook review, or a LinkedIn connection, social media has evolved into the most effective way to connect with your audience and have a conversation in a virtual space. 

And brands tend to misuse it. 

We’ve all seen a social media post that made us roll our eyes. With our friends and family, ignoring that post and all the subsequently ridiculous posts that crop up isn’t really an issue; your friends and family are (mostly) not trying to sell you anything. 

With brands, when we see a social media post that rings out false, the ramifications are much stronger than just ignoring it. 

Brands are being held to a higher standard now. The one channel where they can connect to an audience more or less freely – allowing different facets of brand personality to shine through, communicating in a way that’s varied from official communications – and brands stumble when using it.

Mistakes happen to everyone. 

Brands can’t afford to let them happen to them. 

Social media is a mirror. The way brands use it to communicate is held up as a reflection of the way the brand acts, what it supports, and how it treats its audience and consumers. Whatever happens on social media tends to have real-world ramifications for the brand.

This didn’t used to happen. Social media used to be just another platform; one more place to post an ad, and let it do whatever ads do when they’re not supervised. Like buying a billboard, only much smaller, and with a much wider reach. 

Today, the way social media works is far more finicky, but brands haven’t moved out of their ‘billboard’ phase, and haven’t elaborated their strategies beyond ‘put it on social media and see what happens’. 

That needs to change now. 

What to look out for

We spend a lot of our time on social media – both personally and professionally. It’s easier for us to pinpoint where brands go wrong than it would be for your average consumer. 

It doesn’t mean that they don’t notice. 

It just means that they might not know why a particular post just feels off. 

However, the outcome is the same: if your audience isn’t happy with how you’re posting, then you’ve lost that audience or dented their trust in you. And, right now, trust is everything. 

Here are a few things we see that can do more harm than good when it comes to using your socials. 

Co-opting hashtags

We see this a lot when it comes to movements – Black Lives Matter is one of the more recent examples. While showing support for a movement is always a good thing, only doing it on social media is not really the way to go around it. Social media is geared towards building traction: likes, comments, reblogs, all of them used to elevate whoever is using them and draw it to attention. Brands that co-opt popular hashtags like this normally don’t do a baseline amount of research to see what they’re allegedly supporting; and without the acts to back it up, it just comes off as false and pandering. 

Social media apologies

Even when done well, brand apologies on social media will come off as fake. Part of this is due to the proliferation of apologies going around right now: brands that make mistakes, influencers getting caught out doing something stupid, public figures behaving badly. Part of it is due to the fact that, after brands apologise, nothing changes, rendering both the apology and the brand’s trustworthiness moot. 

Follow up your brand apology with a lasting, behavioural change, and you might get somewhere. If you show proof that you apologised and meant it, that’s different. 

‘For exposure’ marketing

Nobody likes working for free. Brands that don’t offer to pay their collaborators are primed to become the internet’s public enemy number one, especially with the conversations always going around about charging what you’re worth. This goes for artists, mostly, but also for influencers, models, and anyone else who has a skill that the company or brand wants to exploit. It isn’t a good look to get caught begging for free things from a notable public figure; today, the audience you are speaking to wants to know that the brands they frequent have enough fairness to pay people what they’re worth. 

Our social media specialist, Ernesta, says:  “Even though the value of creators’ content for the brand is high, some brands would rather pay the same amount for a billboard. They see online creators as an extension of their digital channels, which in their mind should be almost free, and that shows a lack of partnership mentalities with brands and influencers and creators.” 

Choosing the wrong influencers

Would you buy a car recommended to you by an interior designer? Brands need to know who they’re collaborating with: who their audience is, what their audience will respond to, how they can talk to their audience in a way that will bring them value. One of the ways to do this is by partnering with influencers. 

But it has to be the right influencer. 

Fashion bloggers for fashion brands. Fitness influencers for gym equipment. Makeup youtubers for beauty content. 

Making sure you tailor the influencer to the content shows that you understand the influencer themselves, and that you’re opting for a mutually-beneficial partnership. Picking an influencer just for the amount of followers they have to sell a product that has no relevance shows that you don’t care. 

Expensive ‘green’ options

Sustainability isn’t all priced equally, and that’s alright. However, big corporations that opt into ‘green’ products with a higher price tag are forcing audiences to choose between their morals and their budget, and it’s not an easy decision for anyone. 

Furthermore, when someone with a lesser-known brand can make it cheaper, they’ll usually get talked out of the same space by multibillion brands with a greater chunk of the conversational pie. 

Kim also has a point to make about ‘greenwashing’. She says, “Greenwashing is a strategy used by brands that are neither ethical nor sustainable use to make consumers believe that they are. This is used a lot in the fashion industry, by a lot of fast fashion brands. Since people are more aware of the impact of clothes production on people and the environment, it’s in a brand’s best interest to make consumers believe that they care and that their production lines are made ethically and sustainably.  Deceiving people into thinking that they’re green is also illegal but it’s a lot more subjective, meaning that with good lawyers and the right word choices, they can get away with how they label and market their clothes.”

Laziness

Every social media platform has its own nuances. 

Most brands choose to ignore that. 

The language that works on Facebook won’t get you the same reaction on Instagram. Copying and pasting a Tweet into LinkedIn loses all of its nuance. What made a particular post work well on one social media platform – whether it’s down to content or language – is not going to work on another platform in the same way, if at all. 

But brands choose to take posts from one social platform and put it onto another, usually by copying and pasting and leaving it on their pages without editing or changing it up. Broken links, hashtags that don’t translate, and language that doesn’t ‘go’ on that platform: all of these pull focus away from the message that you are trying to convey. 

Reducing brand presence

A strong brand should have a strong tone of voice. Watering it down for the sake of adapting to a social media platform doesn’t help the brand maintain originality, and makes it easier to lose in the noise of socials.

It’s important to fit in on social media – to use language that works with the platforms, to talk in a way that fits the platform. It doesn’t mean you should stop talking like you. 

Usage

An inactive page is never interesting. An inactive page rife with content is worse. If the page can’t gain traction even with constantly posting, posting more is never the answer. 

Additionally, brands need to stop replying to just the good comments. Responding to comments is a powerful way to connect to an audience on a different level, but only responding to the good comments and hiding the bad just means you can’t handle bad press. 

Misunderstanding of the tools

Adverts which push you to a page that doesn’t service your country don’t do anything except annoy the people that get them. It’s a waste of money and a waste of time, and with so many other brands working to get things perfect, the least you need to focus on is getting things correct. 

Bots – the newest roll out – are usually poorly implemented. They won’t sound human enough to appeal to your audience, or they haven’t been programmed with the right answers; when in doubt, best not use them at all. (In Melissa’s own words: “nothing is more frustrating than brands trying to use bots to sound human, but actually ruin the experience completely.”

Tools also change. Brands that rely on Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok as remaining stable and unchanging are just wasting their own time. With algorithms changing often and social media frequently updating the way they work, brands who don’t keep up with adjustments fall behind, and fall behind fast. 

Design

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but an ugly ad is not going to be considered beautiful by any metric. Bad design, such as ads that work on print media and are just cropped for social media, is another corner-cut that makes it clear social media is an afterthought for you. 

Most brands also don’t maximise their design to take advantage of the platform they’re using. Stories for Instagram should be made separately from posts for Facebook, rather than just cropping or reposting an existing image. That little bit of care goes a long way to showing that you care about your audience enough to give them content that matters. 

According to Andrea, our head of design, “there are still so many ads that pop up that have not realised that social is a medium in and of itself.”

What do you do instead?

A lot of the mistakes we’ve talked about just tend to happen. Social media is still a relatively new way of advertising, and brands aren’t used to it – yet – or to the fact that the rules made up for social media evolved naturally. They weren’t there at the start. Things just happened. 

That spontaneity is why social media advertising is simultaneously the best and the worst way to connect with an audience on a deeper level. Figuring out the best way to put forward a calculated post – and still have it seem spontaneous – is on a different level entirely. 

Here’s some tips to help cut down on some of those social media gaffes: 

• Adapt your language to social media, but don’t change your tone of voice. If you’re a brand that doesn’t sound like it will use emojis, using them purely on Instagram is going to ring false. 
• Research the hashtags you’re using. Never jump on a trending hashtag without knowing what it’s for. 
• Similarly, research the influencers you want to collaborate with. Your product is going to be associated with them; you’ll want to make sure it’s the right association. 
• Design your posts separately. Don’t copy and paste, or crop. Each platform has different requirements for design that you’ll need to follow. 
• Don’t post about something you can’t verify. Virtue-signalling on social media has a nasty way of exploding in your face. 
• Stay up to date with how other people are using the platform. Not your competitors: normal users. They can pinpoint if there’s been a change. 
• Ask for help. Social is confusing even for the pros. You shouldn’t be ashamed about making it less confusing for yourself. 

The post Social Media Behaviour that Needs to Stop, or What Drives our Social Media Team Crazy appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

No amount of paid media is going to turn bad creative into good content. – Gary Vaynerchuk

For my first Switchversary last year, I blogged about what Switch is, this year I want to write about the importance of producing good content.

In the past two years at Switch, I have had the opportunity to understand the difference between boosting a post and creating good, quality content. See, most people believe that allocating a boosting budget to a post is enough to reach the desired target audience and get them to engage. Excuse my French, but that is bullshit – you will reach your audience and force them to consume something that they might not be interested in seeing, but you can’t be certain that they will engage with your post.

Nowadays there are still so many people who would rather post a floating image of their product on Facebook and spend money boosting it than investing their money in good, relevant, content.

 Here’s why you need to start investing in quality content rather than boosted curated or low quality posts.

Good Content: Paid VS Organic Reach

If it were up to me, I would never boost any sort of content (sorry, Mark Zuckerberg) – this is because I truly believe in organic reach and engagement. The difference between Paid reach and Organic reach is in the word itself: with paid you are spending money in order to reach your audience, whereas with organic it’s the audience finding you thanks to Facebook’s algorithms and the engagement of their friends with the post.  

It’s quite simple when you think about it – if you create good content, your audience will want to engage with it and share it with friends. In this way, your post will grow in reach automatically. When you share a post just for the sake of putting content on your page and then boosting it, you are basically throwing your money away,

Why would you want to reach your audience but NOT get them to engage with your brand?

This is exactly what we did with Kinnie: we’ve worked on a strategy to produce content that was more relevant to a local audience and to the brand itself. We’ve identified different content streams, all of which had different objectives and target audiences. Some of the content streams were more relevant for an older audience, whereas others directly targeted people in their twenties. Some pieces of content were more informative, and others were simply used to reinforce the message that Kinnie is a great local drink.

Exhibit A: We produced a series of recipe videos to show creative ways through which people can consume Kinnie – this is because we like to think outside the box and believe that Kinnie could be showcased as more than just a drink, but as a delicious ingredient too.

Exhibit B: To reinforce the culture and origins of Kinnie, we’ve launched a series of streams that solely aimed at showcasing the beautiful islands. We did this by snapping images of Kinnie around popular locations, but also by producing short videos that showed in deeper details beautiful locations around Malta, Gozo and Comino. It’s a combination of consumables and wanderlust – and what could be more engaging than that?

Instead of using high budgets to boost posts, we invested the money into creating quality content. The result?  With more than half the number of posts and less  boosting budget than the previous year, we’ve increased the Page’s total reach by 80%, the average organic reach per post by 370% and the Page’s total engagement by 47% in just under a year.

Want to find out more about how we achieved these numbers? You can contact us here – the coffee’s on us.

Good Content: Aspirational VS Irrelevant

Let me use Max Factor Malta as an example. We’ve been working with this cosmetic brand since 2014, but we’ve always had one main problem: we wouldn’t have relevant content to work with. We’ve had to use the content produced by Max Factor International to promote products/events/promotions on the page, and although it is aesthetically beautiful, the content just did not make sense for the Maltese market.

Most of the visuals involve Victoria’s Secret models using the products – and it’s no news that using overly-photoshopped models to promote cosmetics doesn’t quite work anymore. This is why we have launched the Max Factor Squad – a six month campaign which features six Maltese influencers who promote the brand locally. This was one done by producing high-quality visuals in our studio – a variety of videos and images that are being shared on social media and used to reinforce the message at point of sale in stores.

https://www.facebook.com/406671259436256/photos/a.461503730619675.1073741828.406671259436256/1055886301181412/?type=3&theater

When comparing the figures from June to August 2016 (period without local campaign) to the June to August 2017 figures  (period with local campaign), we have noticed that the Max Factor Malta Facebook’s Page’s total reach increased by 226%, of which 285% was the organic reach increase, along as a 350% increase in Engagement.

Good Content: Virality VS Dormant

I think that every agency, marketing executive and freelancer has heard the sentence ‘I want this to go viral’ at least once in their career (I’ve heard it approximately 47 times in the past three years). If creating content that goes viral was so easy, we’d all have over 500K likes on our images/videos, but it’s not. Virality just happens, and most of the time it hits when you least expect it. One thing that we can certainly do is increase the chances of a post performing well – and how do we do that? That’s right, by creating good content.

Start by defining your story (be it emotional, funny, serious, interesting etc), see how you want to say that story, and then produce it. Always keep in mind your audience – who are they? What do they like to see? Will they understand the message behind your story? You should always make sure that:

1. Your story makes sense to your viewer
2. It triggers a feeling – this is how you’ll get your audience to engage with it

This always makes me think about this one great advert, from Christmas 2015 – and if you’ve already seen it, it’s worth watching it again:

Good Content: the key to success

I can’t emphasize this enough to our clients: create good content and you will see results.

It’s very difficult for us marketers to work with brands that resort to stock photography and images of floating products in order to communicate a message. We no longer live in the era where we need to fight over a magazine spot – the challenge now is to produce content that is better than what others are creating, and I am not only referring to your competitors. As consumers, we are constantly thrown some sort of advertisement our way (boosted posts, sponsored posts, Google ads, banner ads etc etc), that we now manage to filter it all and carefully choose the ones we want to look at.

So: do you want to stand out from the crowd with good content, or are you okay with being filtered out with your boosted post? It’s all about making the transition from simply having an online presence to leaving an impact on your audience. If you don’t know where to start, we can help. Get in touch today.

The post The power of good content appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

Personality goes a long way

We all have our characters, and these tend to shine through when we communicate with others. The same thing, largely, applies to our social media presence, no matter whether they’re personal or business accounts.
The best social media profiles are just like Mr or Ms popular. They manage to convey an aura of positive energy to the people around them. They create a sense of awe and envy, without being condescending or overbearing. Everybody wants a part of them, or at least to be associated with them.

Be entertaining or interesting

Good social media profiles also have another thing going for them. They are interesting, entertaining or, in certain cases, both. Hit the right balance between being interesting and entertaining and you can be assured that you’ll be a massive hit. John Oliver, for example, manages this perfectly.

If you can’t be interesting or entertaining, then offer value

“But, but…” I can already hear you protesting. How can I be entertaining or interesting if I’m selling something that is essentially boring?
Well, there’s a third factor that can help you out. Offer value. Entertainment and interest are both of immense value, but look at pages like Deal or Deal Today, which are essentially uninteresting and definitely not entertaining. They manage to generate a hell of a lot of good will by offering value to their followers.
And let’s face it. If you’re running a business that needs a Facebook page that can’t be either interesting, entertaining or offers value, then you seriously need to rethink your line of business (or your channel of communication).
Speaking of which, we need to make sure to:

Choose the right medium

Not all channels are created equal. There is no absolute right or wrong social media to choose. For our local readers, Facebook might be the default network to work with since Malta is somewhat obsessed with it, and nothing else. However you should always consider all other options, especially since local usage is growing in other networks and very few businesses are tapping into them.

So where do I start?

So where does this leave us? What should I do if I’m just starting off with my social media efforts?
I’d personally tell any clients I have to start by testing the waters and trying to get a feel for the kind of response you’re getting.

Be human

Post to your business’ page as if you were posting for yourself. See it as a natural extension of your brand, no matter how well defined it is. Always ask yourself whether you would have said what you’re about to type out to a client who just walked into your physical store.
I don’t think you greet people by shouting “SALAMI SANDWICHES – 2.50” in their face when they walk into your restaurant in the morning. But you might tell them something along the lines of: “Good morning, how’s your day? Our special of the day is the salami sandwich.” Do the same with your Facebook page.

A couple of the eateries around our office (Dobbin’s and Karrot & Ko), in fact, have got this to a tee – they both do a good job of informing their clients what they’re preparing on the day, and I realise that they’ve managed to keep us all coming back to their pages on a daily basis.
They do it by writing friendly posts that are also informative (knowing what food’s available to me is very valuable information). They have also understood how important it is to:

Be punctual

I remember the first few weeks Dobbin’s opened, they’d post their lunch menu and photos at about midday. By then we’d have already been too hungry. We’d have checked out Karrot (or some other places in the vicinity) and ordered food elsewhere.
Timing is not always crucial, but when it is, it just is. Don’t post all your Christmas offers on the 24th of December. Everybody would have bought their presents by then.

It ain’t easy

Also understand that if you might have to have to wait quite a bit before you start seeing concrete results. Building a relationship with your customers will take a fair amount of time – and you can only achieve this by doing a good job of it, consistently.
If you want to help yourself shortcut the process, then you need to be prepared to spend a bit of money. Because there’s a big misconception about social media marketing, but trust me:

It ain’t free

Be prepared to spend some money on growing your online presence. The absolute least you can spend on Facebook is a € (or a $) a day. If your business can’t afford €30/month, then, once again, you probably should not be in business.
Put some marketing budget into your Facebook page and you will immediately start seeing much better results. Good results bring better reach, and better reach brings better results. See what we did there? We created a vicious cycle. Spend more, get more of the free stuff in return too!

And in the end…

This is the end of this very short primer to social media marketing. What do you think? Are you ready to up your game? What do you find hardest (or easiest) about your social presence?
Get serious about your social media marketing, or at least get someone to take it seriously for you. We always tell our clients that we’d prefer it if they’d handle their own social media accounts, but if you don’t know where to start from or if you just don’t have the time and/or expertise to do it yourself – then just drop us a line and we’ll be glad to help you out!

The post A social media primer – The intro series appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

The post My experience in digital marketing appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

1. Your page lacks information

If you want to be of service then you’ve got to provide as much information as possible. Some pages don’t even give their opening hours so be sure to fill out all the necessary details.

2. Your branding is all over the place

Your profile image is a sleek version of your logo, but your cover photo looks like it came out of the 1980s. You’ve got a kaleidoscope of colours and your page screams chaos. Restore some harmony to your page and apply brand guidelines that will show unity across everything you do.

3. You’ve abandoned your page

This is probably one of the worst things you can do. Don’t start a page only to neglect it after a while. Posts shouldn’t be sporadic, and should follow some sort of regular structure. If people visit your page and see your last post was 3 weeks ago they won’t be very impressed.

4. You use Facebook like a billboard

Okay, so we know we told you not to neglect your page, but that doesn’t mean you should use it as a billboard. Don’t blast your followers with “SPECIAL OFFER ONE TIME ONLY”- this isn’t a market stall. Keep it savvy and engaging, entice your audience and interact with them instead of trying to force sales onto them.

5. Your images are never the right dimensions

Dimensions exist for a reason. A simple Google search will show you that there are dimensions for a profile picture, a cover photo, a Facebook post, a Facebook advert, and an event cover. Stick to the dimensions when creating media to be shared on your page so that everything has a professional look. Don’t use images with low quality and be creative!

(Image source: makeawebsitehub)

6. You’re not communicating

People post to your page but you don’t even acknowledge them, they might as well be talking to a wall (no pun intended!). Interact with your followers and show them you value their input and feedback.

7. You forget you’re a business

We love pages that interact with their customers and followers, but always keep in mind that at the end of the day you’re a business and a certain sense of decorum is required, especially since you represent a brand.

8. You’ve automated too many things

Automation can be handy – especially when you link different social media platforms. But more often than not it can cause some problems. If all of your posts are automated then you risk sounding like a robot. Different social media platforms have different audiences, so automating your Facebook posts to post to Twitter might be a good temporary fix to a neglected Twitter account, but isn’t a long term solution.

9. You’re not paying attention to your insights

Facebook insights provide a great deal of information for your business. If you haven’t checked them out yet then it’s high time you do. You’ll learn about your audience, which posts are the most successful, and can analyse any spikes in page likes in order to link these with any particular efforts you carried out.

10. You think Facebook advertising is as simple as pressing “boost”

We recently published the first in a series of blog posts which will provide valuable information on online advertising. There’s more to marketing than just pressing boost. Familiarise yourself with the different ways you can use Facebook, would it be better to pay for impressions or for clicks? What’s the reason behind boosting your post, and what’s your ROI?

The post Are you making these 10 Facebook marketing mistakes? appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

Instagram for Business tutorial

Instagram started off way back in 2010, however it was only over the past few years that it really became huge. Huge enough for even marketers to start using it!
Originally a social media platform where users could share polaroid-style snaps, Instagram has grown to a state where companies use it to reach out to particular audiences. Of course, it’s up to you to know whether Instagram is right for you, but if you think that there’s even a slight possibility that it is, then read on to find out how to make the most of it.

1. Know your audience

You’ve got to know who you’re communicating with. Instagram is generally used mainly by a younger crowd, with most users’ ages ranging from early teens to late twenties. Moreover, most Instagram users are female, which explains why big brands like TopShop make it a point to invest time in creating great content for their Instagram followers.

2. Refine your brand strategy

If you’re doing your marketing well, then you probably have a brand strategy. (If you don’t, last week’s article will help you get started). It’s important that when setting up an account on a different social media platform you keep the same brand identity. Use the same colours, logo, and tone of voice for a consistent, recognisable feel.

3. Separate your content

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram all have similar things in common, but at the end of the day they are successful social media platforms because they’re not replicas of each other. So if these social media platforms aren’t exactly the same, then neither should your content be a copy + paste from one platform to the next. Learn what works and what doesn’t and adapt your style in order to pitch the same information to different demographics.
After all, the same people could be following you on different social platforms – if all they see is repeated content, they’ll lose interest. If you keep things interesting by offering different content for each platform, you’ll keep them checking in again and again.

4. Follow sparingly

Ideally once you’ve created your account you’ll announce it on other social media platforms, inviting people to follow you on Instagram. Once people do start engaging with your brand, keep calm. Don’t follow everyone back.
Be nice, but don’t be desperate. If an Instagram account has 200 followers but is following 600 then something is clearly wrong in the marketing department. Keep your follower to following ratio at a stable level, where you’ve got a majority of followers. You’re not expected to follow everyone back, you’re a business… not an attention-seeking teenager. Remember that it’s quality over quantity. (Check out the discrepancy on Intel’s Instagram account! That’s right, with a little creativity, any brand can be an Instagram hit.)

5. Social Media flirting

Flirting? Yes!
While we’ve just explained that you shouldn’t go crazy and follow everyone back, you are allowed to flirt. Find companies with similar interests and keep an eye on their posts, like the ones related to your work, and even comment if you feel it’s the right thing to do! Don’t be shy to do the same with fans. Look up trending topics and like posts by people with similar interests. They might get curious to see who you are, and they might even follow you back. Just remember to be subtle and play it cool – just like flirting in the real world.

6. Engagement

This one’s a no brainer, but we’ll say it just to make sure it’s clear. Engage your audience. Keep in mind that they’re human beings and like to be treated that way. Be friendly, informative, and witty. Reply to comments, even if it’s just a simple “thanks, have a great weekend”. People like to feel appreciated and are always flattered when brands respond.

7. Show your fun side

First of all, if you’ve read this point and find yourself desperately trying to figure out what your fun side is, you might want to rethink your marketing strategy. If you’ve got a fun side don’t be afraid to show it. Whether it’s a costume party at the office, or a funny quote about the business you’re in, don’t be shy!

8. Faces, faces, faces

Imagine if you’re scrolling down a feed, faces automatically catch your eye. Throwing in a slightly different post every once in a while and instead of uploading a picture of your product, upload a picture of the staff, or a happy customer!

9. Good visuals

Speaking of visuals, when uploading photos be sure that they’re good quality. Don’t go crazy with filters, (sometimes they’re not even necessary), and try to include an artistic flair to your photos. Whether it’s stacking products in an eye catching way, or placing them in a different location (try a pair of sunglasses on a dazzling beach), be creative, giving your followers something different to look at each day.
Oreo excel at this. They have 1 product: A classic cookie. The cookie has looked the same for years and years, but they always manage to show it in a different light through great images that keep fans hooked day in, day out:

10. The special club

Make your followers feel as though they’re part of a special, elite club. Create competitions just for them, or have special giveaways targeted to Instagram followers only. It will boost brand loyalty, attract more people to follow you on Instagram, and make your followers feel appreciated. And we all know that a happy customer is a loyal customer!
If you feel you’re now confident enough to join Instagram and start marketing, why not check out this handy post on GrowthHacking your way to the top by using the platform?

The post Instagram for business in 10 easy steps appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

 1. The set up

Logically, the first thing you need to do is set up your account. Create an account which includes a link back to your website and an about section. This should be fairly straightforward, especially if you’ve spent some time learning the ropes. Pinterest offer some handy guides in case you get stuck.

2. What to use Pinterest for

If your company’s sales are product-based, then finding material for your Pinterest boards will be a walk in the park. This of it as an extension of your online catalogue but on a searchable platform packed with people who are looking for your stuff. So if you sell shoes, don’t beat around the bush: create a board with the keyword “shoes” and upload an image of every shoe product you have for sale.
If your company offers a service then you can easily create boards related to that service. For example, a cleaning service could start a board like “cleaning tips” where images and infographics leading to links with handy tips are uploaded – and boy are these popular!

3. Observe your competition

It’s always useful to know what others are doing. Check out your competition’s Pinterest boards, see how they’re using it and what you like and dislike, then come up with a game plan of your own. Remember to be as innovative as possible in order to present people with a defining feature of yours!

4. Keep it relevant

Only pin what’s relevant to your business. You can show your cheeky side by pinning some business related jokes, but it’s useless having a board about High Heels when you’re a cleaning company.

5. Know your audience

The majority of Pinterest users are female. Moreover, most users are between 20 and 34 years old. This already helps you figure out how best to approach your audience. Remember to maintain the same message across social media platforms, but adapt it to suit your audience. Pinterest could be a great place to branch out, show a more fun and social aspect, and target a whole new area of potential customers.

6. Optimise for search results

Make sure to include keywords when describing the pinned image. Also include links back to your website so as to boost your ranking in search engines while increasing traffic to your site. Moreover, don’t use link-shortening tools as this might cause your pins to be flagged as suspicious.

7. When to post

Don’t blast people with all your pinned images at once. It could cause them to unfollow you simply because you clogged their page. Instead, time your pins so that you’re pinning throughout the day and reaching different people.

8. Image sizes

Here’s a handy guide to help you figure out image sizes on Pinterest. Your profile picture (which should be your company logo)  doesn’t need to be particularly large since it will fit into the small circle. However, when it comes to the rest of your pictures be sure to always use high quality images. Although the Pinterest boards will show cropped versions of your photos, once you expand the board, and then expand the image, it will grow up to 750 px wide. This means that using small photos will result to shabby pins. So keep this in mind when uploading your own pins, and also while re-pinning other people’s images.

9. Your website

Make sure your website includes a ‘pin it’ button. Usually the ‘pin it’ button appears when you hover your mouse over images on a site with the function. However if someone is looking at your site from a mobile device then the chances are that this person isn’t going to hover over the image, this means that the person won’t realise that the image is pinnable. So by making the ‘pin it’ button obvious you’re more likely to appeal to mobile users. And after all, the amount of mobile users is steadily growing! (Install the plugin on your site for hover effect)

10. Above all, inspire!

Pinterest is the world of online inspiration. Users while away their time looking at pretty pictures of how they can create, design and produce their own items, while others follow infographic boards, learning facts about a variety of things. Either way, whatever topic it might be, Pinterest users tend to be on the look out for inspiration.
Ensure that your content inspires, captures people’s attention and makes them want to engage with you. And when someone engages with your brand, don’t forget to return the favour by engaging your audience in a friendly and helpful manner!

The post Pinterest – Not Just For DIY Enthusiasts! appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.