7 Techniques to Modernize Your Social Media Strategy

You’ve studied your target audiences and become familiar with the social platforms they frequent. You have a designated social team with a keen eye on what’s trending. You’ve set goals that make sense for your business. 

You’ve mastered the fundamentals, so now it’s time to leverage more modern techniques. Here are seven contemporary tips for reaching savvy social audiences.

#1: Experiment with short-form video

Last year, TikTok reached 1 billion monthly active users. It was the most-downloaded app in Q2 of 2022, with more than 60 million downloads from the Apple App Store. The company also claims that 47% of users have “bought something seen on TikTok”.

All this to say, short-form videos, especially TikTok videos, represent a massive opportunity for brands to get in front of target audiences.

Short-form videos are interactive and fresh, and oftentimes pop up before other, more traditional posts. And they continue to dominate the social space across platforms, outperforming long-form video.

Consider running challenges, displaying in-feed ads, collaborating with influencers and brands, and sharing user-generated content.

#2: Invest in social media commerce

All major social media networks support social commerce, the buying and selling of products and services directly from a social app.

Audiences are buying this way - and the trend is increasing. In fact, Insider Intelligence predicts that there will be 97.2 million social commerce buyers in the US, which is 38.2% of Internet users.

Social media commerce also removes extra steps between discovery and checkout, increasing the likelihood of a sale.

For higher education, for example, this could look like a custom Shopify storefront of school merch and swag.

#3: Share insights from different departments

Over the past few years, showing the human side of our brands has been top priority. Audiences crave personal and relatable content in times of uncertainty.

Now is the time to expand that effort by looping in other teams at your organization.

For example, human-centered content can help HR attract qualified candidates in the midst of an incredibly competitive job market.

#4: Create a crisis communication strategy

Some situations arise quickly, evolve rapidly, and even become chaotic. They are difficult to prepare for and can harm a brand’s reputation. 

Things like negative product feedback, outages, slow response times, lack of sensitivity, lack of diversity, or failure to commit to sustainability can really amplify on social media.

Be prepared with 1.) a risk mitigation strategy that involves social listening and 2.) a management strategy that outlines communication techniques in the event of bad PR.

#5: Post when your team is available to respond

Community building can’t happen if your social media team is unavailable to engage with audiences. Data may tell you that evenings and weekends are the best times to post, but responding quickly to feedback, shoutouts, and questions will demonstrate a strong commitment to customer service.

Similarly, be sure to share positive reviews and testimonials as a form of social proof for your brand. And no need to post everyday - audiences appreciate quality over quantity.

#6: Revisit smaller social media platforms

While platforms like Facebook and Instagram reign supreme in terms of usage, recent outages and privacy concerns have led to public scrutiny. If your brand is not able or doesn't want to invest budget with these players, experiment with reaching audiences on perhaps-neglected platforms like Pinterest and Reddit.

#7: Collaborate with influencers and partner with brands

Collaborating with an influencer or partnering with another brand can help your organization break into a new social space (like TikTok, for example). People trust influencers more than brands, which is why influencer marketing is a valid avenue to explore.

Check out this list of influencer marketing platforms to help you find influencers, coordinate with them, and manage campaigns.

Wrap up

The social media world is evolving around us. It is impossible to keep up with the latest micro trends or consistently meet every audience expectation. The best thing you can do is define goals and KPIs that make sense for your organization and attack them with enthusiasm and modern techniques.