Social Media Just Changed Again! Did Your Marketing Strategy?

Just the other morning I was reminded (as if I needed any reminding!) that social media evolves more quickly than I can type in my username and password.

On that day, Jay York and Brittany Vaill, two of EMSI’s social media strategists, were discussing changes in the works for Instagram and what the implications might be for us and our clients.

As I listened to them discuss – and at times bemoan – what was happening with Instagram, it hit me that the details of this particular change weren’t nearly as crucial as the fact that a change was happening at all. (Jay smilingly said, “Marsha, get used to it!”)

But, why is this important? Because each change in how social media platforms operate affects how well or how poorly individuals and businesses use them in their marketing and personal branding efforts.

By now, nearly everybody agrees that social media is a key ingredient to any marketing plan, but aimlessly tweeting and liking things doesn’t get the job done.

If you’re serious about social media as a marketing tool – and you should be – it’s essential to have a professional involved who would track trends and adapt your marketing strategy to the newest features available – like when Instagram switches things up on you.

We’ve even reached the point where colleges and technical schools recognize that social media is a necessary ingredient for public relations and marketing, and have added social media courses and degree programs to their curriculum.

Let’s take one example. The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising offers both two-year and four-year social media degrees, and the school’s description of its program perfectly sums up why you need a professional.

The institute’s website says students “learn how to identify, engage, and communicate with their target markets and online communities, build and maintain consumer loyalty, and develop techniques to maximize growth.”

Exactly! The person who handles your social media needs to have a combination of social media knowledge AND marketing savvy. They need to monitor the changing social media landscape and understand how to take advantage of those sometimes bewildering changes.

Look at some examples of what’s been happening recently in social media:

• Instagram. This is the platform that raised the eyebrows of Jay and Brittany, and got me thinking about this whole topic. In a nutshell, Instagram is changing the way posts are displayed. In the past, users saw posts in chronological order. Now the order will be based on the likelihood you’ll be interested in the content, your relationship with whoever is posting, and the timeliness of the post. How that will affect marketing efforts may not be clear immediately, but Jay and Brittany suspect it could mean you will have to pay for ads if you want to ensure your targeted audience sees your posts. The marketing community will now spend countless hours analyzing this change and inventing ways to ensure their clients remain relevant – an all too familiar necessity in their field of work.

• Facebook. If you have a video message to get out, Facebook now offers a live video-streaming feature. Once again, the full potential might not be clear just yet, but this could be an excellent added component to marketing efforts.

• Twitter. This is the social media site that forced everyone to come up with short, snappy messages because of its 140-character limit for tweets. But Twitter reportedly is increasing the character count, which could change the entire culture of Twitter.

Those are just a few examples from three of the more common social media platforms. As I noted earlier, the specifics of the changes aren’t nearly as important as the fact that change is happening and your success will depend heavily on whether or not you’re keeping up.

As little as a year or two ago, it may have been acceptable to have a less experienced person – like a college intern or family member – run your social media. But, with the importance of social media today as part of a marketing strategy, to win at it you need to send in a professional!

Keeping you posted!

Marsha

P.S. If you need professional help with your social media efforts, give us a call at 727-443-7115 ext. 215 or simply click here to get started with your Free Media Analysis!