How to navigate change on social media
We find ourselves in the teenage years of the dominant social media platforms – Facebook is 20 years old; Instagram is 14; and 18-year-old Twitter has angrily changed its name to X. As with any teenager, volatility is the norm. Recent years brought us the mountainous rise of TikTok, the faltering of Twitter, the birth of Threads, the rise and fall of the metaverse, Bill C-18, Apple’s app tracking transparency, and generative AI for all. There’s been a tremendous amount of change.
Constant change and disruption are woven into the fabric of the digital landscape. So how do communicators and marketers navigate these rapid transformations of technology, norms, and tastes? There are really only two choices – radical change every quarter or create a long-term, stable social strategy. The former is going to consistently get you into trouble, the latter will set you up for success for years to come.
Just because platforms are volatile doesn’t mean brands have to be. Amidst the chaos, the smart move is to create integrated strategies that bring together social, creative, media, and web teams to curate moments and create ownable content focused on measurable goals.
If users don’t win, everyone loses
We are in the midst of a fierce battle for attention. Consumer ability to jump toward shiny new platforms is forever shifting how social media properties operate. As communicators, we should be rooting for more success, not failure. A healthy, competitive social media ecosystem is better for all of us as it incentivizes communicators to create compelling messaging.
Meta’s platforms, along with TikTok’s, increasingly suffer from a proliferation of out-of-touch and socially disconnected ads. A surge in poorly crafted – and often auto-generated messaging results in user disengagement; they post less frequently, see less of what they want, and before you know it, you’re in a platform death spiral. This cycle creates a worse environment for users, contributing to declining diversity, doom-scrolling and deteriorating mental health – which is a lousy environment for organizations to communicate in with users.
No one should add to this deterioration. Marketers and communicators must be thoughtful about what we bring to the party. Audiences want to be seen and acknowledged, and they crave relevant content. Brands who lead with authenticity and demonstrate they understand the diversity of their customers’ values will continue to flourish.
Paid and organic: BFFs
Organic reach is dead. But that doesn’t mean organic efforts should be abandoned. It just means that paid campaigns and organic publishing shouldn’t operate in silos, and certainly not with distinct teams behind them. Organic and paid should be part of the same strategy conversation – with creative and media at the table. Paid and organic can complement each other strongly. Organic audiences are engaged supporters, driving content views, comments and organic website sessions. Organic content nurtures and informs those who know your brand or your perspective. These audiences are your most loyal, and insights from their actions and interests will inform your paid audience targeting, and your next round of creative content planning. On the flip side, within your best-performing social media content – that’s tested across millions of targeted impressions and dozens of AI-powered creative treatments – lies the spark for your next most engaging organic content.
Bigger! Better! Fewer!
Face it, very few are waiting for your organization’s next social media post. You should be communicating when you have something relevant to say. It’s more effective to focus your integrated social media efforts within your brand’s own schedule. Find your most meaningful and most impactful moments. Pick your times to speak, and break through with meaning, authenticity, and the weight of a focused ad spend to drive higher exposure for the moments that matter (to you and your audiences). Less is more!
Bigger moments are more likely to align with strategic outcomes. And social media outcomes should be a means to an end, aligning with actual business objectives. Your organization is not powered by impressions and likes. Calibrate your conversions and turn on an ecosystem that is fine-tuned to nurture first-party customer data – data from which you can grow more meaningful relationships. Engaged audiences are more likely to connect through to your websites, your ecommerce shop, your CRM initiatives and your physical assets.
Embrace platform formats
The smartphone is the TV of today. And vertical video is its 22-minute sitcom. XDR screens and 5G networks have made social media feeds the perfect place for vertical video entertainment. Steve Jobs dreamed of an entertainment and communications device for the park bench, the bus and the bathroom. And now we have it, full-screen and lightning fast. Today, content carrying your message needs to resonate with your mobile viewer within just 2 seconds. This is why your creative and social media teams should integrate from the start, so that possibilities are never missed. Your content planning and production stream can be designed to incorporate native platform truths, from the start. The format is vertical, short, and quickly engaging – with branding and key message right up front.
Because social media is so volatile, we as marketers need to be extra-focused on stability. When users, platforms and policies ebb and flow, integration and cohesion are our secret weapons. Increase the proximity between social, creative, media and web teams. Lead with authenticity. Embrace and test new platform formats. These are the efforts that enhance immediate success during these platform teen years and prepare us for weathering the expected volatility ahead.
