How has social media changed marketing? Well, I’d say it’s completely revolutionised it, in a bunch of ways! When I started studying and seriously thinking about where I wanted to take my career, I quickly decided on marketing. If you told me back then that my entire ‘marketing’ career would become almost completely consumed by social media, I don’t know if I would’ve believed you! Social media is changing every day, and if you’re a marketer? You need to be watching closely, and changing with it. Let’s break down some key ways social media has changed marketing, and how you can wield this to your advantage!
ALL the data!
The growth of social media and the online space has brought with it a huge increase in the data available to marketers. Social media allows you to have a detailed view of your brand’s effectiveness. You can measure your social media account’s performance across a plethora of top, middle, and bottom-of-funnel metrics. These platforms also learn an immense amount of detail about their users, including their behaviours, likes, dislikes, and shopping habits. From this, their algorithm is designed to serve content it thinks they will like, based on – you guessed it – data.
Plus, if we’re talking about social media advertising? Your paid ads can also attribute all kinds of online actions and conversions back to their original social media source. Hint: harness the power of the Facebook Pixel and Google Analytics for this one. The data available to us means we can create incredibly tailored target audiences to make our social media advertising more powerful. Okay that was a lot of data talk, and it’s okay if it’s got you feeling a little like this:
The truth is? This data is full of huge opportunities if you know how to draw insights from it all. Traditional marketing was never able to have such strong analytics or attribution as we see today. Social media has evolved to achieve a depth of data those old-school marketers would never have thought possible! Social media has changed marketing by allowing you to pinpoint what is and isn’t engaging, converting, or reaching your audience, so you can decide how to adapt, and what to invest your time and money into.
Video becomes KING
Social media has no doubt catapulted the rise of video, and marketers have had to get on board to stay competitive. According to Hubspot, 67% of marketers say sharing marketing videos on social media (YouTube, Instagram, TikTok) has the biggest ROI. With stats like that, It’s fair to say that video has played a heavy role in the ways that social media has changed marketing. Social media users love to consume video content, BUT they don’t love to consume ads. This means brands need to find a way to create engaging content that appeals to audiences but also achieves a key objective for them, like awareness, website traffic, or sales.
With the rise of TikTok and Reels, that expectation of truly engaging video content from brands only increased. This challenged video marketing to change and adapt, and the top performing brands now produce truly captivating content, or they work with naturally engaging influencers or content creators to do this for them. Gone are the days of brand videos looking like cheesy ads! Creating engaging but also results-driven video can be a difficult balance to strike. Here at TDP, we’ve spent years perfecting our video marketing formula, and we’re sharing it VERY SOON at our September 20th Lunch and Learn session. If you’d like to learn TDP’s video marketing formula for success in the time it takes to chow down on a delicious lunch, book your spot here.
Unlimited reach – globally, and organically
Going viral is now every marketer’s dream. Reaching millions of users across the globe with your content, without any budget behind it? Unthought of before social media! But even on a smaller scale, the reach and impact of an organic social media presence is incredibly valuable for brands, and this opportunity has shaped how brands are making content in this digital landscape.
Instagram has shared that 83% of people discover new products or services through Instagram, and it’s not just any old product-focused content that will get the reach you desire. Top performing brands are thinking social first, they’re thinking value-first. Rather than shoving their product in a consumer’s face (which – lets face it – will fall flat on any social media platform), brands are needing to be thoughtful about their social media content. In my opinion, it’s strengthened their content. Now, rather than just ‘ads’, we consume beautiful, meaningful content from brands we love. They include storytelling, influencer content, and generally much more engaging content that they know will resonate with users and perform well in the algorithm.
Once you get a handle on the ol’ algorithm and how to create engaging content, there’s no limit to what your content can achieve. I’d say that’s a pretty big way social media has changed marketing. By the way, if you’re looking to nail your strategy to tap into all the possibilities of social media, why not dive into a strategy session with us? In the sesh, we spend 2 hours with you deep diving into your social media marketing plan and strategy.
All of these factors play a huge role in how social media has changed marketing, but one thing remains consistent, seriously good content reigns supreme! Thanks for letting me nerd out for a little while on the blog talking about all things social media and marketing. Keep up with all things TDP and the constantly changing social media landscape by joining our community on Instagram and Facebook. Got your own thoughts on how social media has changed marketing? Let’s discuss! Let us know your thoughts in the comments.