Social Media Trends for 2020
Social media is always changing, with technological advances, both in terms of devices and platforms, enabling new ways for people to interact.
The Rise of Social Selling
Social media is used by practically everybody, everywhere. This makes it a prime spot for businesses to look for leads. It’s no wonder why the majority of top sales representatives rely on these platforms for their strategies.
With this, you can say goodbye to cold calling random contacts and cookie-cutter processes. It allows you to leverage social insights and online intelligence so you can zero in on strong leads before you even interact with them. What’s more, you can develop a two-way street between sales reps and consumers through social media.
According to some studies, many businesses also leverage social selling for lead development, account research, and call preparation. However, executing this can be quite tricky if you don’t have the right tools.
To start, you should use your sales tools in conjunction with social media management software features. This will allow you to formulate sales workflows in line with your social media efforts. By doing so, it is much more effortless to gather data on your prospects as well as tap them when need be.
Reaching Shoppers through Influencers
2018 was a pivotal year for social media. Facebook was scrutinized for its data practices due to the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Meanwhile, Twitter suspended over 70 million accounts due to bots and trolls that were shown to influence the previous US presidential election. As a result, people have come to be more skeptical of social media. In fact, recent studies show that 95% of internet users don’t trust social media.
In addition to these issues, many shoppers nowadays don’t respond well to impersonal and overtly promotional advertising campaigns. Simply put, celebrity endorsements, TV ads, and aggressive sales pitches have lost their appeal.
Hence, to cope in this era of social media distrust, businesses had to find another way to tap into their audience. One such solution that is growing in popularity today is influencer marketing.
Social media influencers, particularly micro-influencers, have the uncanny ability to interact with shoppers on a more personal level. This can be attributed to the fact that they appear more approachable and authentic compared to prominent figures.
Recent studies even show that teenagers can relate more to YouTube creators than celebrities. In a similar light, a good chunk of internet users relies heavily on influencer recommendations for their purchases. That said, it’s easy to see how lucrative these influencer partnerships can be.
As we move further into 2019, we can expect more brands to leverage this type of strategy for their campaigns to expand their customer bases and yield more targeted leads.
