2018 Social Media Shake-Up

A new year is upon us, and I, for one, am more excited than ever because 2018 seems to finally be the year that social media has a seat at the big kids’ table. Social is here to stay, so brands need to make sure they’re doing everything they can to kill it with their social strategy. Whether you are just getting a social team started or you’ve been at it for years, here are a few things you can do now to mix up your mindset.

Disrupt Your Org Chart

Don’t let a social media team be its own island. Whether you have one employee or 10 dedicated to social, make sure that they are part of the bigger team. The product that comes out on your social channels touches every single department in your organization in one way or another. In order for social to truly shine, silos need to be broken down to allow for more team integration.

Listening > Talking

Social isn’t a one-way street—it’s a conversation. Don’t preach, and when you do say something, make your voice stand out. But also make sure that voice sounds like a human; people want to feel like they’re talking to their best friend, not a customer-service rep.

Many brands don’t focus on community management as much as they should, limiting their engagement to anyone who directly mentions them. Author Cory Doctorow said it perfectly: “Content isn’t king. If I sent you to a desert island and gave you the choice of taking your friends or your movies, you’d choose your friends. If you chose the movies, we’d call you a sociopath. Conversation is king. Content is just something to talk about.”

Brands should search hashtags, keywords and relevant accounts daily to insert themselves into a conversation. Not only will this help grow their follower base, but it will also position them as a key player in the space.

Know Thy Channels

So many people mistakenly repurpose the same content across all their channels, neglecting to utilize each unique channel. For example, last year brought a massive change to Instagram’s algorithm when it did away with chronological feeds. Now you can expect to see a post at the top of your feed days after it was shared. Taking this into consideration, you should choose more evergreen content for your page, and embrace the Stories feature for real-time content. This approach should be applied to every single channel so you can make your content shine.

Trends are Trendy

Be ready to keep up. The lay of the land changes faster than you can type a single tweet. Keep daily tabs on websites like Ad Week, Ad Age, PR Daily and Mashable so that you’re always in the know. Be a pioneer in the social space every single day.