At Wild PR, we eat, sleep and breathe social media. Well, not quite! But we are pros at creating super-engaging content for our clients and using social media to monitor upcoming trends across industries to create reactive campaigns.
To share some of our expertise and learnings (because social media is an ever-changing world), we’ll recap what’s happening across social platforms and how you can use content to get the most out of these changes every quarter.
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Monitor the Twitter takeover
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few weeks, you will have heard or read the words ‘Twitter’ and ‘Musk’ in the same sentence. The billionaire’s purchase of the platform was the subject of many online memes and serious concerns from those who make a living from the platform.
The platform is still live and functioning at the time of writing this blog. However, many significant changes have already occurred, leaving users unhappy. Unhappy enough that a reported 877,000 Twitter users deactivated their accounts in the first five days of the Musk takeover. The main reason for the drop is the introduction of Twitter Blue.
The new subscription service costs a user $7.99 (£6.65) per month. It provides any paying account with a blue verification tick and other premium features, such as early access to new features such as Edit Tweet. Whilst this may seem highly beneficial to business accounts, the service has faced backlash for allowing users to impersonate official accounts of notable brands and share misleading or controversial content.
Twitter has set out new regulations to avoid further issues. However, as a business or professional, you should be aware and monitor for impersonators that could threaten your brand.
The latest update from Elon is that Twitter has officially banned its users from linking to their profiles on other social media sites like Mastodon, Facebook, and Instagram. Mentions of other platform handles like linktr.ee are also now banned; so our tip would be to get updating your business profiles asap!
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Ride the rise of BeReal (and its copycats)
If 2021 was the year of Tik Tok, 2022 belongs to BeReal. The app’s popularity skyrocketed early this year due to its authentic, unfiltered and nostalgic ideology. Users receive a notification randomly during the day and have two minutes to share their surroundings via a front and back camera image. Images cannot be changed or altered, and whilst they can be shared with the public and friends, there is no like system familiar with Instagram or Facebook.
Like many popular social media features, it didn’t take long before other platforms wanted to incorporate the concept. In August, Instagram started testing a new ”IG Candid Challenge” feature. Not long after, Tik Tok launched a feature called Tik Tok Now, following the same concept.
Although BeReal’s concept makes it aimed at individuals, there has been a rise in brands and businesses using the platform to gain an audience. As BeReal doesn’t allow advertisements or sponsored content, brands must think more creatively about attracting an audience.
Major brands such as Chipotle and e.l.f Cosmetics have branded profiles on the app and create engaging content for their audience. Chipotle uses its daily post to share limited discount codes for its products, encouraging users to follow the account and check back every day.
BeReal is an excellent platform for businesses looking to add more personality to their brand or to showcase products available to customers. Keep your eyes on our social channels over the next few weeks, as the Wild pack might be getting real shortly!
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How to promote your brand with Reels
If you’re looking for a simple way to reach new audiences and make your content more engaging on Instagram, make sure you’re using Reels in your content plan! Creating short videos that will grab users’ attention can quickly expand your pool of potential customers and showcase the products or services offered. Plus, they’re a great way to create video content without access or requiring camera equipment or editing software.
Reels can be up to 90 seconds long, edited within the Instagram app and have a library of sounds for creators to use. When posting, they are shared to a profile’s feed, and the reels explore page.
Developing video content ideas can take some work, especially as a B2B brand. However, monitoring trends and what content is doing well in your sector can help you find inspiration for what will engage your audience. Don’t be afraid to have fun and use Reels and video content to show a more personal and informal side to your brand.
We recently began creating Reels for our manufacturing client, Specialist Glass Products. As all its products are manufactured in its state-of-the-art factory, just down the road from the Wild office, it creates the perfect opportunity to gather video content and create exciting behind-the-scenes reels of what customers would not usually see. So far, we have seen excellent engagement improvement, and the post is reaching a much wider audience than static images. Check them out for yourself here!
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Understand what your audience wants (and will want)
Creating relevant and topical content is key to a solid social media strategy. Whilst you may not have a crystal ball to predict the next ‘big thing’, plenty of tools can help you monitor a rise in interest in specific topics.
Google Trends is a free tool that shows interest changes for searches over a few days or even several years. You can also compare the search interest to see which is most relevant. Some newsletters or websites can put this data into round-ups of the most significant increases. Exploding Topics can detect rising topics months before they reach peak interest.
This insight provides optimum time to plan and draft content in advance that will grab users’ attention. You can also filter by category to see trends relevant to your brand.
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Wild PR’s favourite Winter social campaign
With so many recent social media campaigns focusing on Black Friday and Christmas, it’s nice to see some alternative content on our feed.
One campaign we’ve been loving was Spotify’s run-up to its annual and much-anticipated Wrapped report. Running up to the release, the brand teased regular content about the element, including mock-ups of top songs relating to topics such as Thanksgiving and the World Cup.
This was a great way to newsjack trending news and events to increase exposure and build interest and awareness during a product or service launch.
Make sure to follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn to stay up to date with all our latest news and advice. Also, check out our blog for more insight into all things Social Media, PR and Marketing.