I’m not a huge movie buff. It’s been at least a year since I’ve been in a movie theater. But one movie that I can’t wait to see?

Barbie.

Recently, Meta Platforms launched their latest social networking app and took the internet by storm. Threads, Instagram's text-based conversation app, allows users to share text, images and videos, and engage with others through likes, reposts and replies. Dubbed the “Twitter Killer,” Threads boasted a staggering 30 million sign-ups in less than 24 hours, and less than a week later became the fastest-growing social platform in history, surpassing 100 million users and growing.

Social Media Inspiration

You’ve probably heard of content strategy. You’ve most certainly heard of “content”, and you probably have a strategic approach to all your marketing efforts. But what is content strategy?

At VI, content strategy is the game plan that gets the right content to the right people in the right place at the right time. It’s one of the best tools for maximizing your existing marketing efforts. Ready to whip your content into shape? Check out these 5 tips for creating a killer content strategy to meet your goals, your client's goals, and earn business. 

1. Know who you are.

Your brand has core beliefs, values, and standards—lean into ‘em! Identifying your brand tone and voice helps everyone on your team know who they are emulating when they’re creating for your brand. Would your brand ever say “cheugy”? What’s your stance on puns? Are you formal and straightforward? Casual and friendly? Make the rules and stick to them.

58% of people are more likely to buy from brands with strong personalities, so don’t be bashful.

2. Make it personal. 

If you’re writing to everyone, you’re connecting with no one. Your brand isn’t here to pander to every Tom, Dick, and Harriet. Hone in on who your most profitable audiences are and create personas representing their demographics, motivators, hobbies, and core beliefs. Give them each a name and a photo and think of them as real people who are experiencing the content you’re putting out.

When you know your audience so intimately, you create more useful, usable content that drives clicks, conversions, and sales.

3. Map it out. 

Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach to your content, think about how users—and not just any users, but your target personas—experience things differently on different channels. For example, Pinterest is a planning platform. The term “Christmas” starts seeing a significant uptick in searches on Halloween. But Twitter is more of an in-the-moment channel, great for live, timely updates. Creating a theme map ensures all your content is aligned, cohesive and makes the best use of a medium.

The more naturally content fits into a user’s life at the right time, the more useful it is.

4. Listen.

Find out what people are saying about you (and your competitors!). Social listening can provide valuable insights into what you’re doing right and where you can improve. According to Mention, only 9% of customer service messages are directed at brands on social.

91% of complaints or customer service requests won’t tag or mention you. Social listening keeps you in the conversation.

5. Serve up responsiveness.

Listening alone isn’t enough. Engage with users who are talking about your brand or commenting on your posts with questions or complaints—it truly makes a difference. 60% of internet users say bad customer service is a concern when making an online purchase.

Customer service, when it counts, can be the difference between a troll and a brand loyalist.

Craving more content content? Here’s what you need to know about content writing in a world without cookies.

Measuring social media sentiment is an important tool to utilize in your social campaigns, especially in a pandemic, during an election, organizational turmoil, or whatever the world is facing in a given day! 

More than three quarters of consumers (76%) say they would buy from a brand they feel connected to over a competitor. Creating a sense of connection and community around your brand allows you to attract and retain engaged and loyal customers. This is where the term "branded community" enters the picture.

Think social media management is just creating, posting content, and repeating? Think again. Any social media manager will most likely tell you that most of their time is devoted to responding to messages and comments from followers and social users and joining conversations across the web. 80% of social marketers said that their key strategy is to increase engagement across social channels. Being active and present is one of the most important things a brand can do within their social media platforms. Check out these 5 tips for successful community management for any brand.

Too often, “social monitoring” is used as a catch-all phrase in the social media sphere. Understanding the difference between listening and monitoring can improve your brand's social intelligence, and maximize your campaigns.

Social media is part of our everyday lives, whether we want to admit it or not. Chances are, you probably have a Facebook, Twitter or Instagram — or all of the above! Pew Research Center started tracking social media usage in 2005 when just 5% of American adults used at least one platform. By 2011, half of the U.S. was using social media. And today, 69% uses at least one social media platform on a regular basis. While Facebook still leads the pack with 2.23 billion active monthly users worldwide, Instagram is closing in with a whopping 1 billion active monthly users.

One of the only mobile-focused social platforms, Instagram holds a large share of the social media landscape and is projected to keep growing.

Before we discuss how marketers can use Instagram as a social media marketing tool and the future state of the platform, let’s take it back to the beginning.

Instagram, a free, mobile photo-sharing app, launched in October 2010. And Android, iPhone and Windows phone users were immediately hooked. Selfies with in-app filters became increasingly popular, as did photos of our meals, our fur-children, that random tree in your neighbor’s yard that never looked so photo-worthy until now, and everything in between. This new app allowed you to follow your favorite celebrity on a more personal level (authenticated by the little blue checkmark) instead of just liking their fan page on Facebook or retweeting random thoughts on Twitter.

Facebook noticed Instagram’s potential and bought them out in April of 2012. By February of 2013, Instagram had 100 million users worldwide and “selfie” was Oxford English Dictionary’s word of the year. In June of 2013, Instagram launched the video function and gained an additional 50 million users by September, totaling 150 million.

We live in an age where technology is at our fingertips. Ask a question and receive an answer within minutes. Don’t know how to do something? Just Google it. Instant gratification and quick response time are the keys to our fast-paced society. When we have to wait, frustration sets in. How can we meet the needs of our customers while also giving them what they need, when they need it?

How do you compete in an oversaturated social ad space? In the era of binge-watching and short attentions spans, marketers are challenged with creating content that is to-the-point, adaptive to the platform and personalized. We need to reach audiences with familiar content, reliable content and consumable content.

I wrote my last blog about snackable videos, so I’ll be sticking with the food theme as I take a minute to dive further into consumable content. To make content consumable, we can’t simply dump content on a user and expect the results to be long-lasting. We need to do more than just engage. We need to maintain engagement. So we must create supportive content that is easily accessible and encourages continued relationships. Enter the age-old solution of storytelling.

Over the past few months, company’s and advertiser’s ability to manage and protect user data has taken center stage. Thanks to the Facebook Cambridge Analytica scandal and the impending General Data Projection Regulation (GDPR), user data and how companies acquire and utilize this information is a topic that isn’t going away. No matter your marketing strategy, it is important to be aware of the possible impact and changes data regulation can have on your business. Join us on a quick rundown on the changes and what you need to consider in a post Cambridge Analytica & GPDR world.