Social media is not all about looking good for photos. Gone are the days when we simply post a picture of our dog and call it a day. No, in a mere seven years, social media’s popularity has skyrocketed, and no one could have foreseen the influence it has today, with over 4.55 billion active social media users.
That is a lot of people. And when you consider that the average time that over 57.6% of the entire human population spends on social media is two hours and twenty-seven minutes, it says a lot about social media as not only popular but also very saturated.
Social media is not just some digital park where people greet and share content. It has become a mega-structure of business as well. Physical shops are slowly transitioning into digital ones, creating pages and websites that advertise their product or even directly sell them to online users. With perks such as a wider reach, less material cost, and global markets, businesses do not shy away from the opportunities that social media grant them. It is not like they have much choice either, as 63% of customers expect a business to have social media access.
It is a tough plate indeed. Old-fashioned marketers or even social media veterans can both be swayed by the volatile nature of social media’s market. So, what are some warnings that marketers should make themselves aware of?
5 Challenges Social Media Marketers Need to Overcome in 2022
1. Finding the right platform
First things first, a social media marketer needs a platform to operate on. Just as with any job, you need an office. But when we are talking social media here, instead of just having one “office”, you can have up to four or five of them.
The problem is whether or not this is the right call to take since each social media channel has its demographics, own algorithms, and a whole different culture inside of them.
This is undoubtedly the first step you should take because the type of business you may not perform to its full capacity if you choose the wrong platform to operate on. For example, if your business is catered to a younger audience, Instagram’s user demographics count that over 61.2% are aged 16 to 34, so it would be a wiser choice if they were your target audience.
But demographics are not the only thing that should be of concern because the platform you choose will also force you to shift your goals and strategies. Facebook will allow you to be more in control of your ads with its flexibility, while more visual-centered content will probably be gaining more traction on Pinterest or Instagram.
If you want to know how to maneuver against this challenge, you need to determine your audience and study them as much as you can. Know what kind of media they like, know their demographics, slang, consumer behaviors, and anything that can let you know which social media platform they are most active on. Doing due research on all of this will give you your answers in no time.
2. Handling many social media channels
We have talked about finding the right social media platform for you and your business, and of course, it is logical that you do so. The problem is most people do not have solitary social media accounts. Chances are, the people you know have Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Tiktok, switching between these apps daily. Considering that if you are in a room of 10 people, 6 of them will have a social media account, you may be forced to extend your reach across these channels as well.
3. Standing out
After all the debacles in finding a social platform, marketers will be faced with how to stand out. Social media is thriving with influencers, business owners, and entrepreneurs all trying to get on the king’s seat, allowing yourself to spread your horizons to allow online users to discover you faster while making your content more accessible.
This does not mean that you have to create an account for all the existing social media. Of course, you still should focus on your target audience and what platforms they are most active on. But what are some other ways that marketers stay on top of their competition? Here are a few ones that are guaranteed to boost your credibility in no time:
Being humorous
Everybody loves a funny person, right? Having a presence that is light for people to handle and vibe with different types of crowds is a quality that is valuable in all fields of life. In an industry that relies on social relationships, you may as well be covered in gold. Work on including visual comedy, joining in the fun when your existing community interacts, or even posting memes from time to time because people on social media values sarcasm so much that it becomes a people magnet if done right.
Having Representation
Humor is not the only thing that gets on people’s radar, but empathy is an even more vital force that brings people together. For a business to let their customers know that they care about their struggles and represent it through their products or campaigns, make them feel validated. Social media is a prime place to do some activism because things spread quickly if it has a voice of reason, and doing kind things for the community is always a green flag
Using graphic design tools
In a competitive environment such as social media, catching everyone’s attention is all that matters. And with the power of visuals, you certainly don’t have to worry about taking people to a different level of experience with your content. Whether you’re a beginner or a professional, a good design is made possible through a variety of graphic design tools that will make your content attractive and, at the same time, stand out. It is almost impossible to make people pay more attention to you than other brands out there, but with these creative tools, you not only make people turn towards your direction, but you also get to connect with them in so many ways. Graphic design tools have different features like background removal, text to image API, image resizing, and more.
4. Keeping up with Covid-19
As days go by, COVID-19 continues to test businesses in terms of consistency and flexibility in its constantly changing nature. We cannot deny that the pandemic generated numerous adjusting the case of Tiktok, which has surpassed 1 billion active users in September of last year after a great boost in popularity since Covid-19 began. This is due to social media users’ tendency to have volatile trends. They began to shift towards fast-paced video content, which gave them a lot of serotonin after a lot of mental strain caused by the pandemic.
Covid-19 was sudden enough that business owners have very little time to react to these changes, so adaptability is key here. The best way to deal with this? You simply have to focus on your brand’s authenticity. And by authenticity, we mean consistently establishing high-quality content to raise brand loyalty and, at the same time, maintain the relevance of your content in the future. Moreover, you need to churn your content to something that fits in a pandemic. Upscale fun factors and health awareness is the number one goal, observing your audience and what they seem to need.
5. Staying consistent
With the growing number of businesses and competitors, the value of consistency should become clear. If you want to gain more recognition, you should think of your brand as more than just the products and services it offers. One way to scale up your business is to establish a unique selling proposition (USP), which sets you apart from the competition and helps you gain the trust of your customers. Moreover, you need to post on the daily, because reappearing on people’s news page should be a goal for all marketers since if you just happen to be on their feeds just one time each week, you will undoubtedly be lost in the shuffle due to the enormous amount of content that people on social media consume every day.
Being consistent entails creating a connection with your customers. This makes your customers come back. Being loyal to your customers is a concept that should be just as encouraged as having customers loyal to you.
Takeaway
Social media was built on the concept of merely being able to talk to a friend that lived a few miles away. Now, it has grown into a global network of human connection and commercial trade: business owners, artists, and anyone who knows anything about the world hop on social media. And if you are an aspiring professional who may depend on the confines of this digital canopy, the best thing you can do for yourself is to act as your guide and take every challenge head-on.
Author’s Bio:
Shelly Solis was the editor-in-chief of the Central Echo. She is now the co-founder and CEO of SaaSLaunchr, a digital marketing agency dedicated to scaling SaaS companies through SaaS SEO and other growth hacking techniques. She is a passionate writer on finance, design, infrastructure management, electronic health record in the Philippines, and technology.
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