Social Media Strategy for 2020: Challenges, Opportunities and things to STOP doing!

With only a week until our Social Strategy in 2020 seminar in Cambridge, we asked one of our speakers, Helen Sharpe, Content & Social Media Manager at Interflora, for her insights into social media strategy for 2020. Here’s what she said:

1. What do you see as the biggest social media challenge facing brands today?

With social media, it’s often the internal battle that is the biggest challenge a brand faces – social media can be a monster, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Over the last six years I have worked for and with a number of big brands and they all have one thing in common, no one is ever on the same page when it comes to social.

Brands are cautious, and if they can choose between a PPC campaign driving direct revenue, or running an influencer campaign where the objective is awareness, they will almost always choose the former.

I think a lot of companies are only now realising the potential of nurturing their audience and growing their brand, with many now playing catch-up with their competitors who are already there. There’s still a way to go, but I can see the landscape changing and quite honestly, it’s about time we started seeing some social-first marketing strategies.

2. What is the biggest opportunity for brands devising their social media strategy in 2020?

This is a tough one because the industry is so fast-moving and updates are being rolled out faster than ever. I love nothing more than seeing a new trend and if it works for the brand, then why not experiment with it!

I’ve done a lot of video content on IGTV recently and think we’ll continue to see vertical view formats being favoured for their immersive smartphone experience.

Shoppable content will also keep growing, and the use of AR is really exciting too. I’ve seen some new tech recently where the two have been combined for the ultimate social shopping spree.

I wouldn’t be able to talk about opportunities without mentioning influencers. Love them or hate them, they put your brand in front of new audiences and I’ve personally seen unprecedented results.

3. Is there anything brands should really avoid doing on social in 2020?

Ooh, where to start with this one. Let’s go for my top three:

1. Stop with the whole ‘one size fits all’ approach to content. I can’t believe people are still committing this crime. It’s lazy and it’s sloppy. People interact with your brand across different channels, for different reasons.
2. If you’re a 40-something year old marketer, don’t think you can create engaging content for a sixteen year old, without having worked with your target demographic to gain crucial insights.
3. Social media shouldn’t be an afterthought. It should be at the forefront of your marketing strategy. Digital is huge and it’s only getting bigger.

4. Do you have a secret social media tip you’d like to share?

Believe it or not, bigger is not always better…when it comes to influencers anyway!

I’ve worked on extensive campaigns for each and while they both have their benefits, if the objective is engagement, I would choose a micro-influencer (<100k) over a macro one (>100k) any day.

Far more genuine, more cost-effective, generally a really engaged community and they tend to be much easier to deal with. Obviously, if you’re going for big numbers for reach then go macro all the way.

If you’ve not already registered your interest for our Cambridge seminar on 23rd Oct, why not take a look? You can read more information and register here.