3 Trends to Incorporate into Your Social Media Strategy for 2022
As we head into a new year, it’s good to have a plan for engaging customers both within your retail space, and online in the digital space Adding some new elements to your plan will help generate more traffic for your business. Here are a few trends to include in your social media strategy to promote your products and connect with your patrons.
1. Create Engaging Video Content
Video is a great method to reach your audiences as it is versatile and adaptable. You can do short or long videos to engage with customers and deliver value. As video continues to evolve and increase in importance on many social media channels, you should prioritize finding ways to incorporate video into your social media strategy.
Reels are short videos that you can create for your Instagram followers to highlight or showcase a new service or product. You can use Reels to show the behind-the-scenes of your company, demo new products, or simply show off your brand’s fun side.
TikTok is a video-focused social platform that hosts a variety of short-form user videos, ranging from 15 seconds to three minutes. Joining in on viral TikTok trends is a great way to get your brand noticed.
Going Live is another way to engage with your audience in real-time on social media. If you choose to go live on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok, sure to advertise to your followers ahead of time so they can plan to make time to watch and participate during the live stream.
Pre-Recorded Videos are a great way to share specific product tutorials, or more in-depth topics for your viewers or customers; consider recording a video and uploading to your website or blog to help educate or inform customers on new product launches, or even to give a tour of your location.
2. Connect with Local Influencers
A great way to promote your brand is to connect with local influencers. Influencer marketing has been around for a while and is continually evolving. Find out which influencers are tagging your business or the local mall, and reach out to those that would align well with your brand. Be creative with your approach to working with them. Provide influencers with product or gift cards to giveaway to their followers as incentives to follow your page and shop your products as well. Have influencers “takeover” your feed and stories for the day to show off new arrivals or talk about their favorite products from your shop. Have the influencers create “behind the scenes” access to your location, with photos and videos so the audience gets special access to the inner workings of your business. Ask the influencer to show how your products look in real world scenarios. With just a little creativity, the possibilities are endless for how your brand can successfully partner with local influencers.
3. Humanize your brand
As the saying goes, “when you buy from a small business, an actual person does a little happy dance!” It’s important to let your audience “in” so they form a connection with YOU. Here are a few ways to do that:
- Show how you support your community by sharing what you are doing to promote or partner with charities and give back in your area, as “shopping small” is important to many people for this very reason
- Share your company’s story or showcase your employees to build a deeper relationship with your customers beyond just the products you sell
- Make your social media just that, “social!” Have conversations by responding to followers’ comments on your posts and use Direct Messages (DMs) for customer service. This provides a quicker way for customers to reach you with questions vs. calling or sending an email. If it’s easy to reach you, your customers will interact with you more often and keep coming back to your shop.
What’s Next?
What can this all mean for your retail business? By creating engaging video content, connecting with local influencers, and showing the human side of your brand, you can continue to build relationships with your customers in 2022. Stay on top of these key trends to utilize social media even better in your marketing strategy and expand your success in the new year.