Today’s blog is from our Social Media Coordinator, Kayla Sherry.
How can you make your social media strategy more effective in the year ahead? Here are three predictions from the PPR Strategies social media team to consider for your EDO’s 2024 social media marketing strategy!
#1: Educational and Entertaining Content Will Rule
Reducing the amount of promotional content in your organic social media content can actually benefit your brand in 2024. Social media marketing is not just a way to sell, sell, sell, so an overabundance of promotional content can damage relationships with your audience.
While incorporating the necessary calls to action into your social media content is still crucial to achieving your organization’s goals, make it a point to focus on educational and entertaining content in the new year. It should excite, engage, and inform your audience, which will in turn build more trust, awareness, and credibility for your brand, leading to more organic leads or conversions in the long run. Plus, if users enjoy and relate to your content, they are more likely to share it and help expand your organization’s audience!
Educational or entertaining content EDOs can incorporate:
- Video tours of hidden gems, exclusive locations, or new businesses
- Digestible definitions of industry topics
- Behind-the-scenes content from events
- “Did you know?” content and fun facts about your community
#2: Keywords > Hashtags for Social Media Copywriting
Do you spend a lot of time researching hashtags and typing each one out for your organization’s social media posts? Re-evaluate your strategy for 2024, because hashtags are not the end-all-be-all of social media copy!
In late 2022, Instagram’s CEO Adam Mosseri claimed that hashtag use on the platform is not crucial for your content. So, what does this mean for hashtags as we enter 2024? You can and should still use hashtags (around 3-5 per post is ideal). However, social media platforms are becoming more optimized for keyword searches, and we predict it will only grow in 2024 as social media platforms are used like search engines. And even if keyword search does not equal significantly higher engagement, reach, or clicks on your content, a clear, relevant caption will always draw more users in.
When writing social media copy, EDOs should ask:
- Is this copy clearly identifying the topic of the content?
- Is the caption consistent with our desired call to action, external landing page, and included visual assets? And, remember that a picture is worth a thousand words. Your visuals should be just as strong as your copy (but we’ll save more on that for a future post)!
- Does the copy include keywords that will resonate with your target audience? If not, can we add a few broad, keyword-specific hashtags (examples: #econdev, #tourism, or #workforcedevelopment) at the end of the post to tie it together?
#3: Fostering Community Will Build Loyal Audiences and Boost Engagement
To build and retain your social media audience, try collaborating with other organizations or creators and facilitating community online.
Implementing this into your 2024 social media marketing plan can look like partnering with
influencers, creators, and other organizations. Aside from the obvious benefits of reaching a wider, more diverse audience through partnerships, audiences may develop increased trust in collaborative campaigns. When two reputable brands or influencers come together, it can reinforce credibility and trustworthiness.
Building a sense of belonging is crucial for businesses, residents, and even tourists to feel connected to your area. Facilitate community by creating opportunities for engagement with users on social media. You can do this through hosting interactive challenges/contests (example: “Post a selfie in Downtown Frederick with the hashtag #FunInFrederick for a chance to win a gift card to local businesses!”), commenting on and reposting user-generated content to show appreciation for your visitors, and creating engaging polls that users can have fun with!
Another tactic you can implement to facilitate community discussion is developing online forums, such as Facebook groups, where users can interact with one another and you — the moderating organization — can serve as a helpful resource when necessary. Your organization will be seen as a host of that unification effort, increasing brand awareness and favorability.
PPR Strategies is eager to see how the social media landscape unfolds in 2024 and how our team will elevate these platforms to tell intriguing stories, promote unique communities, and showcase the amazing people behind them.
Curious how other trends (ahem, AI) will impact your social media? PPR will share AI tips and more in future newsletters. Stay connected through our mailing list.
Want to upgrade your approach to social media in 2024? Schedule a 15-minute consultation with us here.
Reimagining Places with You,
Kayla and the PPR Strategies Team
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