2019 is upon us and so much changed in the last year that it’s hard to keep track of all the technological advances… new apps, new phones, new services, new ways of creating content… and new ways to promote yourself on social media. In fact, there’s so many that even social media specialists can sometimes have a hard time keeping up!
So how can artists and creative businesses use the newest tools and trends to make their social media really POP in 2019? Let’s find out!
1 – Narrow your focus.
With so many different platforms available and so much strategy necessary for each one, unless you have a small team it can be a full-time job just trying to keep your social media updated. Your best bet is to figure out what the best platform(s) is for you and your brand.
Choose a select few channels and focus on them – don’t try to spread yourself too thin over too many channels. Focus on developing those few specific channels over the next year and tracking the analytics to see what is working and which platform is really giving you great engagement from your audience.
If you’re not sure where to start, get some tips from our recent article The Secret To Social Media Success For Creatives: Original Content!
2 – Rise of the “chatbots”. 🤖
Bots and automatic messaging are becoming more and more useful. The best part of a chatbot is that it can give the same information over and over to individual customers without you having to repeat the same conversation over and over again. With everything being automated it saves time, whilst still engaging and building a relationship with your customer.
Here’s a great example of a chatbot from online clothing brand, Kindred Bravely:
It can also be much quicker than your customer trying to find the FAQs page on your website, and of course negates the need for having to keep up with replying to all the messages being sent to your FB page (or website), without losing your high response rate. See more about what chatbots can do here.
3 – Organisation.
If you haven’t already, create a content calendar – or refresh the one you already have.
Pay attention to key dates in the new year (for example, if you’re an actor, September 8th is National Actors Day), and plan your social media accordingly. You can also use plugins and apps to automate things like publishing your blog posts on your website, managing multiple social media feeds, and creating simple but effective content.
4 – Consistency.
Make sure that the social media channels you are using are all consistent, paying attention to: consistent handles (names you’re using), brand colours being the same throughout (if you don’t have brand colours, create some!), ensuring all platforms link to each other (with all of them indicated on your website too), and of course, making sure your ‘story’, or what makes you unique, is exactly the same throughout. Lack of consistency will make you look amateur and can lead to losing interest from your audience.
5 – Commit to engaging with others.
It’s advised time and time again that engaging with others does wonders for building an audience, but still sometimes with all the other tasks and things we have to do, engaging with others can be pushed to the side. Whether it be commenting on other accounts on Instagram (particularly those in your niche), answering Facebook comments, or making sure every comment on your blog posts gets a swift reply, engaging with others should be seen as something that is absolutely crucial to success.
If you are already engaging with your audience and instead want to focus on networking and making connections, writing articles or having ‘your say’ on specifics of your industry can help (LinkedIn can really help here).
Even as a creative type, offering your opinion or knowledge of your niche can really portray a sense of authenticity and being a ‘master’ in your field, which can only improve your professional image. Try sprucing up your LinkedIn profile and start posting articles there about the industry you work in, and/or your take on current events in your niche.
6 – Videos!
If you haven’t already, start investing in video content. It has been said that video will account for 85% of social media content output in 2019… so do not underestimate using this type of content! People are getting busier and busier, with less time to invest… so give them content that’s quick to ingest! Not only that but live-streaming, VR & AR are set to explode too so keep an eye out for how you might be able to use these types of content too.
If you’re not familiar with creating videos, try a simple online tool like Animoto (click here to visit and get a free one-month trial). It’s a super simple way to make videos that look really professional!
7 – Instagram ‘stories’: time to invest!
Time to really focus on your Instagram stories! This tool blew up in 2018 and 2019 is looking to be only more prolific! If you’re not already making the most of the stories feature then try to focus more on it to build your audience on Instagram.
Stories is a great way to truly express your personal or brand personality, and is perfect for mixing video, gifs, emojis and more to create media that your audience will really love to follow – Stories makes your audience feel like they’re really there with you!
So, which one of these do you think will be the most important for you this year? Or are you already having success with some of these tips?
Whatever your thoughts, leave a comment below!
And also… HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Please note, this blog post contains affiliate links.