2024 Marketing Trends: Social Media As Search Engine
Want to know how long tortoises typically live for? What about how much cash to inject into your first marketing campaign? Or maybe the best Italian restaurants in Southend-on-Sea?
No matter how niche your question might seem, you can always count on Google for the answer. At this point, it’s a steadfast part of our collective existence, whose popularity and infinite use will never, ever be displac— wait, what’s that? Experts are predicting that social media will be used more as a search engine in 2024? Looks like we might need to go back to the drawing board…
The power of the social search engine
Almost 44% of internet users aged 16 to 64 now use social media as their primary source of information when researching brands and products. So it’s no wonder that TikTok and Google are currently exploring potential partnerships.
Beyond just being a good place to see what products a company has to offer, social media users trust companies that are more active online – and that increases bottom-line growth. In fact, more than half of consumers admitted that they would spend more with a brand they’ve connected with online, while 76% would choose to buy from them over a competitor.
It’s clear that people value the perceived authenticity that social media provides – whether that’s through user-generated content showing products or services being used by real people, positive comments underneath posts, or influencer marketing campaigns where trusted content creators give their ‘honest’ reviews of gifted products. The power of the social search engine is not to be sniffed at – and it could be the key to growing your brand in 2024.
How to adapt your content marketing strategy
If this all sounds like a lot to take in, we don’t blame you. So, we’ve compiled a couple of tips that will help you incorporate elements of this trend into your existing content marketing strategy.
1. Keywords, keywords, keywords
Marketers love talking about keywords, and for good reason! They’re not only a vital part of your SEO strategy, but they could also help your social media content get seen by potential new customers. If you’re not already doing so, start peppering relevant keywords throughout your social media captions and posts – you can even make them invisible within images themselves if you want to go the extra mile.
2. Create value-added content
With more people looking beyond Google for answers to their questions, it’s important that your content meets the needs of your consumers. Refresh your social marketing strategy throughout the year to keep delivering relevant, timely content – and if you have the capabilities, conduct direct research with existing customers or users to find out what content is most useful to them.
3. Launch an ecommerce shop
If you spend as much time on Instagram as we do, you’ll have noticed the handy ecommerce shopping feature crop up more and more recently. Essentially, it’s a way to minimise touchpoints along a customer’s journey, making it quicker and easier to purchase directly from the social media app. Set up your own ecommerce store within Instagram, and tag your products in user-generated photos so your customers can get the look of their favourite influencers.
Hey Google, can I get some help?
As a business owner or marketer, you’ve already got a lot on your plate. But don’t leave the fate of your content marketing strategy up to a Google search (that’s so 2011).
At Making You Content, we’ve a decade’s worth of experience helping our clients stay on top of all the latest content trends – and this one is no different! Get in touch with our expert team to find out how we can support your marketing efforts.
