How to Refine Your Content Distribution Strategy: From Vertical Video to User-Generated Content

Social media platforms are now an essential part of our daily lives, and there’s never been a better time to use social media to grow your business. Globally, over 4.26 billion individuals used social media last year – a number that’s anticipated to rise to approximately 6 billion by 2027.

Whether you’re just starting on social media or looking to grow your online presence, here’s how to nail your social media marketing strategy in 2023. 

The dynamic landscape of social media is teeming with possibilities. With a well-crafted content strategy, you can skyrocket your visibility and reach new audiences wanting to learn more about you or your business. The benefits of having a social media strategy are limitless, but here are just a few to consider:

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of a business? Is it the reputation or image of the brand? Setting up a social media strategy is a crucial first step to successfully developing a positive brand image, as it allows you to establish your brand’s story and differentiate yourself from competitors.

Social media gives you a platform to showcase your business to the world and build customer relationships through personalization, often boosting sales and visibility.

Although social media marketing initiatives can appear costly in the early stages, the return on investment is unquestionably high. You can easily share and promote content that redirects your followers to your website or landing page to boost traffic, aid conversions, and ultimately generate more revenue.

Although it’s not a new concept, influencer marketing is here to stay. Influencer Marketing Hub conducted a survey that showed 90% of marketers believed in the success of influencer marketing.

Customers will be more open to discussing your business or services as you gain popularity on social media. This may lead to partnerships with social media influencers that can talk about your business, increasing lead generation, boosting customer interaction, and encouraging customer loyalty.

In today’s ever-changing digital landscape, predicting which social media strategy or trend will become the next big thing can be difficult. 

That being said, keeping an eye on major trends may be beneficial. This can help you reach a larger audience by proactively leveraging memes or pop culture events that align with your brand. 

So, how can you make the most of your social media marketing this year? Let’s find out!

Having a clear understanding of your target audience will allow you to develop targeted content and advertising that specifically meets the needs of your ideal customer.

For instance, one of Envato’s tweets was directed at e-commerce entrepreneurs and business owners looking to set up an online store and how Envato Elements can assist them.

Here are a few things to consider while identifying your target audience:

A content calendar can be beneficial for streamlining your social media schedule. It allows you to post content regularly and consistently while keeping track of your team’s activities. Create a realistic content calendar that you and your team can follow, and set goals for how frequently you will publish and engage with others.

You can use third-party software to assist you with developing your content calendar, such as Monday.com. Envato Elements also has many templates to help you create visuals, plan your content, and set up a posting schedule. 

Vertical video is continuing to dominate the digital world. Whether Stories, TikTok, or Instagram and Facebook Reels, vertical video is still undeniably a top creative marketing trend for 2023. 

From a customer experience standpoint, vertical videos are just more ergonomically efficient. In a recent survey, 90% of vertical videos have a higher completion rate than horizontal ones.

But TikTok isn’t just for dancing teens – many big brands, like Mercedes Benz, now use TikTok to produce vertical videos showcasing their high-end vehicles. Other well-known companies, like Adidas Originals, produce interesting vertical video content for their social media platforms by combining animated text, dynamic split screens, and a mix of steady live-action images.

Incorporating TikTok videos, YouTube Shorts, or Instagram Stories and Reels in your marketing strategy can be significantly profitable as they reach a vast audience. You can even utilize video and motion graphics tools such as Envato Elements if you’re short on time. 

Since 90% of customers value authenticity when choosing which brands they support, user-generated content (UGC) can be a very effective social media marketing strategy. UGC humanizes your business and gives it a personal touch, helping potential and existing customers relate to your brand. 

For instance, Clif Bar encouraged customers to take photos of their travel or hiking destinations and share them online using the hashtag #MeetTheMoment. The brand then created a visual travelog of its clients’ international trips, creating a bank of aspirational content.

Once your community starts to grow, you can encourage them to create content of them enjoying your products or services, which you can repurpose across your channels. 

As social media algorithms get smarter and organic reach gets harder, engaging with your audience is crucial. Fostering relationships with your followers on social media is essential for developing your business, as social media is the first place many potential customers will go to vet your brand. 

Here are some ways to increase engagement with your audience:

Driving sales is the ultimate goal of a social media strategy, so to achieve that, you must strategically advertise your products or services. Luckily, spending money on social media ads can be significantly more cost-effective than traditional media, print, or outdoor advertising campaigns.

Advertising on TikTok is a good example. As one of the most well-known social media platforms with over a billion monthly active members globally, this platform allows you to quickly create sponsored videos that look like organic content, leading to better engagement. 

Sponsored posts and Stories on Instagram and Facebook can also be very effective, offering a range of targeting options and insights capabilities to improve future campaigns. 

Here are some things to consider for social media advertising:

Optimizing your social media profiles is critical for establishing credibility, building trust, and getting in front of your target audience. One of the easiest ways to increase reach is to consider SEO and ensure your profiles are consistent across channels. 

Here’s a checklist for optimizing your social media profiles. 

To ensure the success of future campaigns, measuring your performance is crucial. Most social platforms offer analytics, insights, and metrics tools – such as Facebook’s Page Insights, Instagram’s Account Insights, and LinkedIn’s Visitor Analytics – to evaluate your content performance. This could be anything from the number of people who view your content to the ROI or click-through rate on your sponsored posts.

Some important metrics to note include reach, impressions, audience growth rate, engagement rate, video view, video completion rate, click-through rate, conversion rate, and cost per click. 

Influencers are replacing traditional celebrities, with 70% of teens trusting influencers more than traditional celebrities and 86% of women turning to social media for purchasing advice.  Influencer marketing campaigns can include sponsored posts, ‘shoutouts,’ and user-generated content (UGC). 

Partnering with influencers can greatly increase brand awareness and reach, build credibility and trust, enrich your content strategy, form long-term win-win partnerships, and boost SEO and ROI. The key to a successful influencer marketing campaign lies in its relevance, reach, and resonance. Influencer advertising works because influencers have built trust with their followers in ways that brands can’t replicate. Therefore, finding the right influencer for your brand is essential.

For example, When Michelle Wie West qualified for the LPGA Tour at the age of just 15, she gained notoriety as the sport’s youngest golfer. She was able to secure a deal with Nike quite quickly. Since 2005, she has continued that relationship and promotes Nike content frequently.

Similarly, Google collaborated with Zach King, an illusionist. King advertised Google Meet in the YouTube video by pulling the camera into a conference call using a gimmick. Close to the 4-minute mark, he then includes a clever advertisement for Google Password Manager.

You can collaborate with influencers on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram, which continues to be the preferred channel of social media influencers.

Social media marketing strategies and trends evolve on almost a daily basis. Staying on top of these trends is a great way to ensure your brand is relevant, relatable, and reaching new customers.

This is how to stay up-to-date with the latest trends.

You can also explore trendy tools and features such as QR codes for Instagram, auto-generated captions, alt text, graphic design templates, and more. 

When it comes to building a strong social media presence, a good social media marketing strategy will enhance your content and its impact. Regardless of your chosen strategy, focus on building brand awareness, creating an engaged community, and turning those followers into paying customers.