Understanding social media engagement and why it matters is paramount for the success of any brand's social media strategy. To effectively drive engagement with consumers, marketers need to grasp the three key pillars that lead to the evolution of trends on social media: Platform changes, consumer behavior, and content creation.
The evolution of social media platforms will inform your content strategy
Generally, marketers understand their brand’s messaging the best, and most today focus on understanding consumer behavior in order to deliver personalization. However, few spend enough effort to learn about the evolution of the social platforms themselves. This is understandable as social media platforms are continuously evolving.
Understanding this evolution is highly important since changes on social platforms define how brands will be able to create content on the platforms that reach their audiences. Take, for example, the recent update from Instagram, where they’re shifting their recommendations to give creators with smaller followers a better chance of breaking through to new audiences.
“Historically because of how we’ve ranked content, creators with large followings and aggregators of reposted content have gotten more reach in recommendations than smaller, original content creators,” Instagram announced in the statement. “We think it’s important to correct this to give all creators a more equal chance of breaking through to new audiences.”
The result of this strategic shift means potentially reducing the visibility of branded content to give way to showing creators content on users’ newsfeeds, promoting the discovery of authentic user-generated content (UGC) consumers crave today.
We see this as an opportunity for brands to shift their social strategy towards UGC, which helps to increase engagement, reduce the cost of content creation, and improve content creation efficiency.
How changes to social media platforms align with a shift in consumer behavior
Coupled with the constant shift in audience behavior and preferences on social media channels, we can look into the latest consumer trends across social media platforms. That includes how they’re leveraging social media on a daily basis across generations and correlates back to what social platforms are focusing on now that will drive success going forward.
According to industry research from GWI, the No. 1 reason consumers use social media is to “keep in touch with friends and family,” and “see updates from your favorite brands” ranked low across all generations.
This shows why it’s important for brands to be agile and adapt their content and social media strategy toward consumer behavior and platform evolution. Based on our 2024 Social Media Benchmarks Report, brand content activations on Instagram saw their best numbers in more than two years, improving 9% in brand post interactions in the final two quarters of 2023.
That means, quite simply, that your consumers are likely on Instagram, but a strategic approach to each channel’s evolution involves monitoring, tracking, and accessing your audience’s behavior overall whether on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, or X.
Brands must leverage the Creator Economy to connect and convert
Social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, Youtube, and X all have been rolling out their own creators programs and evolving their platforms with features that will enable creators to make the most engaging content.
In recent years, this has resulted in the rise of “the Creator Economy,” in which creators spark cultural movements, disrupt traditional creative industries and shape the purchase decisions of consumers. And social platforms want to tap into creators for their influence.
Creators on social media platforms today are the new publishers. The maker side of creator partnerships benefits all marketers, as it potentially lowers the cost and increases the velocity of content creation.
Brands today leverage UGC for their organic social in order to drive engagement, on their website to make their digital touchpoints more sociable and, more importantly, on eCommerce sites to drive conversion by making social content shoppable.
It’s been proven that UGC has been successful across multiple industries. Emplifi’s benchmarks show that UGC on a brand’s website helps to drive not just higher conversion and increase AOV but also increase engagement on the website, resulting in repeated site visits and increased dwell time.
All this success is driven by the fact that consumers today crave authenticity and demand trust. UGC is the most scalable and effective way to establish this at the brand level.
4 essential tips for managing these pillars of social media engagement
The social media landscape shifts constantly, but there are key tactics with your overall strategy that can help your brand stay ahead of each trend.
Increase focus on short-form video content
Platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels continue to dominate with short-form video content. Brands should prioritize creating engaging, bite-sized videos to capture attention quickly.
Authenticity over perfection
Audiences are drawn to authentic content that feels relatable. Brands should focus on storytelling and behind-the-scenes glimpses rather than polished, perfect content.
Community building
Building a loyal community is crucial. Engaging with followers through comments, live sessions, and interactive content helps foster a sense of belonging.
Deploy cross-platform strategies
While each platform has its unique features, a cohesive cross-platform strategy ensures a consistent brand message. Repurposing content across different platforms can maximize reach and engagement.
Takeaway: Bring all tools into one platform for social media success
To stay ahead in the ever-evolving landscape of social media, brands must understand the dynamics of platform changes, consumer behavior, and the power of the creator economy. By leveraging these insights, marketers can develop strategies that drive meaningful engagement and achieve success.
If you’d like to talk to us about how to manage your social media strategy, let us know. We’d be happy to demo how our products like Social Marketing, UGC, and Influencer Marketing can connect and convert with your customers.
