Opinion: With changes at Twitter & Facebook, how to approach social media marketing

Shradha Agarwal, Co-Founder & CEO at Grapes talks about the instability caused due to major tech developments and their resulting impact on advertising on social media.

Since its inception, social media has been continuously evolving as per the larger social landscape and technological and creative developments. It is this inherent trait that has allowed it to continue being appealing to people, keep inviting new users, and become a prominent presence in all our lives. Not just the masses, social media has gradually become an integral part of most brands’ journeys, playing a crucial role in their marketing strategies.

This means that with every change, brands too have to swerve and adapt accordingly. The instability of Twitter since Elon Musk’s takeover and the speculations around Facebook’s decline are a few of the most pressing changes that need to be taken into consideration by advertisers today. 

But what exactly needs to be considered? Let’s delve into it a little. 

Decreasing Dependency, Increasing Reach

Decreasing your dependency on a single social media platform should definitely be the priority. It allows an advertiser to reinforce their marketing strategy against any unforeseen changes on the said platform. Throughout all the recent changes in Twitter, many brands have stopped or paused their advertising efforts on the platform. But that is only feasible if you have a robust presence on other platforms so that you can continue to reach out to your audiences. 

From a larger perspective, it also helps create a more comprehensive social media presence for a brand. Social media users typically go to different platforms with different intents. You’d probably not go to YouTube if you were in the mood to scroll through memes. So, in addition to being a sound strategy to see you through the Twitter & Facebook uncertainties, navigating diverse platforms also help you reach a wider, more diverse audience in general. 

This can, however, only be achieved when your content strategy is uniquely aligned for each platform and in accordance with what works best on each of them individually. For instance, if you engage a user with an influencer collaboration on Instagram, a long-form video ad on YouTube, and your quippy banter with other brands on Twitter, there’s a greater chance that they’ll have a better relationship with you than if they saw the same content reposted everywhere. 

Curating Content While Being Data-Sensitive

I can’t stress enough on the significance of delivering content that speaks directly to the audience and feels tailor-made for them! It works wonders in establishing a direct brand-consumer connection. It’s probably the next best thing to a direct one-on-one conversation between the two. Moreover, with today’s audience, it’s not about “churning out” the most content; it is rather about relevant, quality content that adds value to their purchase journey. So, while it is efficient to retarget a potential consumer if they’ve shown the intent to purchase, say, a pair of shoes, it is equally inefficient for the algorithm to continue targeting them once they’ve already made the purchase.

Apart from being practical, the data sourcing and sharing practices need to be ethical too in the current climate. The recent fine imposed on Facebook by the European Union (EU) for breaching its data protection law, has once again highlighted how imperative it is that all our social media advertising practices respect the users’ privacy. While it is important to provide the audience with a curated and targeted experience, it shouldn’t come at the cost of their basic right to privacy. 

Who's Your Social Media Neighbour

Musk has been pretty vocal about his “free speech guidelines” on Twitter for a long time. And if the restored accounts of certain names, like Donald Trump, are any indication, then he’s sticking to his word. While it might promote equal representation on the platform, there is also a strong probability that it’ll invite a lot of contentious and controversial content. So, while advertising specifically on Twitter, brands will have to be considerate and careful of being represented next to such content. It might impact the brand’s image simply by association. So, gaining a complete understanding of all the changed and updated guidelines would be a good starting point in making an informed decision about your advertising efforts. A detailed analysis of how it’ll impact you would also help in getting more clarity. 

Experimentation

Certain changes are happening, and you can’t keep maintaining the status quo. So, why not experiment? Try out the new technologies; see if AI can add further merit to a campaign execution; does your strategy have room for an NFT integration; figure out the next cool thing on social media, or if there are cool new social media platforms to explore altogether. If anything is constant about social media is that it always keeps changing, making it the perfect place to experiment! 

This article is authored by Shradha Agarwal, Co-Founder & CEO, Grapes

Disclaimer: The opinions shared in the article are of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the publication.