Forget Social Media: 3 Alternative Marketing Paths for 2020
Social Media is important, but it’s so crowded that you should look elsewhere first
We are 35 days away from 2020. The time flies extremely fast and it’s time to start thinking about the marketing plan for the upcoming year (well and also ensure to achieve the 2019 KPIs).
Will digital marketing change dramatically in 2020?
I don’t think so. But what I’m certain about is that the consumer will become pickier, the competition will not drop and we, marketers, will have to crack our heads even more in order to wow our audiences.
But it’s a part of the excitement, isn’t it?
I doubt that the trends will change dramatically in the upcoming year, but I’m certain that you should start investing more in marketing outside social media.
Don’t misunderstand me, though. Social media will remain big in 2020 and you should definitely have it in your strategy. However, I think that brands are too preoccupied with their image on Facebook, or the number of likes they get on Instagram. I notice that brands become more focused on gaining new followers or increasing the impressions but forget the existing customers.
That’s why 2020 should be more about customer retention and personalisation. If you want to read my previous article about how personalisation is going to conquer marketing in 2020, feel free to do so.
Social media has grown exponentially in the past years. Most brands rely on it to raise awareness, announce new product launches, or scream about the discounts they have to offer. That’s lots of information! It’s not wrong, but does social media still work the same way it did a couple of years ago?
I doubt it is as powerful as before. Often, the marketing message that brands want to deliver is saturated and eventually gets lost, without gaining desired attention. Unless you are a super huge brand, it will be harder and harder to achieve your marketing (sales) goals through social media.
This is what I am suggesting.
Start Owning Your Audiences
Your social media followers do not belong to you. It means you don’t own the list of people who have chosen to follow you. Even if you think that it’s no big deal, it actually is. Why?
Well, firstly, because you cannot ensure that the message you send to your social media followers actually reaches them. There are so many metrics and dependencies in today’s algorithms that may affect the delivery. It’s very likely that people who you want to talk to cannot hear you. It is also likely that people who follow you also follow another bunch of brands and are lost in all the marketing noise.
Did you know that there are over 500 million tweets sent out every day? It is super noisy out there! How do you ensure that your tweets reach your audience?
The same goes for Instagram and Facebook, where the supply of all sorts of information is extremely high. In simple terms, the competition for consumers' attention is insanely high. And we all know that the attention span of today’s consumers is extremely short. Often, it’s less than three seconds, thanks to the constant flow of new information.
That’s why 2020 should be about starting to own your audience. Try to use the authority that your brand has on social media and drive people to subscribe to your newsletter. Offer convenience and unique insights that will motivate them to become exclusive with you.
In fact, newsletters are still very powerful. Think about it. Your audience’s inbox is a personal space and if they are keen to let you in, you’re likely to get their undivided attention.
However, your marketing strategy will have to change. The content must become much more personalized and relevant.
Reconsider Hard-Selling—Educate Instead
People have grown to be immune to hard-selling tactics. In fact, they turn on their defensive mode when brands start pressuring them to make the purchase.
Instead of hard-selling your products or services, educate your customers on why they need you. It has to be about convenience and you have to show them that you help them.
Reaching out to your audiences has never been easier. Show convenience and educate them.
I particularly love the Aesop brand for their amazing newsletters. Their contact with the audience is much more than selling or offering discounts. On the contrary, you’ll find none of these. They go the extra mile and talk about things that matter to their brand — spirituality, environment, health. Their newsletter is an opportunity for the audience to learn and connect with the brand.
This is one of the examples. A newsletter can be about your brand’s values, your CSR or anything else that would benefit your audience. For example, a service provider could educate on industry needs, give tips on how its B2B clients can grow, etc.
Hard-selling will become more and more ineffective. Better redirect the energy used to come up with hard-selling strategies to finding ways to provide convenience and educate your audience.
Stay Away From Social Media Advertising
Did you know that the average American is exposed to between 4K to 10K digital ads per day? This is an astonishing number of ads. I’m sure that you’ll think that this number is too huge to be true. But, in fact, I believe it.
It’s a fact that we have become immune to digital ads and have developed the ability to ignore them without even noticing it.
For brands, it’s extremely bad news, because the global cost of digital advertising in 2019 is estimated to be over 333 billion USD. That’s a lot of money.
The drop in sales made through social media is increasing. I advocate to use social media ads for branding alone and expect no conversions as they are harder and harder to achieve.
2020 should be the year when brands start looking for alternative ways to advertise. Instead of blowing lots of money on social media advertising that does not work, invest time, money and effort in revamping your website SEO.
Organic growth is much better than paid. SEO is an extremely powerful tool and sadly many brands neglect it, expecting to dominate through paid social media ads.
Boost in SEO efforts will result in the growth of the audience, which you can endeavour to connect directly with at a later stage. Instead of investing money in paid growth of the audience, I’d rather invest money in unpaid and potentially long-term plan to grow my audience in a sustainable way. Most importantly, it could be a more effective way to scale up.
One thing is certain — consumers will continue becoming more demanding. Can social media cater to their demands? I don’t think so. That’s why it’s best to start adapting alternative advertising methods — experiment, measure and ensure that they work.
2020 is going to be exciting. I’m sure about that.
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