Do you want to know how social media marketing strategies in Toronto agencies have transformed in recent years? The ways in which businesses interact with their audience have evolved rapidly. In the past, marketers used offline media to reach their target audience. This included ads in newspapers, magazines, billboards, as well as on TV and radio.
But with the rise of social media, businesses have altered how they engage with their audiences. Social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn are effective in gathering and analyzing user data through sign-ups and login IDs. By sharing details about themselves, users receive personalized content. Through this information, businesses are able to create targeted advertisements based on their specific interests, demographics, and behaviours. This offers a high level of customization that traditional marketing cannot match.
Let’s discover how the strategies employed by Toronto social media marketing agencies have evolved in recent years.
Here, we look at how social media marketing in Toronto has transformed in recent years.
During the early days of social media, organic reach was considered the ideal strategy for businesses to connect with their audience. By simply posting content on their social media profiles or through comments and shares, businesses could reach their audience.
As the popularity of social media started to grow, its user base (an integrated network of existing customers) grew as well. As Facebook and Instagram evolved, organic reach began to fall due to changes in their algorithms that prioritized user experience over brand exposure. This is because they focused on content from mainly family and friends and not businesses. This shift motivated businesses to invest in paid advertising to reach their target audience. Paid ads enable them to reach relevant audiences based on their interests, behaviours, and demographics, making it a great tool to promote their product.
Influencers are people with a large and engaged following on social media platforms. Influencer marketing is a form of social media marketing that involves endorsements and product placements from these influencers. They are strong brand promoters.
By collaborating with influencers to align their content with their brands, businesses can reach a wider audience. For example, cosmetics company Estée Lauder partnered with beauty influencers specializing in skincare and makeup to promote their products. By featuring its products on social media, Estée Lauder reached its target audience and increased brand awareness. Making products and services relatable to their target audiences makes it easier to promote them.
Influencer marketing has proven especially successful in reaching younger audiences who might be uncertain about traditional forms of advertising. This is because the youth are more inclined towards social media and following influencers. This type of marketing is more effective than older forms of marketing like newspaper ads or magazine ads.
Content like videos, pictures, and audio is the most important part of any social media marketing strategy. However, the type of content audiences are most likely to interact with has evolved.
Nowadays, people expect the content they consume to be authentic and engaging so it adds value to their lives. They prefer businesses or brands that are transparent, relatable, and genuine.
That’s why businesses are shifting from traditional advertising (like newspapers, TV, and radio) to more authentic storytelling and live videos that represent meaningful interactions with their audience. This helps businesses connect with their consumers better and more easily.
Videos are a powerful and captivating tool that can quickly distribute a lot of information. Businesses are utilizing YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram to present behind-the-scenes footage or different aspects of the influencer’s life, like makeup routines, a day in my life, ‘get ready with me’; this is content that the audience usually doesn’t see But helps build credibility and trustworthiness.
The majority of social media platforms have now added short-form videos, such as YouTube Shorts, Instagram and Facebook Reels, after realizing how popular and useful they are. These short-form videos range from 5 to 90 seconds and are to the point to grab the user’s attention right away. This caters to short attention spans, which long-form videos (2-3 minute long advertisements) are unable to do.
These days, it is one of the most popular social media marketing strategies for reaching younger audiences with shorter attention spans. Your business can flourish by creating innovative and stylish videos that showcase your products or services and grab your audience’s attention.
Businesses primarily use video advertisements to interact with users on social media and share their stories. This helped them create brand awareness and increase engagement.
However, modern audiences desire authenticity, so real-time updates on events and activities are provided through live videos. These are done on YouTube, Instagram, or Facebook Live. People who have subscribed or followed certain pages, get notified about the live streams so that they can join and interact with the influencer. For example, live streaming of a slime-making factory can help their audience see how the slime is made and whether the process is authentic. This is one of the most effective methods of social media management and marketing.
Live videos grab the attention of potential customers as they foster credibility. They also tend to get more interactions than regular videos, as in live videos, the audience gets to interact in real time. Audiences can use the comments section in live videos to interact with businesses and get prompt replies. Users find live videos more engaging because they are perceived as more genuine than pre-recorded ones. This is because a live stream shows the videos in real time. As a result, both large and small businesses are hosting live online Q&A sessions, celebrity chats, how-to videos, and other events.
The transformation of social media marketing strategies used by Toronto agencies has been huge. These strategies are valuable tools for driving engagement and achieving business goals. Adopting them can help enhance your brand awareness, find new collaborators, and improve your conversion rates. Use what suits your business and invest time in those social media marketing strategies, as too many objectives can distract you from your goal.