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11 proven ways to effectively use social media for PR in 2022

by | Jul 29, 2022 | Analysis, Public Relations

It never hurts brands and small businesses to incorporate social media into their marketing strategies. Now that social media is one of the most influential sources in our lives, expanding your online marketing strategy should be your first concern.

Having a direct connection with customers and the opportunity to grow business through informative content highlights the perks of investing in online leverage. However, social media platforms are highly dynamic, with new trends making it hard to maintain a powerful online strategy.

It’s no longer as simple as dropping ads and hoping that it reaches your target audience. A fruitful social media approach takes more time and research than ever. Here are 11 social media trends to keep in mind while leveraging social media for PR in 2022.

How to leverage social media for PR in 2022

Here are 11 ways you can leverage social media for PR in 2022, according to some of the best marketing experts in the world.

Live communication

One of the main ways brands communicate with customers is via short and snappy videos. They get the message across while maintaining the customer’s attention. As a result, most social media marketing trends tend to revolve around video content, even in 2022.

However, with the rise in interest in brand transparency and authenticity, companies have begun engaging with customers via live communication. Whether they use Twitter Spaces or Instagram Live, live video and voice platforms allow them to discuss areas for improvement with users and maintain a healthy brand-customer relationship.

Since Twitter has 396.5 million users, it’s a great opportunity for brands to reach a bigger audience and communicate transparently with customers. It’s also worth noting that Instagram has over 1 billion users.

Brand partnership

Content creators are doing more than just monetizing their content and creating eye-catching online portfolios; they’re helping brands take bolder steps in social media marketing. Companies that view content creators as brand partners instead of marketing channels are more likely to succeed in promoting their business.

Notably, 57 percent of organizations use partnerships to acquire new customers, and social media further facilitates this tactic. Content creators within your industry create authentic content that promotes your product seamlessly. It works because their followers consider them experts when it comes to your type of product.

The Paid Partnership feature on Instagram facilitates this type of marketing, allowing brands to maintain transparency, promote ethically, and get actionable insights on the campaign’s performance.

AR and VR experiences

Experimental and experiential campaigns are working better now than ever, so marketers need to leverage them in 2022. Augmented reality and virtual reality technologies help marketers engage customers and bring their attention to a new environment.

As a result, the customer journey enhances significantly, evolving throughout their augmented or virtual reality experience. The best example is the Metaverse, which has its currency and trades.

Marketers can engage their customers with the help of 3D shopping experiences, interactive campaigns, or even gaming. For example, the ‘See My Fit’ AR campaign by ASOS allowed their app users to visualize 100 ASOS Design products, increasing revenue by 24%.

Another great example is the IKEA Studio app, which allowed users to place entire 3D room plans and re-design them in their room with virtual furniture.

Social commerce strategies

Social commerce may seem like old news, but it’s still a foolproof marketing tactic on social media. It accumulated more than $36 billion in sales last year, so it’s safe to say that it’s time for all marketers to build effective social commerce strategies.

Marketing experts predict that social commerce sales will double by 2025. Utilizing paid and organic social commerce strategies will allow marketers to prioritize more than just follower growth and engagement.

There are various ways to utilize both the paid and organic aspects of social commerce, such as Facebook paid to advertise, diversifying your portfolio, utilizing influencers, delivering valuable content via groups, etc.

For example, Apple’s “#ShotOniPhone” campaign is one of the most organic forms of advertising, allowing content creators to show off their skills while effortlessly promoting the iPhone.

Micro-influencers

As Twitter and TikTok continue to gain traction, micro-influencers and B2B influencers enter the spotlight of social media marketing. 37% of customers trust social media influencers within their niche instead of brands promoting their product.

It’s also worth noting that people, especially the younger generations, don’t care much about the brand itself but their product’s features. Therefore, brands can utilize this moment to focus on providing value to their customers through their content and collaborating with micro-influencers to gain customer trust.

Businesses hoping to organically reach customers should look no further than TikTok, the best place to promote via user-generated content. On the other hand, businesses hoping to organically reach other businesses should opt for LinkedIn.

11 proven ways to effectively use social media for PR in 2022

Source: Markerley

It’s worth noting that micro-influencers typically have followers under 25k, and their like rates are much higher than celebrity influences. That’s because most of their followers are active, and Markerly’s study proves that.

Employee advocacy

The social media presence of most brands proves to be fruitless, only serving helpful in times of collaboration or informational content. But, brands can still utilize employee advocacy to boost their social media presence and amplify their reach to build a community.

Most businesses are devastatingly unaware that their employees are their best asset, and underutilization is a great loss of revenue. In addition, nearly 50 percent of employees are already posting about their company on social media, so why not utilize this incentive positively?

Offering monthly incentives to employees with the most shares is a great way to encourage employee advocacy and drive engagement for the business. For example, Starbucks refers to employee advocates as “partners,” enabling them to share videos of employee experiences under #tobeapartner.

Livestream video shopping events

It may seem like a strange marketing tactic, but the Livestream video shopping market is bigger now than ever. It was expected to surpass $11 billion in 2021 and hit $25 billion by 2023.

These events modernize social media marketing to a new level, combining entertainment, engagement, and e-commerce into a seamless user experience. Plus, Livestream video shopping allows viewers to interact with the host and even purchase goods without leaving the platform.

Since instant purchases are available within the shopping Livestream, it will create a FOMO environment, causing customers to pay then and there. It’s worth noting that 60 percent of people make purchases because of FOMO.

Platforms like Bambuser, Hero, and Streams.live allow brands to execute Livestream video shopping events with ease. For example, Alibaba’s live-streamed presales campaign made $7.5 billion in sales in the first 30 minutes.

Promotional vs helpful content

Brands must recognize the difference between promotional content and helpful, informational content. No customer wants to see a social media page full of promotions, which also hinders your brand’s authenticity.

Creating content that helps the viewers, such as tutorials, reviews, and use cases, is more likely to drive engagement and increase customer satisfaction. Statista shows proof of that by informing that 38% of customers consider product reviews very important while shopping.

11 proven ways to effectively use social media for PR in 2022

Source: Statista

This newspaper article from Netflix, published in the New York Times, is the perfect balance of informative but promotional content, ultimately promoting the show Orange Is the New Black.

Next-gen social platforms

Due to constant changes in social media analytics, the marketing strategies must vary accordingly. Therefore, studying the algorithms of preferred social media platforms is best to meet your target audience.

If you’re heading toward employer branding, TikTok is one of the essential Next-Gen social platforms. TikTok videos may not be heavily sponsored, but they are a great source to promote your brand organically. This eMarketer study indicates that TikTok is the most popular app amongst Gen Z.

11 proven ways to effectively use social media for PR in 2022

Source: eMarketer

Brand accountability and authenticity

When marketing on social media, transparency should be your top priority. In 2022, 46 percent of consumers on social media hold brands accountable for promises they’ve made.

So, it’s essential to portray your brand’s authenticity creatively and plan your marketing strategies to be as real as possible.

When held accountable for your products and promises, ensure to satisfy the customer with an honest response and maintain their trust and validity. In addition, 88 percent of consumers prioritize authenticity while trusting a brand.

Now that customers are wary of fake news more than ever, they must maintain a real, authentic, human, and compassionate social media presence they can count on.

Nonprofit initiatives

Incorporating for-profit initiatives into your next social media campaign is a great way to drive engagement, especially since various nonprofit-specific functionality features facilitate it on Instagram and Facebook.

This allows businesses to partner with nonprofit organizations and tie the community together, marketing in a unique way and building customer trust.

Leverage social media trends that took off in 2022

Social media marketing experts predict short video content will continue to dominate TikTok and Instagram, condensing the social commerce experiences to a few seconds. But, smaller platforms like Pinterest and Snapchat have also entered the social commerce spotlight this year.

For eCommerce businesses, social commerce will never get old. Since social media dynamics are ever-changing, it’s crucial to watch the latest trends to step up your next marketing campaign.

Wesley Cherisien
Wesley Cherisien is a speaker, trainer, entrepreneur and tech investor who has penned hundreds of articles, books and training guides for organizations in the Fortune 500, consultants and authors spanning across multiple industries. Chief Editor of WesleyCherisien.com, Wesley is a creative and highly innovative thinker with 10+ years of experience writing for online publications.

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