The rise of technology has given way to communities built through electronic communication to form a virtual band and allow members to share ideas, thoughts, and opinions with their chosen audience. This technological advancement started way back around 2005, earning the name social media.
These days, social media has ballooned to be the most significant online community and continues to grow each day. Around 3.5 billion users around the globe are now active on different social media platforms. It comprises almost half of the world’s population. However, as social media users continue to increase, the initial goal, which is to form a virtual band, is almost gone. These were also evident for those companies who utilized social media to connect to their existing customers and prospect leads.
Social Media Noise
Many big brands have leveraged on social media for the longest time. The same goes for small players who made it big because of the online presence that they have started. Social media has given a chance for small businesses and startups to have a par chance to compete with big enterprises.
However, as social media continue to grow and create an impact each day, its virtual space has become too crowded and too small for everybody sharing it. As social media have now become congested, the attention span of users has also dropped.
If you are a business owner who relies on social media for mostly the growth of your business, this can mean a serious problem that you need to address.
The New Challenge
An active social media user spends a daily average of 2 hours and 23 minutes on different platforms. In that window hours that they spend on social media, they will most likely see a lot of information. Some will capture their attention for a few seconds, but most of it will not even receive a second glance.
Even big companies that have a massive following in their social media profiles have seen a drop in their engagement. Few likes, share, comments to none at all have been the latest scare for many social media marketers and businesses who leverage entirely on these platforms.
Unless you invest in paid social media ads, garnering organic reach has been a challenging feat these days. But it doesn’t mean that there is no way to do it. This challenge has given way to an old trend to resurface this year – the trend to go back to the basic.
The Rebirth of Connection and Community
Going back to the basics means going back to the initial goals when social media was just starting. Those goals were about building a connection with your audience and forming a community.
As you fight for space in every social media platform, your voice often gets unheard, and people just scroll past your content. Even if you have a massive number of followers, it does not give you any guarantee that you will get a high rate of engagement. You can see many brands that have a large following yet when you visit; there is little to no interaction going on the pages or profiles.
This condition may throw you in the brink, but there is always something that you do. Revisit your goals and your social media marketing strategies. Start from the initial concept, which is to grow a connection with your desired audience.
Social Media Communities
Social media communities are groups of people who share the same interest and opinions, which can create an in-depth conversation. Creating or joining tight-knit tribes is essential to growing your brand as the relationship that you establish with your customer is far more critical than the product or services that you offer.
While sharing content in your page or any of your social media platform have the chance to reach a vast number of audience, it is incomparable with the engagement you can get with a community. These communities are already targeted so you can be sure that your content will reach the right audience. Since members mostly relate to you or know what you offer, organic engagement will be high.
Building a community, like the most well-known Facebook group, can give you more leverage and open new opportunities to bring your product or services to the right audience. Connections build on these tribes are usually deep and can last for a long time, which can create loyal customers to your brand.
Final Thoughts
Gone are the days when businesses focus more on their brands instead of their customers. These days, to survive the competition and for your product or service to stand out, you need to build a deep connection with your audience. Focus has shifted to your customers’ interest.
Posting contents or simple giveaways is not enough anymore and does not produce an in-depth connection anymore. Customers want brands that can they relate to, will listen to them and a brand that they can build a connection to. SO, to make sure that you will surely win the battle this year and the forthcoming days, invest your time in drawing efforts to grow your connection with your niche community.
