Businesses are faced with a bewildering array of social media platforms.

There are hundreds to choose from and every few months another one pops up claiming to be the future. Some attract vast numbers of a particular audience and, if that audience is your audience, it can be tempting to jump in. But then, will you be spreading yourself too thin? How do you continue providing fresh and engaging content that feels native across an ever-increasing range of platforms?

Our advice continues to be, keep it simple. Stick with the big players – at least for now. Because whenever a shiny new thing appears, if it’s any good, you can be pretty darn sure the social media mega-giants are already on it.

Take Tiktok for example. With attention spans getting shorter all the time, the 1 min video format became hugely popular, mostly with kids. But before businesses and brands could get their head around the brave new world of micro videos, Snapchat whipped out Spotlight which pays creators generously, Instagram released Reels with a big growth push, and YouTube – the world’s 2nd largest search engine, launched YouTube Shorts.

Feeling a little red-faced at not seeing the trend coming sooner, the major players weren’t content with just pinching Tiktok’s idea, they launched into an aggressive campaign to put the Chinese company back in its box. Facebook-owned Instagram expanded user options to include a whole slew of new content and features. As well as IG Reels there’s IG Posts, IG Shop, IG Stories, IGTV and more on the way.

While Tiktok served content that can initially be seen by anyone, Instagram leveraged its billion monthly active users ‘helping’ them to discover Reels via a powerful recommendation algorithm. Also, IG Posts live forever on your profile and via images or videos, connect with your existing audience by showing up in other people’s feeds based on a separate algorithm that factors in interest, relationship, timeliness and frequency.

Video Takes the Crown

Whether you think that kind of monopoly-like behaviour is fair or not, the winner of these ongoing scraps isn’t a particular platform. Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube are unstoppable behemoths that will probably remain category leaders forever. And in our opinion they’re still the best bet for advertisers looking to maximise their return on social media and paid advertising. But what’s become clear, is that video, particularly short form, is the new king of content. Eye-catching, engaging, moving posts get consumers more engaged and make them more likely to act. Duh.

In summary:

• The big platforms are leaders for a reason. Don’t let outlandish claims from newcomers give you FOMO.

•  Keep your social strategy focused. Choose a channel and format that aligns with your company’s brand, products and budget.

•  Understand where the platform sits in the customer journey. eg; IG Reels are good for top-of-the-funnel awareness, while IG Stories tend to be more informative and drive sales via IG checkout.

• Create content that feels native to the channel.

•  Definitely consider allocating budget to video. It’s generally more of an investment, but pays bigger dividends.

The trend towards greater privacy with Apple’s IOS 14 update and Google ditching 3rd party cookies (now delayed until at least 2022) is really confusing things for advertisers. So whatever else you do, be prepared and stay flexible because, when it comes to social media, the only constant is change.

If you’d like to know more about how we can help your business keep ahead of the game, get in touch.