2021 SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS: CONVERSATIONAL MARKETING
Last year has shown to rock the social media landscape. 2021 has brought unexpected changes that your business can use to its advantage. Over the next few weeks, we are going to dive into social media trends that your business should consider implementing. Some of the trends we will share with you may be foreign, while others you may have seen but with a new twist. Follow along with us as we make recommendations for your business digital strategy that will make your brand relevant this year.
So far, we have covered remixing, memetic, and nostalgic marketing. This week, we are targeting your business’ audience engagement and retention through conversations and connections. Hubspot defines conversational marketing as a method of engaging customers through conversations—chatbots, social messaging, calls, and more. Building relationships through personalized, one-to-one content. In order to be effective in 2021, your business will need to shift its marketing strategy from prioritizing sales to customers to instead provide information and engagement that drive retention.
Analysis of the Conversational Trend
As Hubspot puts it, brands can no longer shout their messages into the void and hope for the best. The pandemic has made it to where consumers would rather have conversations, shifting your business to create sales by building relationships. Technology advancements are making it possible to have a more personalized conversation with your audience. According to Hubspot, technology is starting to catch up with the conversational marketing potential, with more AI-powered solutions, omnichannel conversations with hyper-realistic chatbots are now possible, enabling conversational marketing’s full potential this year.
Consumer Conversations
Conversational marketing has a lot to do with how you position the business brand. Content must allow a way for your audience to start a conversation with the business. Use chatbots, direct messaging, live-streamed demos, and even questions on Instagram and Facebook stories.
Listen, Understand, and Engage
Replicate an in-person conversation when it comes to your business marketing strategy. Traditional marketing had a way of hardly listening to the consumer. On the other hand, conversational marketers do not dominate the conversation and instead listen and strive to understand. Use the information taken in when listening because it makes the interaction feel authentic; each builds on the ones before it. The essential part of this type of marketing is engagement. Aim for intimate, personal trading of information.
Tone of Voice
Give your brand a human side! Lose the sales-talk and create a tone that is approachable, conversational, and engaging. Implementation of this combination will bring a human voice to your business social media. Your business audience will more likely connect with your brand if they feel like it’s an authentic conversation and it doesn’t feel like it’s sales-driven.
Single Source of Truth
According to Hubspot, it is beneficial to integrate your customer service data, from chats, emails, and calls, into your analytics platform. “This will provide additional insights into all aspects of your customer journey, from identifying key messages that engage consumers, revealing pain points causing speed bumps in the sales process, to postsales complaints that could cause impact on your brand.”
Future of Conversational Marketing
Hubspot predicts that 2021 will bring brands and platforms to engage more through AI opportunities to connect with more consumers. “Promotions will become less forced and derive more from natural conversations and established relationships with consumers.”
Bottom Line
Conversational marketing moves buyers through marketing and sales funnels by using the power of one-at-a-time questions, mirroring real conversations. Facebook AI suggests engaging use of personality, knowledge, empathy, and the ability to blend all three seamlessly has shown to be effective. For your business success, implementing conversational marketing into your business social media strategy is a wise move for 2021.
