Social media and social marketing has really come of age and the landscape continues to evolve.

With platforms continuing to change and deliver what seems like a constant stream of new features designed to keep their users engaged and content creators developing new and exciting content, this year’s Hootsuite Social Trends 2024 report reminds us of the importance of keeping ROI centre stage.

Here at Brolly we keep a sharp eye out for the updates on social media trends.

The 2024 Social Trends report from Hootsuite is a favourite of ours (and we’re a little bit biased because they’re a partner as well!) and as usual, this year it’s again full of great observations.

We’ve compiled some cool ways that Brolly customers can jump on this year’s trends.

The AI Trend

• Generative AI is now with us, and looking like it is here to stay. This has resulted in a significant shift in its use across organisations with its use spreading into different areas of companies, not the least of which is marketing and social media marketing.
• However be aware that there is still a mistrust for content produced by AI, particularly with the middle and older generations.
• To ensure you are still connecting with your intended audience you need to make sure you stay authentic and true to the company’s brand.
• Therefore decide how you want to work with AI based on your audience and what you want it to produce for you.

The Platform Trend

• Organisations fear the cost and subsequent ROI of being on so many social media platforms as it takes considerable time and energy to deliver compelling content across a range of often diverse channels.
• Each platform is different and has a potentially different audience. Content often has to be created, or at least altered specifically for each platform.
• As a consequence, organisations are using ROI to determine if they are getting value from being on particular platforms and deciding that if they aren’t getting value from the platform they will leave, or at least not participate.
• Mastering a select few platforms is better than being on a lot of them poorly.

The ROI Trend

• Entertainment is driving ROI??!!
• Audiences are pretty clear, after connecting with family and friends, their next requirement is to be entertained. They also don’t like it when a company is incessantly self-promoting on social media.
• But how to produce ‘entertaining’ content if you’re in a fairly ‘serious’ or regulated industry. Well, entertaining covers a wide spectrum including inspiring, exciting, moving or learning something new. Focus on these to help you deliver content your audience will find interesting and entertaining.

As social media continues to take centre stage in an organisations communications strategy, it is becoming increasingly important to stay across the continually evolving and changing landscape and emerging trends.

Ensuring keeping an eye on the ROI of your engagement and efforts on social media will only help not only social media marketers but the company as a whole.

At Brolly we’re proudly social-media first and foremost. By capturing your organisations social media interactions and having them available for analysis and integration you can ensure your social media strategy is on point and delivering ROI for the business.

You can find out more about our social media management platform partner Hootsuite and our social media archiving & insights platform Brolly.