How (and why) to post to Instagram from PC or Mac

When Instagram launched in 2010, users could only share square images from their mobile devices. Since then, the app has evolved to include features such as multi-image posting, private messaging and a broad set of editing tools that can make an amateur smartphone picture look like a professional image. In 2021, Instagram rolled out another new feature: the ability to post to the app from a PC or Mac.

Casual users may not feel compelled to post to Instagram from a PC or Mac. But for marketers, this new feature could simplify and improve Instagram management.

In this guide, we’ll explain the benefits of posting to Instagram from a desktop or laptop and explain how to do it.

Let’s get started!

Why might a business post to Instagram from a computer?

Professionals running a business account might want the option of posting to Instagram on desktop for the following reasons:

Simplify the publishing process

If you’ve ever attempted to create an Instagram post using an image that’s stored on your company server, you know the process isn’t ideal. You might’ve had to email the image to yourself, download it to your mobile phone then upload it to Instagram. Being able to post to Instagram from your PC simplifies this process.

Create flawless content

Proofreading your content and hashtags can be a challenge when you’re looking at a 6-inch smartphone screen. When posting to Instagram from your desktop, you can write your content in Google Docs or Microsoft Word, check the spelling and grammar then copy-and-paste it into your post.

A larger screen is also helpful for photographers and designers who want to see how an image will display. On a desktop, they can more easily detect any problems with aspect ratio or resolution.

Establish a work-life balance

Many marketers that manage Instagram accounts use their own phones to do so. Should you forget to toggle between accounts, you might end up posting to the wrong profile. Posting to Instagram from your company laptop or desktop prevents this misstep.

How to post on Instagram from PC

Instagram’s desktop web version lets you browse your feed, post photos and videos to your profile, view your notifications and reply to direct messages (DMs).
In this guide, we’ll show you three ways of posting to Instagram from PC or Mac:

1. How to post on Instagram from a desktop using Sprout Social
2. How to post on Instagram from computer using your browser
3. How to post on Instagram from a desktop using Creator Studio

Let’s start with Sprout Social.

1. How to post on Instagram from a desktop using Sprout Social

Using Sprout Social, you can post photos, videos, carousels and Stories to your Instagram Business Profile. You can also cross-post to other channels, view in-depth analytics and collaborate with your team.

To post to Instagram, open Compose in the Sprout desktop app and select the image(s) you want to add. You can use Sprout’s photo editor to adjust your image before posting it.

After your image is ready and you’ve selected the account you want to post to, you can schedule your first comment, along with hashtags, and tag up to 20 users. As an added bonus, you can also add internal tags to help organize your posts by topic or campaign.

Choose when you want to publish your post: immediately, on a specific day, or let Sprout Queue auto-schedule it.

2. How to post on Instagram from computer using your browser

You can post to Instagram from your web browser, whether you’re using a Mac or a PC. Instagram’s web version allows you to upload and post a photo or video like you would on the mobile app. Here’s how to post to Instagram from PC or Mac using Google Chrome, Safari or any other web browser:

Open your browser and log in to Instagram, then click the + icon to add an image. You can drag or drop the image, or select an image to upload from your computer.

Adjust the image size, if necessary, and apply filters or make edits. Then click Next. Now you can tag people, add a caption and specify your location. You can also add alt text by clicking Accessibility.

Click Share when you’re ready to post.

3. How to post on Instagram from a desktop using Creator Studio

If you have an Instagram Business or Creator account, you can use Creator Studio to post, manage, monetize and measure content across all your Facebook Pages and Instagram accounts.

Here’s how to post and schedule photos, videos and carousel posts from your desktop using Creator Studio for Instagram:

Log in to your Creator Studio dashboard using your Facebook or Instagram credentials, then click Connect Your Account.

Click Create Post, then select Instagram Feed and choose the account for your post. Write your caption. You can include up to 30 hashtags and tag up to 30 users.

Then add your image—upload a file from your computer, or choose an image from your Facebook profile. Click Publish to post your content immediately, or schedule it for later.

How to post an Instagram Story from your desktop

Although different from regular posts, you can still post an Instagram Story from your computer using the Sprout Instagram mobile publishing workflow.

Schedule your Instagram Story video in Sprout’s desktop app and then assign a Mobile Publisher—a person responsible for publishing posts to Instagram—to publish the content to your Instagram account via Sprout’s mobile app at the scheduled time.

Why Sprout Social is the best solution for posting to Instagram from PC or Mac

Now you know how to post pictures on Instagram from PC or Mac, whether using a web browser or Facebook’s Creator Studio. But if you want the best desktop experience, you’ll want to use Sprout’s desktop app.

Here’s why:

Support for all post types

Sprout lets you post all types of Instagram content—including images, carousels, videos and Stories—from your computer.

Post scheduling

Using Sprout’s Content Calendar, you can plan and schedule your Instagram content in advance. Plus, you can prepopulate the First Comment with relevant hashtags to increase your reach.

Image editing

You can use Sprout’s photo editor to adjust the image size and add filters, effects, text overlay and stickers.

Manage multiple Instagram accounts

You can connect multiple Instagram Business Accounts to Sprout Social and choose which profile to publish your content to.

Social CRM

Sprout’s social CRM lets you access conversation histories and relevant contact information so that you can personalize responses to incoming messages. You can also match social contacts with corresponding customer Salesforce data—without leaving Sprout—to give sales and marketing the complete picture.

In-depth reporting

Sprout’s Instagram reporting lets you analyze hundreds of data points, including stories, across multiple profiles so that you can track and refine your strategy.

Ready to see how Sprout Social simplifies social media management? Sign up for a 30-day free trial!

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Social media activism: This is how you start a movement

Social media is a hub for civic engagement. Whether you’re seeing celebrities take to Twitter to express their opinions on current events, brands talking about how their values relate to the issues that matter, or everyday people joining the conversation, social is a powerful platform for activism.

In this article, we’ll walk you through how social media activism works, how it can impact your relationships with your customers and some best practices for weighing in on social media movements.

What is social media activism?

Social media activism is a way for people to talk about—and organize around—the issues that matter to them. Social media activism creates opportunities for grassroots movements to take shape and go further. The Ice Bucket Challenge, #MeToo and Black Lives Matter have all been successful social media movements.

How has social become the launch pad for activism? First and foremost, social media is about conversations. Facebook facilitates catch-ups for old friends. Twitter creates global exchanges on of-the-moment topics. Reddit connects groups of people with common interests. TikTok’s stitches and duets bring video content into the chat. With all of the different ways you can have a conversation on social, it’s no surprise that platforms have become a catalyst for social media movements.

Conscious consumers want to see your values

Social media activism gives users a chance to amplify their voices, platform and talents for something bigger than themselves. And for brands, the opportunity is too big to miss out on.

Most consumers (71%) want brands to take a stand on the issues that matter most. Knowing a company aligns with a consumer’s personal values is 74% more influential on purchase decisions in 2022 than it was in 2021. But at the same time, 52% of consumers believe brands express their opinions on sensitive topics for the publicity or increased sales. As a marketer, how do you make sure your message is effective?

Some consumers want to make sure brands are following through with their publicized social impact goals—like increasing DEI or incorporating sustainable practices. Publishing both successes and failures can help consumers feel more at ease about the integrity of a brand’s commitment.

When to weigh in

Consumers want to see internal company values align with external corporate activism. Causes that are directly related to a brand’s product, values or image will always be perceived as more authentic than intermittent posts about a variety of issues.

For instance, brands catering to women might be especially vocal about gender in the workplace, while brands that relate to the outdoors might focus on sustainability. The more natural the connection is, the more authentic consumers perceive the campaign. When it’s time to take a stand, make sure it’s easy to connect the dots between your overall brand and your official position.

Virtual actions with real-world impact

Grassroots social media movements don’t have a central leader. They’re sustained by millions of people posting, commenting, liking and sharing peer-generated content. Social media democratizes activism by giving brands, political figures, influencers and everyday individuals the same platform to get their message across. There are four main types of content social media marketers should consider when they’re joining—or starting—a social media movement.

Educational

You can’t fix a problem you don’t know about. A major hurdle for social media activists is making sure their audience understands the issues and the solutions. Educational content is a great way to get the word out about a cause and get the ball rolling on a social media movement.

This content might answer user-generated questions, deep-dive into a subtopic of the larger issue, or give a historical overview of the problem. The goal of educational social activism content is to get audiences up to speed so they can start getting involved.

Transit gaps aren’t just a barrier to opportunity. They can also separate communities from their culture.

For #AAPIHeritageMonth, we’re sharing how the Chinatown Transportation Research & Improvement Project (TRIP) fought for transportation equity in San Francisco’s Chinatown.🧵 pic.twitter.com/TnH2E4sVQo

— Zipcar (@Zipcar) May 3, 2022

Zipcar’s Twitter thread is an excellent example of educational content done right. By connecting their lesson to a larger topic—Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage month—they ensured that the right people would see their message. The history they highlighted also translates directly to the company mission of transportation accessibility. Zipcar used educational content to position themselves as a natural next step in the fight for equitable transportation.

Opinionated

Think of opinionated social media activism content as a miniature editorial. Not so long ago, if brands or individuals wanted to get their perspective out there, they’d have to find a publication willing to distribute it. Now, social makes it easier than ever for brands and leadership to get their opinions out quickly and efficiently. Publishing point of view-driven content is a great way to start a dialogue with your audience and differentiate your brand’s platform.

At Annie's, we believe a strong food system starts with prosperous farmers. 💪

Dig deeper on how regenerative agriculture can make an impact. 👇 https://t.co/4zTS1VgXb7

— Annie's Homegrown (@annieshomegrown) February 19, 2020

Annie’s Homegrown gets straight to the point with this Tweet. By clearly stating their belief and supporting it with an expert opinion, Annie’s Homegrown didn’t leave anything up to interpretation. Once again, farming ties directly back to their organic products, reinforcing the sincerity of their stance.

Actionable

Social media activism is sometimes criticized as being more talk than action, but many posts are centered around driving a real-world difference. Actionable posts compel audiences to do something, like sign a petition, contact a representative, give a donation or show up to a protest. These types of posts illustrate the true power of a social media movement. The connectivity of social media gives brands the ability to organize more quickly and effectively than ever before.

Did you know that the U.S. and other affluent nations are most responsible for the climate crisis? Or that the most vulnerable people are the ones hit hardest? Learn more about the inequities at the heart of the climate crisis, and what you can do to help: https://t.co/kY1YwZb98O pic.twitter.com/5tBQOeRGM7

— Seventh Generation (@SeventhGen) November 23, 2021

Seventh Generation got straight to the point with this tweet. Given their products, Seventh Generations followers are sticklers for sustainability, making an actionable post the perfect way to reach them. With a clear problem statement and CTA, the audience is primed to pitch in.

Motivational

As social media movements take off, it’s important to recognize the people who are doing the work. That’s where recognition posts come in. This strategy highlights an individual, brand or organization that’s doing the work to build a better future. These encouraging posts inspire others to take action by showing how it’s been done before while highlighting a key community member. Activism is hard work and it’s important to celebrate the wins and the people facilitating them.

Oh snap! Our customer Kiersten reduced her landfill waste so much that she was able to upgrade to this smaller kitchen trash can! To reduce her trash, she takes her compost to the farmer’s market every weekend. Go Kiersten! #compost pic.twitter.com/XFz0NkGKvh

— Imperfect Foods (@imperfect_foods) April 27, 2022

Imperfect Foods amplified the actions of one customer with this post. User-generated content is an effective way to drive all kinds of engagement, even social change. This motivating post makes everyone feel like they can make a difference. Plus, by highlighting a specific user, Imperfect Foods was able to expand their reach outside of their own followers.

Interactive

Community is arguably the most important part of social media activism. Without a community of like-minded people boosting engagement, posts get lost in the noise. Finding ways to engage the community around your content is key toward building a long-term movement. Answering audience questions, crowdsourcing ideas and responding to comments directly are all great ways to engage with a social community. Greater engagement levels means more eyes on your content, which means more potential supporters.

@unwomen

Reply to @the.sisofficial Here’s what we can all do to help prevent violence against women #endviolenceagainstwomen

♬ original sound – UN Women

UN Women takes education a step further by responding directly to user comments on social. The organization could have easily posted this as an FAQ video, but bringing the audience’s voice into the conversation is a smarter social strategy. Answering this user’s question encourages other users to post their own questions and comments, making UN Women’s feed feel more like a conversation than a lecture hall.

Movements over moments

Social media and activism go hand in hand. The same mechanisms that bring people together over the love of a team, a book or a hobby can also bring people together over social causes. When executed correctly, the impacts of social media movements can be massive.

The opportunity for brands to join these conversations can’t be overlooked. If you’re looking to hear more about how social media can be a force for good, check out this episode of our Social Creatures podcast, where we sit down with Head of Social for UN Women, Anu Hautalampi, to discuss how she uses social media to get the word out about women’s issues.

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Halsey’s record label won’t release a new song until it goes viral on TikTok. Is this the future of the music industry?

On Sunday, popular American singer songwriter Halsey shared a video on TikTok with tinny music in the background, the on-screen text reading: Basically I have a song that I love that I wanna release ASAP but my record label won’t let me. I’ve been in this industry for 8 years and I’ve sold over 165 million records. And my record company is saying that I can’t release it unless they can fake a viral moment on TikTok. Everything is marketing. And they are doing this to basically every artist these days. I just wanna release music, man. And I deserve…

This story continues at The Next Web

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Social media messaging: how to build a winning cross-platform strategy

How to effectively brainstorm in a remote environment

One of the things that seemed most challenging when AWeber was transitioning from a physical location to becoming a remote team was figuring out how we’d effectively brainstorm. So much good creative work comes from people putting their heads together, identifying problems to be solved, and coming up with ways to solve them.

Historically at AWeber, we had done this by swinging by someone’s desk, or catching them in a common space and working things through on a white board. How could we maintain this free-flowing innovation when people weren’t in the same physical space (or even the same time zone)?

It turns out it’s easier than we thought it would be. We ended up finding the parts of in-person brainstorms that worked best and combining them with the principles that make asynchronous communication so transparent, clear, and inclusive.

Here are a few tips for brainstorming with a remote team.

Always start with documentation.

Whether you’re going to be brainstorming synchronously or asynchronously, documentation is necessary to make sure people have shared goals and understand their role. Your first step should be to create a document that lists:

• The goal of the brainstorm. 
  Are you trying to solve a problem? Identify what is causing a change in your user behavior? Create a new feature?

• Relevant documentation.
  It’s helpful to share things like user research, conversations with users, and data about user behavior. Share these with your teammates before the meeting.
  
  
• The agenda. 
  We have a team policy of declining agenda-less meetings (and think you should too!). The lack of an agenda makes it much more difficult for team members to prepare and results in less effective meetings.

These meeting notes are also where you close the loop and share the ideas and outcomes from your brainstorm. Having this doc is the single most effective way you can increase transparency and participation around your early stage thinking about a problem.

Gut check whether you need a meeting at all.

I’ve been surprised by the number of interesting ideas we’ve been able to come up with and refine asynchronously. Ask yourself a few questions before you schedule a meeting:

• Are you “starting from zero?” 
  You’re at the very early stages of identifying a problem or are in the freewheeling early stages of proposing solutions.

• Do you need stakeholders to get aligned on a contentious issue where there’s likely to be disagreement?
  
  
• Is your issue time sensitive?
  For example, if you’re in the middle of an outage or have a tight deadline.

If the answer to any of these questions is “yes,” then you’d probably benefit from a meeting. Live brainstorming sessions can be more effective at resolving differences, can spur more creative ideas (given some constraints), and can speed up resolutions to time sensitive issues.

Otherwise, consider sharing the docs you created with relevant reviewers and asking them to share their ideas on the page.

Narrow your focus.

When you’re brainstorming solutions, some constraints encourage creativity. For example, we want to make sure it takes as little time as possible for people to send an email to their audience. When we ask “how do we make the process faster” there are all sorts of ways that we could solve that problem from better user education, to improved design, to changes to our message editor. This level of abstraction can be helpful for identifying opportunity areas, but it isn’t super effective at actually finding actionable ways to make improvements.

If instead we pick one of those problem areas and really dive in, we end up with a much more focused set of ideas we can actually implement. We did this recently by asking ourselves where the friction was in the text editing portion of our message editor. Because we focused on that one issue, we came up with all sorts of ways to save people time writing their messages that we’re actually doing!

Keep meetings short.

The longer the meeting, the more opportunity to get distracted or tune out.

Keep meetings small.

Be ruthless when setting your list of brainstorm attendees. Video calls tend to be more draining and difficult to focus on than in-person meetings. The more people you add to your call, the less any single person will have to contribute, giving them more opportunity to tune out and frankly waste their time.

How should you decide who to add to your brainstorms? Invite:

• The most knowledgeable people about your subject area.
• People who will be involved in implementation.
• Folks you’re developing who could learn a substantial amount from the experience.

Proactively call on participants for feedback.

The loudest voices will have an outsized impact on your brainstorming for the simple reason that they’ll talk the most. To make sure you’re getting perspective from everyone, periodically ask folks who are quieter what their opinion or idea is.

Don’t stop there. To avoid groupthink, ask the quieter people to explain their ideas so everyone doesn’t end up just repeating what the louder voices are saying.

Record your meeting and synthesize afterward.

Writing down notes and outcomes is essential to having brainstorming sessions that actually result in action. However, note taking during a meeting can slow down discussion and lead to distraction. Instead, record your meeting so everyone can participate fully and listen back afterward, summarizing and grouping relevant information.

The world feels like it’s sped up exponentially in the past few years, and that doesn’t look to be changing. It’s important to have methods for idea generation that really work in our increasingly remote world. The things I mentioned have really worked for us. What’s been working for you?

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9 tips for designing TikTok marketing campaigns (and examples to show them in action)

We have some exciting news: As of today, Sprout Social is partnering with TikTok to launch a first-of-its-kind integration. Sprout users now have the ability to schedule and publish TikTok videos, manage and reply to comments and measure how their TikTok videos are performing compared to other social networks. Learn more here.

Fourteen hours. That’s the average amount of time TikTok users spend on the app each month.

With engagement like this, the network is quickly moving away from the fringes of the social media landscape and into the center of forward-thinking brands’ strategies. Between its rapidly growing global user base and its investments in brand features, there are a number of reasons to use TikTok for marketing in 2022.

This article will outline how brands can architect successful end-to-end TikTok marketing campaigns (versus one-off experimental videos) to capitalize on this engagement. We’ll also sprinkle in examples of brands that are already working the network to their advantage and insights from a marketer who has successfully incorporated TikTok into her strategy—Meara McNitt, Social Media Director at Online Optimism, one of Sprout’s agency partners.

@onlineoptimism

have 100% used harry styles lyrics in captions #socialmediamanager #worktoks

♬ original sound – Turbo Wet

Why TikTok marketing campaigns are so valuable

Since its launch in 2016, TikTok (formerly Musical.ly) has grown by leaps and bounds, quickly cementing its place among established networks like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter. The following list of statistics highlights some of the many implications of TikTok’s meteoric rise in popularity and why brands are increasingly jumping on the proverbial bandwagon.

• TikTok generated around $4.6 billion in revenue in 2021.
• TikTok boasted 1.2 billion users at the end of 2021, and is projected to reach 1.5 billion by the end of 2022.
• 18% of internet users between the ages of 16 and 64 are on TikTok.
• 67% of TikTok users said the app inspired them to shop.
• 74% of users say the app inspired them to discover more about a product or brand.
• The vast majority (90%) of TikTok users open the app daily.
• 38% of US consumers plan on using TikTok in 2022, more than double the 17% who planned on it in 2020.
• Social media users stay on TikTok longer than any other network, with an average session length of more than 10 minutes.
• More than half of TikTok users feel closer to brands they see on the app.

How to plan, build and launch memorable TikTok marketing campaigns

Whether your TikTok campaign is organic or paid, there are three primary phases you’ll go through as you execute it—planning, building and launching. With the right approach and some targeted guidance, you’ll sail through each of these phases effortlessly.

Phase 1: Plan your TikTok marketing campaign

The first step in any marketing campaign, regardless of channel, is to develop a strategy and plan based on research. The following tips will help you get your campaign started on the right foot.

Get to know your audience

Your TikTok analytics page can give you demographic details about your viewers. If you’re new to the network though, you may not have enough data to really draw conclusions. Consider using analytics from your other social profiles (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.) to make sure you have a grasp on who makes up your audience and what they are looking for. You might also consider scoping out your peers or competitors to get a look at what they are doing and what seems to be resonating with their audiences.

“A critical lesson I’ve learned from running TikTok campaigns is to try everything,” says McNitt. “Understanding your target audience and using that information to create content that you think will work is still a good place to start.”

Being featured on the For You Page is a badge of honor among TikTokers. But for brands, getting there requires a deep understanding of what people are looking for from the app. This is a great forum to attract new followers, but creating relevant and compelling content is the first step.

Brand example: Gymshark, a workout wear brand, uses their casual and relatable brand voice on TikTok to post content that empowers their core audience—fitness buffs. They’re not trying to appeal to everyone, but people who spend time in the gym get their inside jokes and rally around the motivational videos they post.

@gymshark

Immaculate💀@Chris Negich #Gymshark #GymTok #gymhumor

♬ Beast Mode – JGRANTBEATS & Drelli

Research trends

“While other social platforms require adaptability in order to share the latest information from your company, TikTok also requires you to stay up to date on the latest memes and trends so you can incorporate them into your content,” McNitt notes.

One way to keep current is to regularly investigate the Discover feed, represented by a magnifying glass in the app. Here, you’ll find a sampling of TikTok’s latest trends and example videos you can use for inspiration. You can also use the search bar to dig into any trending creators, videos, sounds or hashtags you run across.

Staying engaged in the app as a user and following major influencers is another best practice that helps to ensure you keep tabs on the latest trends. “Don’t scroll as the brand page—scroll as a regular consumer and keep yourself rooted in that perspective rather than an advertiser’s perspective,” McNitt advises. “Remember that the people you are marketing to are experiencing the platform the same way you do on your personal account, and they’re scrolling for leisure, not business.”

Brand example: Nando’s, a UK-based restaurant chain, is known for using trending audio that (on the surface) has little to do with food. By adding context and a healthy dose of humor, they promote their menu items while making popular audio snippets their own.

@nandosuk

Baby spice 🥺🌶 #nandosuk

♬ sonido original – Linda Belcher Everyday

Consider trending and branded hashtags

Whether branded or trending (or a combo), hashtags can help your TikTok campaigns resonate with existing and new audiences. They help to categorize content, making it easier for creators and users alike to find what they need. TikTok hashtags are also clickable, making it super easy to fall into a rabbit hole of related content, should you wish.

Some hashtags are especially popular on the network, and are thus ripe for brands to pick up and use. Keep in mind that, with extreme popularity, these hashtags also come with heightened competition. They’re typically pretty self-explanatory, but doing a quick search can help you generate ideas to contribute to these campaigns if you’re stumped.

Some notable hashtags you might co-opt include:

• #TikTokCringe
• #duet
• #TikTokDance
• #motivation
• #goal
• #BehindTheScenes
• #FlipTheSwitch
• #lifehack
• #LearnOnTikTok
• #HowTo

With branded hashtags, brands can encourage users to create original content or interact with the company in specific ways designed to increased engagement.

Brand example: Levi’s, a denim-focused fashion brand, took advantage of the popularity of cleaning videos on the network (if you’re unaware, check out #CleanTok for more) with its first hashtag #CleaningHacks while also dropping a branded hashtag, #LiveInLevis. These hashtags have racked up over 5 billion and 772 million views, respectively, as of May 2022. Search through the latter tag, and you’ll find a compelling mix of user-generated content as well as branded content posted by Levi’s itself.

@levis

Reply to @tollhouse11 No donuts, lattes or denim were harmed in the making of this video. #cleaninghacks #liveinlevis

♬ original sound – Levi’s

Phase 2: Build your TikTok marketing campaign

Now that you’ve planned out your marketing campaign, you’re ready to start building. While there are many techniques available for branded campaigns, the following are the most useful for new and experienced TikTok marketers alike.

Use TikTok Shopping

Especially for product-based brands, TikTok Shopping features can be a great way to expose your audience to your goods, whether directly in your videos or on your profile’s product showcase tab. Choose to showcase your inventory with product tags on in-feed videos, LIVE shopping or your product showcase tab.

TikTok has already proven to be a venue where consumers are happy to spend their discretionary dollars. One study found that TikTok shoppers are 1.7 times more likely to purchase products on the network versus other social channels. Videos using the hashtag “TikTokMadeMeBuyIt” have more than 12 billion views (as of May 2022), with creators sharing everything from small impulse purchases to larger investments. This organic partnership between brands and creators is, in many ways, unique to TikTok—a phenomenon the network has coined “community commerce.”

Partner with creators and influencers

Brands teaming up with influencers is a network-agnostic practice, but on TikTok, it’s often the rule rather than the exception. And it’s not for nothing as these collaborations boost brand recall, view rates and engagement.

If you’re not sure where to start, consider diving into the TikTok Creator Marketplace, where you’ll get a directory of influencers and be able to view specifics and stats about each to find the perfect fit for your brand or product.

Brand example: For the introduction of its new Brow Microfilling Pen, Benefit Cosmetics launched a campaign aimed at increasing awareness of the product. To expand their reach, they turned to the TikTok Creator Marketplace to find Gen Z and Millennial influencers that aligned with the brand’s values. They narrowed their search by using the marketplace’s filters for age, gender and content categories. The campaign’s 22 videos (about 4.5 minutes of creator content) showcased the product’s benefits through the lens of each creator’s unique perspective. The campaign earned more than 3,500 hours of views and 1.4 million impressions.

@benefitcosmetics

We’ve got this brow tut by @glowwithluna playing on repeat 😍 #browmicrofillingpen #24hrbrowsetter #benefitcosmetics #eyebrows #browhacks

♬ original sound – Benefit Cosmetics

Try out creative effects

Interesting effects have long been part of TikTok’s appeal. Some popular effects you may have seen on the network include “Duet,” “Green Screen” and “Time Warp Scan.” To make it even easier for brands and creators to apply these effects to their campaigns, TikTok recently created its Effect House, a platform where anyone can build Community Effects and make them available to other users.

When brands leverage these effects and promote them via ad campaigns, TikTok refers to them as “Branded Effects.” At the moment, only brands that have been invited to participate can take advantage of this program, but TikTok says it will expand the program soon.

Brand example: NOS, a Portugal-based communications and entertainment company, created a Christmas-themed snowglobe effect under their #OMeuNatal campaign. The brand saw more than 33 million video views and their Branded Effect garnered 36,000+ total plays.

@afonsantos

Partilha o Natal com quem mais gostas! Feliz Natal 😄 #OMeuNatal

♬ Can’t help falling in love – Haley Reinhart

Phase 3: Launching your TikTok marketing campaign

Once you’ve launched your TikTok marketing campaign, your work is not over. It’s important to stay on top of audience engagement and keep track of how the campaign is performing.

Engage meaningfully with your audience

If you just launch your campaign but don’t maintain its momentum by interacting with your followers, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity. Be authentic, stay consistent in your brand voice and values, and humanize your account, if possible. TikTokers want to engage with real people.

If users are commenting on your videos or otherwise interacting with them, it is critical that your brand has a presence in the conversation.

“On TikTok, you typically need to put a face to your brand, rather than relying on graphics and text,” McNitt says. “Making sure you look authentic to TikTok without being too deceptive is also key.”

Amplify user-generated content (UGC)

Another aspect of engagement comes in the form of user-generated content, often triggered by a branded hashtag campaign.

Brands can optimize on this activity by engaging with these users and sharing their content on the brand’s page. One study found that 72% of participants were more likely to trust customers’ reviews over brand-produced content. And UGC converts five times more than non-UGC.

“While it can certainly drive conversions, TikTok is a key platform for encouraging word of mouth and consumer endorsement,“ McNitt notes.

Brand example: JIF peanut butter used a branded hashtag campaign (#JifRapChallenge) and a partnership with rapper Ludacris to encourage UGC. The campaign asked JIF’s community to “Duet” a branded rap with Ludacris — with a spoonful of peanut butter in their mouths.

@tiktokbrownchick

#ad #duet with @ludacrisdtp didn’t know @jif peanut butter could give my flows this much ✨umph✨ y’all gotta try this out #JifRapChallenge

♬ #JifRapChallenge – Ludacris

Measure campaign success

“Measuring conversions from TikTok campaigns can be challenging, because you might not see many direct paths of users seeing an ad, swiping up, and making a purchase,” McNitt says. “Keep in mind that this platform excels at driving brand awareness, and it will be better to watch for correlation between flight dates, views, and sales.”

As with any campaign, keeping track of its performance is critical. Getting the data you need to be nimble throughout the duration requires the right tools. With Sprout’s new TikTok integration, marketers can zoom in on the most relevant metrics to quickly analyze and optimize their video performance. Teams have the option of seeing all their TikTok metrics in one place, comparing TikTok posts against other networks’ and digging into TikTok campaign effectiveness.

Conquer your TikTok marketing campaigns

As TikTok continues to gain popularity, brands are flocking to the network to expand their reach and engage new audiences. But the strongest social campaigns are more than one-and-done, overnight pet projects.

Ready to start or refine your TikTok marketing campaigns? Learn more about how Sprout’s TikTok integration can help you organize and grow your end-to-end video strategy across social networks with video scheduling, comment management and presentation-ready reports.

The post 9 tips for designing TikTok marketing campaigns (and examples to show them in action) appeared first on Sprout Social.

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How the Sprout Social Salesforce integration strengthens your team

Have you test-driven the Sprout Social Salesforce integration yet?

If not, you totally should!

There’s a reason why more and more companies are linking their CRMs with social media management tools like Sprout.

Social media and customer relationships go hand in hand. Want to speed up internal comms and uncover valuable customer insights at the same time? Our Salesforce integration empowers your social, sales and support teams alike. That’s a win-win-win!

In this guide, we’ll break down exactly how the Sprout Social Salesforce integration works. We’ll also highlight how the integration streamlines tasks across your entire business.

Why you need to integrate your CRM with social media ASAP

The importance of social media integrations with your business’ tech tools can’t be overstated.

And your CRM platform should be a top priority.

This is especially true as customers rely on social media as a research tool, support channel and place to sound off about brands.

Looking at the top challenges of B2B marketers, the growing need for social media CRM integrations is clear. These challenges include:

• Engaging buyers at the right time it the right channel (57%)
• Giving the sales team relevant content to engage target buyers (23%)
• Dealing with internal data silos and inefficiencies  (17%)

The good news? The Sprout Social Salesforce integration addresses all of the above.

Before we get into the nitty-gritty, let’s dive into some of the key upsides of linking your CRM with your social presence.

Monitor make-or-break moments in the buyer’s journey

CRMs help businesses assist leads and customers on the path to purchase.

And social media is where so many crucial moments happen during that journey.

This rings true for B2B and B2C alike. Let’s assume that the typical B2B buyer’s journey is around eight months. Social interactions are a given for folks doing their homework on a product, right?

Meanwhile, recent research from TikTok describes consumer behavior as an “infinite loop” in B2C. The modern path to purchase is far from linear when people are bouncing between so many channels.

As customers bounce between platforms and content, social media serves as a place to make valuable touchpoints along the way. This includes answering questions and publishing educational content to nurture leads.

The same rules apply to existing customers, too. Data from the 2021 Sprout Social Index™ notes that the majority of people that follow a brand on social media intend to buy from them (or buy again).

Earn (and track) more social sales

The growth of social selling speaks for itself.

Do activities such as customer care and content marketing contribute big-time to closing and retaining leads? Of course.

Still, they’re difficult to track without a CRM.

With integrations like those between Sprout Social and Salesforce, it’s so much easier to attribute sales from social. The ability to quickly answer questions and handoff cases between social, sales and support likewise makes it easier to respond to people quickly.

Gather meaningful customer insights you might otherwise miss

The more info you have about your customers, the better.

Consolidating touchpoints between social media and your CRM gives you a more in-depth understanding of your audience.

Fact: 90% of marketers say data from social enables them to differentiate their brands in the market and stand out from their peers. Also, consider how many people use social media as a place to sound off about brands.

These conversations and activities provide insights for sales and support, including:

• Sales objections
• Pain points and challenges
• Wants and needs
• Competitor advantages (and disadvantages)

With all of the above on hand, your team can approach leads and customers with a much-needed sense of confidence.

How does Salesforce integrate with Sprout Social?

Here’s a quick snapshot of the Sprout Social Salesforce integration and what you can do with it:

• Create Salesforce contacts, leads and cases directly in Sprout. This means you can route social customers to support and sales without bouncing between platforms.
• Paint a complete picture of your CRM contacts with information and conversations via social media.
• Tie your social presence to actual business results with analytics and reporting.

As an added bonus, our Salesforce integration is available on all Sprout plans. Features and requirements below:

• Requirements: Salesforce account
• Data types: messages, contacts, tickets
• Key functionality: create leads, edit contact information, create cases, edit cases, auto-sync

What entities are available with the Sprout Social Salesforce integration?

Below is a breakdown of all the entities that can be created and edited directly within Sprout:

• Leads. Kick off the sales process by identifying potential customers through questions, comments and other social media interactions.
• Cases. Let’s say a customer expresses a concern or raises an issue on social. With our integration, you can route them to your support team without leaving the platform.
• Contacts. Beyond customers, you can keep track of social interactions with contacts such as company partners.

To learn more, check out this detailed breakdown.

4 key benefits of using the Sprout Social Salesforce integration

To wrap things up, let’s look at some of the specific benefits of using a Salesforce social media integration like Sprout’s.

1. Provide better customer care

According to the 2022 Sprout Social Index™, there are two specific actions brands can take to earn consumer trust over a competitor:

1. Respond to questions and concerns in a timely manner
2. Demonstrate an understanding of customer needs

And hey, our Salesforce integration can help you in both departments.

Again, logging social activity means a more comprehensive understanding of your customers’ wants and needs. Not having to bounce between your CRM and social tools is a huge time-saver. In turn, you speed up your response time.

The end result? Answering customers faster and coming up with better solutions to meet their needs. Doing so is a recipe for long-term loyalty and retention.

2. Align your marketing, sales and support teams

Consider that 36% of marketers say they struggle with cross-team collaboration.

When marketing, sales and support are aligned, each team is empowered to do their best work. There’s so much room for error if you only log your customers’ social interactions sometimes.

Think about it. If marketing or sales leaves out key customer details in your CRM, your support team is left in the dark. On the flip side, marketing should be aware of sales and objections and concerns to better speak to customers’ desires.

Here are some specific ways that Sprout’s Salesforce integration can help:

• Save time by eliminating needless back-and-forths between vendors, managers and social managers
• Swiftly route cases to avoid bouncing between tools
• Provide each team the context they need to serve your customers

3. Boost the value behind your marketing content

Again, learning what makes customers bounce or stick around is invaluable for marketers.

Tracking these touchpoints can lead to the answers you need to create more impactful content. This includes:

• Blog posts
• Social posts (think: how-tos, tutorials and content you share to nurture customers)
• Reports, white papers and other lead magnets
• Webinars

Oh, and not to mention making your overall marketing messaging more meaningful.

For example, marketers might learn that high price points are the most common sales objection among lost leads. This information encourages the marketing side to reframe their messaging and how they speak to their audience.

4. More meaningful attribution via analytics

Perhaps most importantly, social integration with your CRM highlights the ROI of your team’s efforts.

This is an ongoing struggle for marketers, in particular. Although social media is a must-have for businesses, determining its business impact can be tricky for businesses.

That’s where Sprout comes in. Through our marketing and analytics features, brands can see how social engagements correspond with dollars and cents. Proving how these interactions contribute to revenue reinforces the value of social to stakeholders.

Food for thought: sales strategy is the number one use case for social data, especially as social has more impact on the bottom line. However, only 65% of marketers use social data for their sales strategy.

This speaks to the importance of integrating social with your tech stack and how many businesses still have some catching up to do.

Ready to try the Sprout Social Salesforce Integration?

From customer insights to better service, the upsides of linking your social presence with your CRM are crystal clear.

Thankfully, getting up and running with the Sprout Social Salesforce integration can be done sooner rather than later. Our platform makes it a breeze to beef up your tech stack and bring your team closer together.

If you haven’t already, we invite you to try out Salesforce features for yourself. Oh, and don’t forget to take a peek at our other business integrations to see how else Sprout can level up your company.

The post How the Sprout Social Salesforce integration strengthens your team appeared first on Sprout Social.

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What the current talk about talent misses: How internal recruiting can fix your hiring problem

There’s a lot of conversation about the tight talent market right now. And rightfully so. Social media marketers report finding qualified talent as their biggest concern, according to our latest research. Social media teams aren’t the only ones feeling the crunch. Marketing teams across industries and company sizes are struggling to find talent.

Why is now so different? In my career, I’ve seen a lot of ebb and flow in talent pools, but nothing quite like this. Low unemployment rates have something to do with it, but there’s more at play. We have roles that we’ve never had before in marketing. Traditionally, a department might have advertising, public relations and branding, but most practitioners were generalists. As we’ve brought more data and analytics into marketing–and broken down silos between marketing and other departments like sales and product–there has been an influx of new positions and a dramatic evolution of roles.

Everyone knows your people are your greatest asset. I’d take that a step further. Your people are your greatest appreciating asset.

Once you have an employee who gets your customer and product fit, contributes to the culture and is willing to learn, your investment in them will pay dividends for years. Your ability to execute your strategy is dependent on your ability to keep, grow and develop your talent—not so much your ability to acquire new employees.

Internal hiring has never been so important

Marketing careers aren’t as linear as they used to be. The marketing ladder has become a lattice, with lateral moves being just as important as upward mobility. A generalist with expertise in all areas of marketing is on the pathway to leadership and companies should be encouraging that. Even though leaders generally know this, only 17% of candidates say their manager facilitates the process of applying for internal jobs.

Internal recruits bring internal knowledge from other roles with them. That might seem obvious, but the potential gains are immense.

Take social media managers, for example. Social teams have an incredibly valuable set of skills they’re using to make branding magic every day, and they’re also seeing unfiltered customer, market and prospect opinions about your brand and products on a daily basis. Their ability to inform your content, demand gen, product marketing or pricing strategies is unmatched because social is the center of everything. Armed with hard skills from their previous roles and the soft insights, they can be your greatest asset even when they move on from social. In fact, I believe social media managers are the next CMO.

How to build a successful internal recruiting program

As you’re thinking about your company’s internal growth pathways, there are multiple factors to consider. You need to evaluate your growth rate, the size of your team, your open roles and the skills you’ll need to execute your plans. Once you have an idea of your baseline, it’s time to start planning your internal hiring process.

Internal readiness

Some companies aren’t ready to invest in upskilling. For example, newer companies or startups may need to attract employees that are ready to hit the ground running. When you lead a lean marketing team, it often doesn’t make sense to hire the inexperienced but enthusiastic newcomer over the applicant who could execute independently and bring experience to your strategy. But that doesn’t mean you can’t start building your foundation. Identify your most promising employees and keep them in mind for positions that might open once your needs are more flexible.

Knowledge paths

Once your marketing team matures, you can start thinking about a formal internal recruiting structure. The first aspect is giving your employees opportunities to upskill. For larger companies, that may look like an internal learning platform, like we have with Grow@Sprout. But for smaller organizations, investing in outside platforms like LinkedIn Learning, Digital Marketing Institute or Coursera can also give your teams the ability to level up and gain confidence and experience in what interests them. As employees make their way down their learning paths and advancement opportunities arise, you’ll be able to onboard them into new roles more efficiently.

Sourcing talent

We have two main forms of sourcing internal candidates at Sprout—internal job postings and manager referrals. Internal job postings are great to get the word out about urgent hiring needs that employees may be interested in. But these alone aren’t enough.

Underrepresented groups are less likely to raise their hands for those opportunities and only 51% of candidates report being aware of internal postings. At Sprout, we also check in with our people managers regularly to identify rising stars who could fit jobs that we’ve already posted or plan on adding in the future. Keep your people managers in the loop about your roadmap so they’re equipped to identify high-performing team members when it’s time to post that new role.

Strategic talent planning

The best part about creating a robust internal hiring program is the longevity. As you complete strategic planning cycles for your overall organization, you can start laying the groundwork for talent needs over the next few years.

If you have a specific revenue milestone in mind, work backward to decipher what your team will need to look like. How many employees will you need so you can execute effectively? What roles or teams might need to be added? Based on your answers, you can create development plans to prepare your team for the next phase of business growth.

Internal recruiting strategies built for the future

As you grapple with the challenge of finding qualified talent, consider how to empower your existing team. There will always be companies fighting over external talent, but if you keep your employees engaged, excited and constantly learning, you can take a break from fighting and focus on celebrating wins with your team.

Employee engagement is a key piece of any internal hiring program. Find out more on how to keep your employees excited to come to work.

The post What the current talk about talent misses: How internal recruiting can fix your hiring problem appeared first on Sprout Social.

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How to Include a Physical Address in Your Emails Without Revealing Where You Live

Adding your business's — or your own — physical address to all your emails is a required step when you set up your first email campaign.

It makes some people a little nervous. "What if someone comes to my house?" 

Fortunately, there are ways to work around this requirement without revealing where you live or risking a fine.

But first, let's explain why you have to include that physical address.

CAN-SPAM law and physical email address

Everybody hates spam emails. And adding a physical address to your emails is one of the best ways to stop spammers and reduce how many unwanted emails we all get in our inboxes. 

The U.S. anti-spam law called CAN-SPAM was enacted in 2003. It set up a number of requirements and restrictions on sending emails, one of which includes the physical address requirement.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) describes this requirement as follows:

Tell recipients where you’re located. Your message must include your valid physical postal address. This can be your current street address, a post office box you’ve registered with the U.S. Postal Service, or a private mailbox you’ve registered with a commercial mail receiving agency established under Postal Service regulations.

Here's what a physical address would look like in the footer of an email. This is from one of AWeber customer Lewis Howes' latest emails. We've blurred the actual address for privacy, but the arrow shows where it would appear. 

Every email you send to an email marketing list has to have a physical address included in the email footer. 

There are usually a lot of questions about this, so let's cover the most common ones:

Can I use a fake address to get around the CAN-SPAM Act?

• Do NOT do this. You risk a $46,517 fine per violation — per subscriber — if you violate this rule. And yes — people really have had to pay fines like that. And they had to pay them for each email in violation of the Act.
• Even if the Feds don't come after you, if your email marketing service finds out, they could ban you from ever using their service again. Email service providers (like AWeber) make their living by providing a spam-free, CAN-SPAM-Act-complaint service. They have dozens of checks and triggers in their systems to shut spammers down fast.
  

Are there alternatives if I don't want to include my physical address? 

Yes. You can use a business address. The business address you use could be:

• A post office box (a P.O. box)
  The United States Postal Service offers mailbox rentals for as little as $4.67 a month.
  
• A physical mailing address through a business that provides them
  Google "get a physical mailing address" and you'll have plenty of options to choose from. Often these are a bit more expensive than a U.S. post office box, but they may come with additional services. 
  
• A virtual mailbox
  These can be an attractive solution if you're in the middle of a move, living abroad, or if the idea of having to go to the post office to check your mail every so often is not appealing.
  Virtual mailboxes typically offer mail scanning services, so you can see what's been delivered to your mailbox without having to actually open it yourself. Then, if there is a piece of mail you want, the service will forward the mail to you wherever you are.
  These services can be helpful because they also accept packages, and they won't give you a P.O. Box. Some companies won't ship to a P.O. box, so consider that as well. 

• A business partner's mailing address
  Clearly, you'll want to get permission before you use someone else's physical address in your emails, but in some circumstances you can use a business or an organization for your mailing address. For instance:
  • If you're a teacher, you may be able to receive mail at the school you teach at. 
  • If you're an artist or a crafts vendor, you may be able to receive mail at the gallery or at the events center where you have a booth. 
  • If you're a local farmer or food company and you sell at your local farmer's market, they may be able to receive mail for you.
  • If you have a relationship with a studio or recording space, they might accept mail for you. 
  • If you use a co-working site or a shared office space, they will often accept mail for their clients.

Don't abuse this suggestion, but keep your eye out for opportunities. Always ask permission first. There are post office regulations around accepting other peoples’ mail. You may also need to fill out a USPS Form 1583, “Application for Delivery of Mail Through Agent.” 

If CAN-SPAM is only a U.S. law, do I have to abide by it if I'm based in a different country?

Yes, you still have to abide by CAN-SPAM. Any email service provider that's based in the United States will be bound by the CAN-SPAM Act, for starters. So again, your email service provider will act as a first-line of defense enforcer of the CAN-SPAM Act. 

Does having a physical mailing address in emails help with deliverability?

Yes. Some email clients (like Yahoo, Gmail, Outlook, etc.) will crawl through the content of any email they receive. If no address is found, the email may just be sent to peoples' spam folders. Because... if there's no address, it looks like spam. 

One last reason to include a physical address in emails: It’s good business

Getting great results from email marketing often comes down to one thing: Trust. If your subscribers trust you, they'll open and click your emails. If they don't trust you, your emails' engagement rates will be poor and you'll get a lot of unsubscribes.

There are many ways to build trust, but including a postal address in email footers does make you and your emails seem more legitimate to subscribers.

For that reason (as well as all the legal stuff), you really need to include a postal address. Get a mailbox or a business address if you have to, but don't try to circumvent this rule. 

Extra credit: Include your phone number as well. And if you're a local brick and mortar business, include your office hours. 

The post How to Include a Physical Address in Your Emails Without Revealing Where You Live appeared first on AWeber.

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The future of social messaging from 6 social media marketers

Ten-cent text messages, AIM chat rooms with your best friends and glittery MySpace pages with bulletin boards are just a few nostalgic elements from the early days of social media. Soon enough, features like direct messages and @-mentions arrived, changing the trajectory of social media forever.

Today, social media marketers aren’t solely focused on strategizing content for posts and social feeds. They have become an integral part of the customer journey as the rise of social messaging forces brands to show up in 1:1 settings.

Social messaging plays a pivotal role in customer care and brand reputation. Messaging channels like Meta’s Messenger, WeChat and WhatsApp have been embraced globally, while customers flock to Instagram and Twitter direct messages for quick solutions to their questions.

So what’s next? We reached out to six social media professionals to give us a glimpse into the social messaging crystal ball. Here are their predictions for 2022 and beyond.

1. Social messaging will become the dominant channel for external communication

Direct mail, e-mail and toll-free calls are losing popularity among consumers as more and more gravitate to social messaging for customer service. Consumers don’t want to wait hours or several business days, they want instant gratification when resolving order issues or asking product questions.

Some 88% of business executives say social media will become the primary channel for customer service and support while nearly one in two consider social media their primary channel for external communications.

“[Social messaging] will continue to grow as the number one way for brands to communicate to customers. I truly believe it will surpass email, and physical mail,” says Raven Gill, Social Media Manager at Communicators Group. “People are much more likely to reach out through social media for customer service help than five years ago.”

Social is even poised to overtake other digital channels as the preferred place for service. Gartner predicts 80% of customer service organizations will abandon native mobile apps in favor of messaging for a better customer experience by 2025.

2. Social messaging will increase the need for humanization

We’ve all experienced calling a customer service line and instantly hearing an automated message, only to listen to jazzy elevator music until we are connected with a representative. A human, at last, to help us with the problem at hand.

Social messaging offers a much more efficient experience, but the human element remains. Although consumers want quick, convenient interactions to resolve their problems, they still want humanized customer service.

“We’ll see a return to more human-driven, less bot-like, messaging for brands,” says Alfie Green, the founder of Monty. “Post-pandemic customers want a real voice at the end of the phone, or via their chat feature.”

Alexa Heinrich, Social Media Manager at St. Petersburg College says, “The interactions between people and brands are way more informal now. They’re more like actual conversations and not as cold and robotic.”

According to Zendesk’s Customer Experience Trends 2022 report, more than 70% of customers expect conversational care experiences when they engage with companies. This trend isn’t dominated by Gen Z or Millennials either with more than two-thirds of customers over 40 seeking seamless engagement with brands.

“It just builds so much trust and casual familiarity. When you can interact with a brand via apps like Twitter, you feel like they are a real person and that you have a real relationship. You get a sense that you’re being taken care of—you don’t necessarily get that with chatbots or even customer service calls, “ says Krista Doyle, Global Content Marketing Manager, Twitter.

Gill recommends keeping your customers’ preferences top of mind while building a social messaging strategy.

“You have to put yourself in your audience’s shoes. What do you want to see? What will make you click on something? Is it being told what a great mortgage rate your bank offers? Or is it seeing your mortgage lenders volunteer at the local dog shelter? Or a company recognizing an employee who has been with them for 30 years? As brands, we must remember to show the human sides of the company,” Gill says.

A case for accessibility and inclusion

The pandemic, stakeholder activism and social justice issues have permanently reshaped the communications arena. Beyond making social messaging feel more human, Heinrich predicts more brands and organizations will start prioritizing accessibility and ensuring their content is as inclusive as possible.

“Remember that you are not your audience. Your audience, no matter how specific you make your target demographic, is incredibly diverse. Try to think outside of your own lived experiences when you create your content,” Heinrich says.

3. Chatbots will get a much needed upgrade

The rise of the chatbot has been a game changer in the world of social messaging and customer care. Like other forms of social messaging, chatbots place control in the hands of consumers by facilitating the intake process, whether it’s resolving an issue immediately or gathering enough information for a human representative to respond with an effective solution.

“People have come to expect a response from a brand momentarily and are more savvy about if a bot is responding. They want real connection and they want it at the snap of a finger,” says Carrie Russell, Social Media Manager at Tag.

Zendesk’s report notes that more than two-thirds of consumers say they’re willing to interact with a bot on simple issues—almost a quarter increase from last year. Chatbots can provide quick automated replies for frequently asked questions, respond at any hour and create tickets for an agent to address during working hours. When chatbots resolve simple problems or guide customers to help centers, human agents can spend more time addressing complex issues.

However, these virtual assistants still have a way to go. More than half of customers say their biggest frustration with chatbots is the number of questions they must answer before being transferred to a human agent. Customers want a smooth handoff, especially if a bot isn’t solving their problem quickly. Human agents add a touch of personalization that consumers crave (and they want this connection to happen sooner rather than later).

4. Social messaging will incorporate brand voice even more

Maintaining a distinct brand voice on social media is valuable for several reasons, but at a high level, it creates a loyal customer base that anticipates engaging with your brand. Direct messages your teams send on Instagram, Twitter and other platforms need to maintain brand voice to set the company apart from competitors.

“Brands are going viral from replies and messages on forums which were previously 1:1,” says Green. “Today, anyone can screenshot your response. With more platforms than ever, you need to consider your authentic, consistent approach. It’s the difference between talking like a brand, and talking like a brand customers want to love.”

Russell recommends social media managers invest in revising their community interaction guides and plans to ensure brand voice is being applied appropriately across scenarios.

“It’s time to revamp how your community manager handles interacting with your audiences.  Having a proactive and reactive plan in place that includes customer care and escalation policies in place is key to successfully navigating how audiences want to hear from a brand,” she says.

5. Social messaging will play a bigger role in strategy

Many brands have already integrated social messaging into their customer service strategies, but there is plenty of opportunity on the table. According to the latest Sprout Social Index™, nearly 40% of marketers say direct messaging plays a role in their customer care strategies, but only 23% use it to market their products or services.

Doyle believes this will change going forward.

“I think it will not only continue to become a bigger part of customer service but a bigger part of brands’ overall marketing strategy as well. As people become more comfortable with social messaging and the brand trust it builds, I think we’ll see content and community marketers get really innovative with this tactic,” Doyle says.

Doyle notes that understanding your audience is one of the top considerations when evolving and expanding a social messaging strategy.

“If you’re going to use social messaging, you need to understand how your audience views your brand and how they want to interact with it,” Doyle says.

Along with understanding their target audiences(s), top brands will use messaging as a communication tool and a means to gather voice of the customer feedback. The insights you gain from social messaging data can inform other marketing tactics, future campaigns and your product roadmap.

6. Commerce and messaging will go hand-in-hand

Over the past few years, we’ve seen a surge in e-commerce on social media. Consumers can now purchase clothes on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. A whopping 98% of consumers plan to make at least one purchase through social shopping or influencer commerce in 2022.

In the future, expect to see more customers shopping through social messaging tools.

Jonathan Jacobs, former VP of Digital at Accelerate360 and co-founder of Digital Natives Group, says,  “I’m expecting to see exponential growth from messaging-based commerce. People buy from people, and whether with a real-time P2P experience or an experience replicated with an automated chat client, messaging is going to make for a more effective and personalized sales experience.”

Brands will continue to implement new methods for conversational commerce. This includes chatbots that recommend products based on the customer’s preferences or customer care representatives pulling up a customer’s order history after they send a direct message.

7. Embrace experimentation with social messaging

One common thread lies among the social media managers we spoke to: avoid over-engineering your approach to social messaging. It’s okay to get creative, experiment, learn and refine.

“Don’t over-structure conversation trees. Empower your frontline community managers and customer care specialists with your trust so that they have the psychological safety to tackle each customer exchange as they see appropriate,” says Jacobs. “Don’t force the customer to fit the conversation, let the conversation fit to the customer.”

Heinrich references the power of humanization again, especially when interacting with disgruntled customers.

“Don’t be afraid to break the ’fourth wall’ when you’re dealing with emotional or frustrated followers online. Sometimes it helps to remind people that there’s an actual human being behind the handle,” says Heinrich.

And brands don’t have to wait until a problem arises to get the creative juices flowing either.

“Don’t be afraid to have fun and get innovative with it,” says Doyle. “You don’t always need to wait until someone comes to you with a customer service issue—let social messaging be a way to build community in addition to a way to solve problems.”

These social experts have shared a vision of the future for social messaging, now it’s time to put this knowledge to use. To learn more about what lies ahead, check out our guide about the future of social messaging and customer experience.

The post The future of social messaging from 6 social media marketers appeared first on Sprout Social.

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