A trending topic around social media for 2020 are brands engaging with their audience in a less public way. Meaning all engagement should be more personalized and less visual for others. It’s about making a real and meaningful connection rather than replying to everyone in an automated, general way. “The future is private,” Mark Zuckerberg announced in 2019, revealing his vision to unify Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp in response to global consumer demand for more intimate social experiences. Three ways to start to push your brand to keep up with changing needs on social platforms are to use public feeds to direct customers to your private channels, engage more authentically, and optimize your platform usability by automating the easy stuff. 

1. Use public feeds to increase reach

Use public feeds to guide customers to your private channels. Try using a Facebook or Instagram ad to send users into a private conversation with your business. This is easy to do with the click-to-Messenger feature.

1. Build authentic relationships

In a world of fake news and zero privacy, the best thing your brand can be is authentic. A few ways to keep your brand’s content authentic are engaging user-generated content, improved storytelling, and knowing your audience better than ever before.

• Engaging User-Generated Content: This means original content that is coming from the user themselves. This is what brought Tik Tok to fame so quickly. The platform has not been monetized and filled with targeted ads yet. Giving your brand’s followers, users, and audience an outlet to share in some form with your brand is a really important way to both hear your audience and their needs while also using the most authentic content creation specific to your brand. 

• Improved Story-Telling: This might mean breaking typical social media norms like short captions. Use all the room you have and tell a story that connects with your audience. In a world of bloggers, influencers, and bloggers, sharing more is always beneficial to your audience. 

• Knowing Your Audience: Knowing your audience better than anyone else is another way to be successful in 2020. Finding the why behind a brand and discovering, targeting, and connecting with the right people is key to building a meaningful and authentic social media marketing campaign. 

1. Automate the easy stuff 

Use a blend of automation and human connection to build relationships. Bots can address common customer queries. But real people still need to handle more nuanced customer requests. More than half of consumers get frustrated when brands don’t offer any human interaction.