Boutique Travel and Lifestyle PR Agency Showcases Key Facebook Trends

Facebook still remains a primary platform with social media marketers to target consumers and drive engagement and conversions. This year, AI personalization, short-form video, UGC, and social listening as key strategies on this platform.

Did you know …
 

• “Facebook reaches more than three billion monthly users worldwide, making it one of the most used social networks globally. (Source:  Statista)
• “AI-based solutions with creator-centered campaigns and user-generated content, which are not only measurable but also keep the authentic engagement.” (Source: Social Media Examiner).
• “After a millisecond of exposure, views are now counted instead of three seconds of exposure, as they used to be. It implies that the number of views can be more impressive, but the real engagement has to be assessed in terms of retention and interaction rates,” (Source: Social Media Examiner)
• “The brands that focus on short, vertical videos achieve the highest rates of click-through and conversion, because the algorithm of the platform is biased towards dynamic content.” (Source: LeadsBridge).

In this blog, Allen Marketing Communications, Inc., a boutique travel and lifestyle public relations agency based in New York City, highlights Facebook book trends—short-form videos, AI, social listening, to name a few.

AI That Knows You Better Than Ever

Artificial intelligence-enhanced personalization is disrupting Facebook advertising. “With the use of AI now, platforms are able to conduct sophisticated targeting, automated bid optimization, and dynamic creative testing where the system thoughtfully tries numerous ways of combining images, copy, and calls-to-action and identifies the most effective method,” (Source: LeadsBridge).

AI personalization can also be applied in the context of content recommendations so that the audience can view content that conforms to lifestyles and behaviors. “Eighty-three percent of marketers say that AI assists them in generating much content and less manual work.” (Source: Hootsuite). Even industries with a lot of regulations, such as healthcare and finance, are using AI to provide compliance while increasing the range of creative outputs, which further demonstrates the general nature of the tools.

Short Videos, Big Impact

Facebook is dominated by short-form video in both organic and paid formats. Research indicates that “vertical and snappy videos can produce up to 75 percent more engagement in comparison to other types of content and, therefore, are an essential element of any social strategy.: (Source: LeadsBridge). “Short videos are especially useful when it comes to brand recall and retention of a viewer, which justifies the popularity of Reels among marketers.” (Source: Hootsuite).

Entertaining, educational, or informative content does better than self-promoting content. “The current marketers are creating short videos that are informed by real-time data and insights on the audience, and the posts are more aligned with user preferences and maximize impact.” (Source: Hootsuite).

The Power Of Real Voices

User-generated content (UGC) has established itself as one of the key instruments of successful Facebook strategies. “User generated content provides credibility and trust and it generates more engagement than branded messages alone, treated algorithmically,” (Source: LeadsBridge). Reviews, testimonials, and real-life stories of users can connect with customers better than curated brand content, as they assist marketers in building loyalty in the long run.

“Social listening offers brands the opportunity to understand trends and also shine a light on authentic brand content shared by users, doing so in a manner that the campaigns are not forced but organic.” (Source: Hootsuite). This trend is in line with the Facebook algorithm, which has been crucial in ensuring high visibility and interest for the brands that are operating in an ever-saturated social media environment.

Creators And AI: A Dynamic Duo

Content makers are now using AI to make their work more creative.  “The AI applications might create captions, recommend hashtags, and do visual drafting, which leaves the creators to narrate and shape the brand voice.” (Source: Hootsuite). When AI abilities are added to human intuition, creators are able to generate both scalable and very engaging content.

Social listening is important to this process. Creators who track sentiment and trends in audiences can switch content dynamically so their work can remain current and appealing to the community. The artificial intelligence-based insights, along with genuine content generation, facilitate more effective and quantifiable campaigns. 

Listening Beyond The Noise

Social listening has been adopted as a proactive approach in social media marketing. “Brands analyze sentiment, onsite trends, and chatter can customize content to their audience's favor and anticipate trends before they trend.” (Source: Hootsuite). This factual method can enable marketers to act fast and operate naturally, reach more, and be more engaged.

By combining social listening and AI personalization, brands can combine optimal ad targeting and content relevance at the same time.  “By understanding what audiences are talking about and sharing, allows marketers to create content that will create a stronger impact, be it short-form video content, UGC, or AI-enhanced campaigns.” (Source: Hootsuite).

Our social media strategists can leverage these key Facebook trends to help markets capture share of market and share of voice in their industries. We are here to help. Give us a call.

By Joanna Allen, chief executive officer, Allen Marketing Communications, Inc.