Digital Marketing Through Social Media: Starting From The New Normal, Now Is The New Real

Illustration of digital marketing through social media whose trend is expected to continue to increase in the coming year after the COVID-19 pandemic. (Pixabay)

JAKARTA - Our daily life is now inseparable from social media. Facebook, Instagram and Tiktok are changing the way we interact with other people. This change in interaction has also entered the field of digital marketing through social media.

During the pandemic era, almost all marketing activities shifted towards digital. Various gaps in social media are becoming a competition for digital markets, which are getting tougher due to the accumulation of various contents.

Supported by the development of mobile phone technology, social media users have grown to nearly 3.2 billion worldwide. Become the main alternative for marketers to get potential customers.

Post-pandemic, the shift towards digital is expected to grow more rapidly. One of them is an increase in online shopping activities, promotions, and entertainment.

Illustration of social media icons. (Unsplash)

Marketing through digital or social media means connecting with the social media community through the internet network. In a broader sense, it must be able to compete with sellers around the world.

The third quarter 2021 report, Store Intelligence Data Digest, Sensor Tower noted that the number of social media downloads via Google Play during the third quarter in Indonesia reached 1.8 billion. Numbers are led by apps, such as Snack Video, Tiktok, and Zoom.

Digital marketing strategies through social media are still the spearhead to attract people who are interested in business products or services. This type of community usually provides contact info, name, and email so as not to lose promo info from the seller

Daily activities to access social media are very high in Indonesia. A survey conducted by Statista from April to June 2021 on 1.701 respondents aged 17-44 years online shows that social media users have accessed every day for the past three months. Most consecutively Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok.

Marketing Form

In 2022, access to social media users is estimated to be still high. There are various forms of marketing through social media. Among those that will increase are short video formats, social commerce, increasingly personal marketing (personalized marketing), being present in person or live, content for good, and marketing with the "self-aware" method.

Short video content is easy to create, and quickly gets a response from the public because of its short duration. During the pandemic, short video content has become increasingly popular.

Tiktok is fueling a rise in short video creators and viewers. Various product and service brands also use Tiktok to provide the social media community with behind-the-scenes footage and promotion of products or services.

Online shopping illustration. (Pixabay)

Presenting directly through live video or live is increasingly popular. Social media platforms, such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or LinkedIn, provide space for live or streaming video. Live video is becoming so popular, both for brands and individuals, because of the high level of engagement and engagement it has.

Social media users can engage by interacting with their favorite people, brands, or products and services on social media directly. The live video trend will surge in 2021, it is predicted that it will continue to grow in the coming year.

In addition, content to do good has also increased, such as socio-political issues, climate change to COVID-19. Various well-known brands have also started to defend what they believe to be right, on social media through various content for good.

Big brands, such as Reebok, Nike, and Netflix openly support the social media campaign of doing good. Social media is fast becoming a major way to build awareness and share content for good, as it allows reaching large numbers of people with positive messages.

Take advantage of nostalgia

The form of marketing through social media is also carried out with a "self-aware" marketing format. Self-conscious marketing centers around satirical or ironic advertising that mocks one's own brand, other brands, or advertising concepts in general.

There is also nostalgia marketing, which during 2020-2021 is effective in encouraging people to spend their money on goods and services that bring nostalgia to the past. For example, the ancient cakes that are widely offered on social media.

In addition to content, marketers who use hashtags will have higher engagement rates. The use of hashtags can help to stay present in the crowd of existing content

In the end, social media can no longer be underestimated. Digital marketing through social media is not limited by space and time.

Its existence and usefulness in the midst of the marketing shift towards digital, especially in the midst of a pandemic situation that has been going on since 2020, has proven to be able to make various businesses survive.

The shift towards digital marketing through social media, which was initially forced as the new normal, will continue to become the new real in 2022.