#SocialMediaGoals for 2024
(Part 1 of a three-part series)
2024 brings a renewed focus and saying goodbye to habits no longer serve us. For the first newsletter series of the year, we break down what to Start, Stop, and Keep for a brand’s social media strategy. This is the first article in a three-part series on optimizing and zeroing in on the platforms that drive high performance among consumers.
Social media continues to be the place where Gen Z and young Millennials choose to spend most of their waking hours scrolling, liking, and sharing content from their friends, favorite influencers, and brands. The share of time on these platforms will only continue to increase in 2024. TikTok has vaulted to the top of social platforms that continuously go viral and provide entertaining content consumers love to discuss. The old-guard platforms (i.e., Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube) are evolving their platforms, features, and content types to keep up with the new expectations TikTok has set. Here are a few ways to level up your social media marketing to capture consumers’ attention this year.
TikTok: START Marketing Through Subcultures, STOP Profiling Audiences by Demographics.
TikTok, unlike any other social platform before it, has been able to monetize the consumer subcultures that go viral. Subcultures like #cleanbeauty - non-toxic beauty product content has over 2.2B views - and #quietluxury - content about high-quality, understated, and timeless fashion pieces has been viewed almost 500M times - have driven considerable engagement and excitement among consumers. In 2024, this TikTok economy will continue to grow and be an integral pipeline to the sales funnel as this platform will be pertinent to consumer discovery, consideration, and purchase. Understanding the subcultures fueled by creators and communities that align with a brand’s values is essential. This will allow a brand to create organic content that is endemic to the conversations on the platform. As we’ve written, subcultures are defined as passionate niche communities with shared interests, aesthetics, and values, not based on demographic attributes like age, gender, and income. These subcultures and the conversations within them allow brands to connect on a human level and develop deep ties that can fuel cult-like love and brand loyalty.
Fruit-inspired aesthetics went viral in 2023 on TikTok, with #strawberrygirl, #lemongirl, and #tomatogirl accumulating over 150M views. The #tomatogirl look specifically takes inspiration from Italy’s Mediterranean coastline, embracing the glamor, boldness, and, of course, the color red. Hunt’s Ketchup quickly jumped on the #tomatogirl trend to release a collection of tomato-shaped earrings, tote bags, and baby tees in collaboration with sustainable fashion brand Lisa Says Gah!.
YouTube: KEEP a Brand Presence, START Collaborating with YouTuber Creators.
People can’t quit YouTube. It continues to win the hearts and eyes of consumers as no other platform and is better at delivering long-form content focused on learning, researching products, and launching media juggernauts of peer-like creators like MrBeast. The loyal and solid relationship consumers have built with YouTubers through their niche and personalized content makes the platform incredibly valuable. The trust and deep connection YouTubers have with their fans make it integral for brands to continue having a presence on the platform for organic reach, product discovery, and purchase consideration. Well-known for its long-form content, consumers are more primed to spend a longer time with a video than on TikTok- the average length of YouTube videos is many minutes long, while on TikTok, it’s only seconds long. To maintain an active channel, consider partnering with YouTube creators and leveraging platform trends that uniquely intersect with a brand’s category.
For example, gaming is a category that continues to grow in popularity on the platform. Nearly half of Gen Z and Millennials report watching others play video games weekly or more often (YPulse, 2023). A beauty brand can attract new audiences and increase reach by using the platform’s popular topics and partnering with a beauty YouTuber who creates content with gaming in mind. James Charles, a YouTuber with 4+ billion collective views and almost 24M subscribers created a video asking highly popular gamers like PewDiePie, a YouTuber with a massive following as well - 29+ billion collective views and 111M+ subscribers - to pick out his makeup routine.
Part Two of this social media series will discuss what to Stop, Keep, and Start on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and Snapchat.