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Here's What's On Our Radar For SMM In 2024

Last week, our founder, Hannah, attended the virtual Brandwatch Spark Summit to hear from leading industry experts about their predictions on how the world of social media marketing will look in 2024.


Given the ever evolving nature of the social media landscape, staying up to speed with the latest developments is immensely important to enable us to fully service our clients, and allow them to stay ahead of their competitors. Whilst a variety of topics were discussed during the multi-day event, there were two key themes which dominated the interactive sessions: artificial intelligence (AI), and human connection.


Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Relatively new to our vocabulary, AI is a powerful tool which divides opinion across society. The familiar anecdote about robots taking over the world comes to mind when some think of AI, and understandably so. Platforms such as ChatGPT and Notion AI have made tasks such as coding, writing, and even photo and video manipulation easier than ever, giving professionals in these industries a feeling of unease that their jobs may soon become redundant.


However, as with any new technological advancement, when used in the right way, AI can drastically enhance the work we do on a day-to-day basis and even automate our workflows to give us time back to focus on that which AI can't touch.


In the world of social media marketing, AI is commonly used to generate content captions, schedule posts on social platforms, and can also be used to quickly and easily find out about trending topics to ensure your business stays relevant. These are all ways that we at The Fluent Agency utilise AI on a daily basis, saving us an incredible amount of time which we then use to focus on creating the best content possible for our clients.


When diving deeper into AI's capabilities as we did in these sessions, it becomes apparent that we are only touching the surface of the ways that AI can support content creators such as us. In mere seconds, we are able to view an in-depth analysis of our client's social media presence against their competitors; something which would have ordinarily taken us hours, if not days, to complete. Some platforms even allow you to export this data into charts to include in reports (which can also be created by AI).


Now, we know that given AI is indeed a robot without human emotions, its content can easily come across as such. It is important to remember this when using AI for things like captions, as consumers are becoming increasingly aware of businesses who simply copy and paste AI generated captions into their content. We will always use the generated captions as a guideline and alter the content to match the tone of our clients, often changing the captions completely if we do not feel it meets our expectations.


Similarly, AI is not without its faults, sometimes providing inaccurate information on important topics. This can partly be prevented by giving AI the right prompts worded in a carefully constructed way, but sense checking the information that AI provides to you is paramount to ensure you are not working off of false information.


Some key takeaways on the topic of AI being used in 2024 are:

  • It is useful for content ideation and caption/hashtag generation

  • It can be used for company competitor comparison

  • Certain AI platforms support the recording and analysis of data

  • Caution should be taken when relying on AI for accurate information

  • AI lacks important human connection which can only be provided by us


Human Connection

Mentioned above a number of times, human connection was a hot topic of conversation during the Brandwatch Spark Summit. It forms the basis of what we do here at The Fluent Agency, and is something that is often overlooked when it comes to social media marketing.


Technology has made us as a society inherently anti-social, taking the real-life in-person connection, which is so key to humanity, out of our relationships. This has of course translated into the marketing world where the fight for consumer's attention has never been higher.


Something which remains true even in the digital age is the power of emotions and how much of what we do as a society is driven by the way we feel. Understanding your consumer's emotions and what drives them can separate you from your competitors; but knowledge without action is redundant.


Knowing how to translate your content into a connection between you and your consumers is vital to a successful social media marketing strategy. Especially in service-based businesses whose competitors are offering similar services, we must remember that people buy from people. If as a consumer you have built a rapport with a representative from company A but company B approaches you offering the same service for slightly cheaper, you are more than likely still going to work with company A due to the relationship you have built with said representative.


A key way we can build this connection via social media is to introduce the people behind the brand. Who will your customers be dealing with when working with your company? Who are they buying from? What's your story?


Of course, some things are best kept private; we don't want to start sharing intimate details about our lives (unless you want to!), but humanising your company differentiates you from others in your industry. Posting on your personal LinkedIn page is a great way to do this, being sure to relate it back to the work you do in your business. In reality, unless we know you already, we don't care that you got married last week or that your daughter has just graduated from pre-school - keep this for your personal accounts! However, if you have recently attended an event where you caught up with some old contacts from your time at a previous company, let people hear about it.


Visibility is key, and reminding potential customers that you're there if and when they need you should always be in the back of your mind. Remain authentic with what you share online and keep it relevant.


Some key takeaways on the topic of human connection are:

  • Provide content which makes people feel something

  • Have someone from your company that people can connect to

  • Keep it authentic and relatable and don't force a connection

Something which did come up in the Brandwatch Summit but we have not mentioned in this post is the future of influencer marketing. For years now, this unique tool has been seen as the be-all and end-all for companies utilising social media marketing, especially product based businesses.


Its future requires (and deserves) a whole post of its own, so check back soon for our take on the future of influencers in the social media marketing landscape.




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