getting social in 2023 strategies for successful online engagement

Getting Social in 2023: Strategies for Successful Online Engagement

As we enter into 2023 it may be time to rethink your typical “Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Twitter “approach to social media and shake it up with a few alternative social media platforms.

The fact is, your organization, and its products and services, are unique. You have a niche. It may be really broad, like all fans of Major League Baseball. Or it may be very narrow – engineers who build propulsion systems for spacecraft – for example.

Your social media strategy to reach those audiences must be built around the platforms serving those niches.

In 2023, we’re learning that maybe emerging niche social media platforms offer a better way for our content to reach our niche audiences – big and small.

Reddit – Reddit is a forum site that features forums for users of specific topics to “talk” with others who share their interests. Subreddits are the very niche forums where users take deep dives into their specific topics (Major League Baseball or spacecraft propulsion systems, for example).

Consider writing content for Reddit that is authentic and answers questions posed in the threads. Reddit users are very active and police their forums tightly so any content you offer here needs to add value to the readers and not feature a sales pitch. Reddit is an alternative to Facebook Groups, but is often more active than most Facebook groups, so be prepared to devote the necessary time to use this platform effectively.

When you use it well and adhere to community standards, Reddit can be a great way to connect with people who are deeply interested in your area of expertise.

Quora – Similar to Reddit, Quora users are protective of the platform and by “upvoting” and “downvoting” they keep the quality of the content high and largely factual.

Quora at its heart is a question-and-answer forum. Users create a Quora account, set up their topics of interest, then learn and/or contribute to the site by asking and answering questions. Answers that are deemed credible by users, are upvoted, those that are not, are downvoted.

Authenticity is the key to success on Quora. As a marketer, you can scan questions throughout Quora to get a sense of what the audience in your niche is thinking and asking about. Respond with brief, factual information to a number of those questions that are truly relevant to your expertise and learn more about what your audience is interested in and what they do/do not know about the subject.

Based on the answers you gave, assess the upvotes and related conversation then create a blog post, guide, or infographic for your website or use the information you shared on Quora as gated content from a landing page or email promotion for other audiences to find.

Pinterest – This platform has been around for a while and isn’t particularly “alternative” to other well-known social media platforms, but it often has been relegated to Page 2 of social media strategies. We think you may want to consider it as a Page 1 option – especially in the e-commerce space.

Pinterest users create their own categories and as a search platform, Pinterest delivers users content specific to their interests. Businesses are finding new and expanded audiences by delivering actionable content ideas via Pinterest.

Services can offer infographics, guides, and e-books on Pinterest. This downloadable content drives customers right to your landing pages or website where you have greater conversion opportunities.

If you have a product, provide a step-by-step short video of your product in action. For example, Home Depot’s Pinterest account offers tips for lighting up your landscape featuring outdoor lighting options from Home Depot.

What Should Be In My 2023 Social Media Plan?

Thanks to the deep research by the folks at Planable, we can take a good look at the state of social media as we wrapped up 2022. Their research offers insights into our social media strategy moving into 2023.

Here are a few highlights from Planable:

  • The average post length in 2022 was 351 characters, with LinkedIn posts being the longest at 434, and TikTok being the shortest at 136.
  • Google Business Profile saw a significant increase in popularity (225% in 2022). Planable’s research suggests that more consumers are returning to brick-and-mortar businesses, thus driving the popularity of Google Business Profile.
  • Emjois remain popular, with 79% of the 3.2 million posts Planable created boasting at least one emoji.

Social media is a standard feature of most businesses’ digital marketing plans in 2023. However, as the Planable report points out, it takes a significant amount of effort to really make social media work for you.

  • Pages with 100K-500K followers/fans have a social media team of 5 people. Pages with 500K – 1M have a social media team of nearly 14 people.
  • Similarly, social media teams of 6-10 people created 172 posts per month, while teams of 10 or more created 522 posts per month.

With one simple call, the digital marketing team at ACS Creative can expand the capacity of your team to deliver content via social media. We’ve got the experience and expertise to help you develop and execute high-performing digital marketing solutions.