Social media has changed the way people behave online and interact with each other. Rather than being places for friends to interact, social networks have become a place for businesses to grow their brand and their customer base. In fact, the cost-effectiveness and the excellent ROI of social media marketing have made it an essential part of the success for businesses in every market and of every size. Learn how the following social media trends are affecting the business world right now.

Customer Service Marketing

Businesses have struggled to provide adequate customer service for a long time, and social media has highlighted many horrific customer service failures. As a result of the interaction between customers and companies on social media, many reputations have been tarnished and much business has been lost.

Companies have discovered that they can establish a competitive edge by responding in public on social media to customer feedback and complaints. As a result, consumers can see how quickly and appropriately a business responds to customer issues. Now, even angry customers represent tremendous marketing opportunities.

Business Intelligence

Marketers now use social media to identify and monitor their competitors. At a time when the competition in many industries and markets has intensified, businesses need to know everything about the firms with which they share the playing field. Following competitors can, for example, help marketers identify prospective customers and learn about the challenges that similar companies face.

Another important social media trend involves learning from the social media failures of competitors. By simply observing what tactics have succeeded and failed for competitors, companies can eliminate much of the trial-and-error experience that costs a lot in terms of time and money.

Marketing Insights

Data collected by social media gives marketers a wealth of information about their target markets over extended periods. Built-in and third-party analysis tools help businesses apply customer insights into their traditional and digital marketing efforts. Vital information gathered about particular audiences include demographics and other preferences, including the brands and personalities users follow.

In addition to gathering audience insights, companies also can directly interact with social media users, thereby avoiding the need to rely on third-party market data. Social media analytics can also help marketers understand the effectiveness of their message and measure how far awareness of their brand has spread. Altogether, the insights made possible by social media help companies craft increasingly effective marketing campaigns.

Paid Advertising

Although businesses work hard at building a successful organic social media presence, they can expand their reach by using available paid advertising services. In some cases, social media advertising can cost less than search-engine PPC services such as Google and Bing. By using the advertising tools available on social networks, companies can precisely target their audience and achieve remarkable advertising ROI.

Facebook’s advertising platform can give companies the ability to select their audience based on employment status, income, gender, age, race and geographic location. It also tracks the performance of ads among various market segments. The website also has tools that help users optimize their ads for specific times and days. Altogether, the site has about 1,500 data points for every one of its users.

Video & Live Services

Social media sites have expanded their services to include a wide variety of content options, so organizations can attract customers with various preferences. With video, graphics, polls, and other interactive content, marketers can use their creativity and audience insights to post and share content that resonates with every segment of their audience.

Live video on social media sites such as Facebook, Periscope and YouTube give marketers amazing options for brand promotion. Product launches, demos and live tours represent only a few of the ways businesses have used live services to market their brand. Newcomers to the social media scene, such as SnapChat, offer even more options to a company’s interactive digital marketing toolbox. According to Domo’s Data Never Sleeps infographic, there are 6,944,444 videos watched every minute on Snapchat. Interactive advertising like videos and live streams and quickly becoming the norm for interactive marketing strategies.

After learning about the above four social media trends, businesses should stay alert to new developments in the social media world. Marketers who quickly recognize and adapt to changes in the social media world can keep their marketing campaigns and their brands at the forefront of their industry and market.