​​In 2021, Social media marketing is a fundamental part of any business’ marketing strategy. But how do you choose which social media platform is best for your business when there are so many? So far this year, Facebook has been the most widely used social media platform. While this might tell you Facebook is the best option, it is not always the best way to reach your target audience. As we work a lot with small businesses in Ireland, particularly in Kildare, we know what you might struggle with when choosing what platforms to use for your digital marketing strategy. We also know that along with posting content for customers, many of you also want to network with other small businesses. So let's take a look at five things to keep in mind when choosing which social media platform is right for you.

​The first thing you should think about is what content you are going to be posting.Visual content such as images and videos are often associated with Facebook and Instagram, but depending on the length of content it might perform better on Youtube. Maybe you are interested in posting typed content to encourage conversation or reflection, in which case you might choose a platform like Reddit or Twitter. Audio content like podcasts will naturally push you towards platforms like Clubhouse or Spotify. The main thing is to find out where your content will fit and has the potential to be received well by an audience. For example, here at COSMOS.ie, we post on LinkedIn as we want to network with small businesses in the Kildare area and this is where you are interacting with customers. We also post on Facebook as many of our clients are interested in Facebook advertising and so it is important we have a presence here.

It is then worth investigating if you should have more than one content type which allows you to diversify your content portfolio and will potentially allow cross platform posting. A popular example of this is if you record a podcast for spotify but also record video so you can then post the content on youtube. This means you can reach people on more than one platform and will get more eyes, or in this example ears!, on your content. More eyes potentially means more engagement which is what we want as businesses when it comes to posting on social media. However you choose to produce your content there is a platform that will allow you to reach your audience.

Another issue that can arise is trying to figure out who and where your target audience is. This can be more difficult for smaller companies as larger ones tend to have more followers and so the audience can be found on almost all social media platforms. So how do you decide where your audience is? This can take some adjusting until you find the right fit but you should think about your business area. If you work for a camera company, naturally your audience will be found on platforms like Instagram and Youtube, but what if it is not as simple as this example? If you are stuck take a look at groups or communities on social media that may relate to your area (A great example of this is the #marketingtwitter on twitter for marketing professionals). This will help you find the people who will be interested in your content and will be more likely to engage with it.

You also need to think about what content your audience like to see. Do they want to see a professional infographic explaining industry trends or maybe they are looking to network with other small businesses in Ireland? If so, LinkedIn may be the place for you. If they prefer more informal conversation we would recommend using Twitter. It is important you know your target audience before you start on a social media platform as choosing the wrong ones may provide little return on a huge amount of effort.

Let's assume that you have not started on any social media platforms and you want to let your audience find you without doing any social media advertising. There are a number of things you can do to help this but one often overlooked area to think about is the visibility of the content. Some social media platforms allow users to find content from new users much more easily than others. For example, Tik Toks ‘For You Page’ allows you to see not only posts from accounts you follow but also shows you new accounts, providing a system where posts can reach a lot of users in a very short amount of time. Instagram's ‘Explore page’ and ‘Reels’ also do this and so maybe these platforms would suit you better in finding your audience than others.

Shareability is also important in relation to visibility. How many times have you found a new account from a post someone sent you through a dm or a story share? A great example of shareability is Tik Tok. Rather than making the share a link to the platform, Tik Tok watermarks videos allowing them to be downloaded and shared on any platform.

With these things in mind you will be on your way to picking a social media platform that will suit your needs. Next month we will bring you part two focusing on advertising and analytics on these platforms and what to look for when choosing a platform for your business. Which area do you find the most difficult when choosing social media platforms? Be sure to comment and let us know!

Facebook is warning all EU customers about the messenger / messages campaigns changes that are taking place in 2021 due to new data protection and privacy regulation in Europe. Now, ‘ePrivacy Directive’ is being focused on digital communication and how users data is being used by businesses, specifically in how long the data is kept, and what data can be obtained by messaging tools. 
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As Facebook said “certain messaging-related ads, targeting, and audiences for ads delivered to and from Europe will be unavailable.” As a result,  Facebook has already changed some of the messenger / messages campaign features and stopped serving ads in Europe using those features.  Some of them are: 

1. Sponsored messages on Facebook campaigns 
2. Conversations in Conversions objective
3. Facebook and Instagram page Custom Audience

These features are connecting with people who reach out to your business by message and have conversations with your Business. They are qualified and interested conversion customers, who will likely take the second step soon like making a purchase, getting your product, recommending your business, etc.

With these features you used to reconnect, redirect and engage them into your advertisements, offers, etc...  Now that you are unable to add them into your ads, it means a loss of potential buyers.

This is just a small glimpse of how these new restrictions make it harder to target your customers in social media marketing, and more restrictions are coming soon.
That's why, not only your campaigns and ads on social media need to be more accurate, committed to your goal, and more engaging. But also, you should prepare for these changes, be flexible in how you contact your customers and learn or get help on social media marketing strategy and how to target your ads to a specific audiences, always being one step ahead of the changes.


Source: 
Facebook for Business: Some Messaging Campaigns and Performance Reporting Unavailable
BEST SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING & TOP SEO COMPANY - Social media marketing Kildare SEO company Kildare (cosmos.ie)

#facebookbusiness #socialmediamarketingstrategy #socialmediamarketingconsultant
#facebookmarketing #socialmediamarketingmanager #socialmediamarketingstrategies #facebookadvertising #FacebookNews #facebook #facebookads 
#SocialMediaMarketingServices 

What is the best social media marketing agency in Kildare?
​So if you require help with social media marketing and SEO www.cosmos.ie

#socialmedia #socialmarketing #socialmediamarketing #digitalmarketing #contentmarketing 
​As one of the top social media marketing and SEO companies in Kildare  www.cosmos.ie has years of experience in social media management and search engine optimisation in Ireland

Nowadays the internet is more important than ever, with everyone accessing the internet everywhere, and with customers searching on the web what they want before they even go into physical stores, or indeed vice versa.

But how are we using social media?

The majority of the Irish population are using the internet and most of them are using Social media. That represents 3.20 million active social media users or 66% of the population.  Of those 74% are using Facebook on a daily basis, while 85% access the internet every day, on multiple devices.  

​The Top Social media websites by monthly traffic are YouTube, followed by Facebook and then Twitter. 

​One of the main channels is Facebook but not the only one. To choose what social media channel is the best for your business will depend on your target audience.

After having a look at these statistics, don't you think that it is important to have your business present on Social media?

Simply being on social media doesn't mean you are grabbing the attention of your customers, it may be that you are using the wrong social media channel, or simply because you are not using the content that interests your audience. 
A Social media strategy can help small businesses, and the right social media strategy for you will help in building a media channel that promotes the right content to engage your target audience.

However, managing the right social media channel and content does not always translate into customers action. To achieve this you have to know what marketing tactics should be used on each social media channel to make an impact directly on your customer's journey.
In the past marketing campaigns have failed not because they were bad or uncreative, but because they released their campaign at the wrong time or with the wrong marketing strategy. A Social Media Marketing strategy can help, not only to choose the right marketing strategies to post your content but also to organize the timing of posts.

Now that you know the statistics and the importance of having a social media marketing strategy, what are you waiting for? 


Sources: 
BEST SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING & TOP SEO COMPANY - Social media marketing Kildare SEO company Kildare (cosmos.ie)
Digital 2020 Ireland (January 2020) v01 (slideshare.net)

​#socialmediamarketing #socialmediamarketingtips #SocialMediaMarketingStrategist #socialmediamarketingplan #socialmediamarketingstrategy #socialmediamarketingconsultant #SocialMediaMarketingServices #socialmediamarketingmanager #socialmediamarketingstrategies
What is the best social media marketing agency in Kildare?
​So if you require help with social media marketing and SEO www.cosmos.ie

#socialmedia #socialmarketing #socialmediamarketing #digitalmarketing #contentmarketing 
​As one of the top social media marketing and SEO companies in Kildare  www.cosmos.ie has years of experience in social media management and search engine optimisation in Ireland

​4. In 2020, Social Media has become the primary source of news in Ireland.
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The trend over the last number of is the for people to get their news from their social media channels and less so TV and newspapers, #Covid-19 spread quickly and this, of course has had a dramatic increase in the number of social media users as social media became their primary news source. More and more people prefer to consume information especially news on the internet.

According to Forbes, 70 percent of Internet users surveyed said that they hear about the latest news on #Coronavirus via social media before ever hearing about it on a news station. 

Many social media users will see the breaking stories on their feed and go to the news sites to learn more.

The survey found a 57 percent increase in traffic to news sites referred to as social media.

It is simply because the information, (or let's be honest, disinformation) is spread out so fast on social media. From one person to another and eventually the whole world knows about it.

Facebook and Twitter have become the main source of news for a huge proportion of the planet.

The moment something like #Covid19 happens, you can instantly see that the topic’s hashtag becomes trending.

But don’t forget, among the information, there will always be some fake ones and that is probably some disadvantages of social media for your business and data consumption.

The next post is how these social media platforms can tackle this problem and how your business can make the most of this increased traffic on these platforms in order to get ahead using social media marketing techniques.

“There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”
Oscar Wilde
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#socialmediamarketing #socialmediamarketingtips #SocialMediaMarketingStrategist #socialmediamarketingtip #socialmediamarketingagency #socialmediamarketingplan #socialmediamarketingstrategy
As one of the top website design and social media marketing companies in Ireland www.cosmos.ie has years of experience in social media management and search engine optimisation in Ireland.
​

#Social media marketing is going to focus further on AR technology & Virtual reality
If time is defined as a measurement of change, then the clock is flying ..
The big hype in the industry is focused on Artificial intelligence and Virtual Reality.

You probably have a good idea what AI is and but what is Augmented Reality or VR exactly?
Let me have  go at explaining it ..
AR or Augmented Reality is often confused with virtual reality, but the two are quite different technologies.
While there are certain similarities, virtual reality actually means developing a whole new world from zero:-  a simulation of the real and the imagination.
whether it’s going back in time to walk with soldiers in realistic scenes of the trenches in WW1, or traveling to an imagined past world of dinosaurs.

Augmented reality, on the opposite scales, takes the real world and projects virtual, computer-generated augmentations and changes to it, in order to improve our experiences.

The famous platform which has implemented AR is #Snapchat.

Yes, those fancy camera filters like bunny ear filters, 3D Bitmoji and all of its camera enhancing features are powered by AR technology.

And just like it’s stories feature, other social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram have also copied this feature, and have been working  on it, not to be outdone.

This is because AR will not only be just some special and sometimes silly camera filters anymore. The potential is vast with this technology.

The reason being it can drastically improve the engagement experience on social media.

Hence of course, it is a powerful  social media marketing tool for brand and businesses to increase their engagement with their customers.

Some potential features of AR in the social media future:

1. AR live events
2. AR videos
3. Create more brand awareness
4. Enhance the buying experience and a lot more.


5. Have you any thoughts about how you are going to use it in your business yet? Drop a comment below ..

#socialmediamarketing #socialmediamarketingtips #SocialMediaMarketingStrategist #socialmediamarketingtip #socialmediamarketingagency #socialmediamarketingplan #socialmediamarketingstrategy
As one of the top website design and social media marketing companies in Ireland www.cosmos.ie has years of experience in social media management and search engine optimisation in Ireland.

2.Video will become primary in #socialmediamarketing and #seo

YouTube is now the second largest search engine in the world.
People are not only searching or products and services: people are using Google search but also looking at products and services on social media channels such as Instagram Facebook videos even stories, Discover on Snapchat


Videos are versatile and can be both short and long but need to be engaging.

The big plus is that they are also easy to share across multiple social platforms.  People love them because they are easy to digest, entertaining and engaging.
They are a much-loved type of content for  a marketing professional because they can potentially give great return of investments (ROI).

Because social media channels are designed for people to connect, share content, videos are a perfect fit for this. the big boys of social media like Facebook and Instagram are pushing hard for video content.
Instagram’s recent algorithm give more preferences to videos when they are ranking for the content.

In fact, a study by Cisco stated that by 2020, 75% of the mobile traffic will be video. So now you know what type of content to create for your #socialmediamarketing yes?

#socialmediamarketing #socialmediamarketingtips #SocialMediaMarketingStrategist #socialmediamarketingtip #socialmediamarketingagency #socialmediamarketingplan #socialmediamarketingstrategy #socialmediamarketing101 #socialmediamarketingconsultant #SocialMediaMarketingServices
www.cosmos.ie/online-marketing-services-kildare-dublin.html

Top Social media marketing trends for 2020

So as we head into the silly season of Christmas what are the top 10 #socialmediamarketing trends in Ireland into the year 2020?

Quite a number of clients are asking about the #socialmedia marketing trends in Ireland for 2020..
 let's take a look over the next few blogs.. or will it be with vlogs? 

More privacy and security

There is definitely a consensus and trend out there in relation to #privacy and security issues: social media's future will lie in ensuring these are regulated.

Privacy has always been a main concern on #socialmedia by some, however, this is now a concern for the majority no longer just the minority.
Social media marketing has become hyper targeted; what the correlation is of course is highly relevant content to the viewer.
 The best social media marketing companies  will identify when they are overreaching over personalising and over familiarising content.
 Yes, customers want a personal experience and individualised experience on any of the company's touchpoints, however over the next few years,  companies need to identify the line between creepy and personalized content.
 In a funny kind of way customers and consumers know how much information big tech companies have on all of their online activities but they like to pretend or ignore or they don't!

This is because, on any platform, we have our information exposed to the platform.

Take Tik Tok or Instagram for an example, we sign up for the account, we fill out some basic information about us.

And as we keep on using it, we are prompted to fill out, or consent to, more and more Information.

This data is then collected by the social media marketing companies.. This is the same for all kinds of social media platforms, whether it be TIK TOK exploding on the scene, or Instagram


But what we see is they are pushing towards data privacy and security more than ever before, because they are conscious that they risk alienating customers and consumers.

Next blog we're going to look at how video is going to become the primary type of content over the next 12 to 18 months….

#socialmediamarketing #socialmediamarketingtips #SocialMediaMarketingStrategist #socialmediamarketingtip #socialmediamarketingagency #socialmediamarketingplan #socialmediamarketingstrategy #socialmediamarketing101 #socialmediamarketingconsultant #SocialMediaMarketingServices