Three social media trends every startup should know about

There’s a golden saying that networking is about getting someone else’s business card, not giving away your own. When you meet someone you want to connect with; someone who inspires you, a potential business partner, a future employee; your mission is to intrigue them enough that they want to connect again with you.

Taking this advice on board, we recently packed our bags and headed to San Diego for Social Media Marketing World, the world’s biggest conference for social media marketers. With a bag of t-shirts, stickers, and a few business cards, we were off to meet and learn from some of the top social media experts from around the world. Without a sponsor booth or speaking session, our goal was to meet as many people as we could.

Unsurprisingly, social media is just like networking. You want to provide enough unique value that you stand out from the rest of the pack. The first time someone visits your page, you want them to give you permission to keep them updated – have them ask for your business card.

But what else can you do to spice up your social media presence? Here are some of the top things we took home from this year’s Social Media Marketing World conference.

Visual social media is growing fast

There’s no question about it, visual social media is on the rise. According to new research announced by Social Media Examiner’s Mike Stelzner, 70% of marketers plan on using more visual content in 2014. It’s really no wonder. The brain can process visuals faster than text. Visuals have the power to inspire an emotional reaction. They’re easier to understand and they’re shareable.

The biggest social networks – from Facebook to Pinterest, Google+ to Instagram – are all centred on visual content. Even Twitter has joined the visual game by allowing people to add embedded content to their tweets. In fact, Buffer found that tweets with images received 150% more retweets than those without. There’s more you can do to maximise the engagement of your social posts.

When considering your visual content calendar, aim to build consistency with your content. You can do this by using the same colours, fonts, brand photo filters and templates for different posts. Each time your content appears on a follower’s News Feed, it will stand out to your followers because it reflects a consistent brand. If you see a similar looking post from the same brand each day, it’s more likely to make an impact.

Slideshare expert and speaker Todd Wheatland suggested considering visual content as part of your brand’s marketing funnel. For example, if you’re releasing a big research report, break it down into bite-sized content that you can share across different social networks. Leverage your existing content by being strategic about the way you share on social media. Entice people to give you their email address by promising the full or extended version if they provide their email. You can also Facebook and tweet individual graphics with links to your Slideshare presentation or blog.

Good content must be shareable and snackable

That brings us to an important question: does good content exist if no one can find it? Well, it’s certainly not living up to its potential. Many of the speakers at Social Media Marketing World revealed that spreading their content was one of the most important things they do as a content creator. Good content needs to be put out into the world.

A good tip from Australian blogger Donna Moritz was to make your content shareable and snackable. If you’ve produced a blog post with social media tips, then take individual tips and share them as image posts on social media. You can share these bite-sized tips at different times over the course of a week, of course linking back to your original blog post.

So you’re wondering: how often can you tweet a tweet? There’s actually some interesting research that suggests repeating your tweet. As the New York Times found, sharing the content several times over a day or week generates more clicks and helps keeps your content in the feed so people don’t miss it.

Another thing to consider is making sure you’ve included shareable content in all your blog posts. Did you know that more than 80% of content on Pinterest is re-pinned? That means people are looking for content they can re-share on their own Pinterest page. Pinterest is also one of the top traffic drivers on the Web. In your next blog post, try including a few of the taller Pinterest-style graphics in your posts that people can easily share.

The customer is the hero of your story

Don’t forget that social media is, well, social. The best online relationships are just like any offline relationship. It’s important to invest time and energy building relationships with people in your industry. If there’s a topic you’re interested in, whether it’s social media or fashion, there’ll be a community online that you can tap into. Figure out how you can contribute.

Razor Social’s Ian Cleary advocated spending time building a network of influencers. Over time this network of people in your industry will be useful as a second opinion for new ideas, and can also help you get content out to the world. Focus on building relationships with people in that community. You never know what potential there may be for you to work together. You truly do need to “go offline to build online.”

We set up a simple Google Spreadsheet to use during Social Media Marketing World to keep track of people that we met. Every time we were given a new business card, we added that person’s details to the spreadsheet and make a note about anything we talked about as well as ways in which we could help them out or work together. This made it a lot easier to follow up after the event.

Tools like Grouphigh, Littlebird and Mention can be helpful to find people talking about particular topics online. Tapping into conversation in your industry is a great way to build relationships with the right people. Put simply, it all comes back to having a coordinated plan for any marketing activities you undertake, whether they’re online or offline. Seek out influencers, produce great content, and invest time in getting the word out there.

It’s important that you look at your startup’s objectives when planning your social media strategy. Good content takes time. Are you trying to attract new users or build a community for your existing customers? What topics does your brand need to be talking about online? Knowing the answers to these questions will help get started on the right track.

How are you incorporating these trends into your startup’s social media strategy? Share your suggestions below.

Zach Kitschke is head of communications at Canva.com.