Mintel, a London-based market research firm, recently came out with 5 top social media trends of this quarter, which are discussed in this article. Some of those trends have actually been trending for many months, even years now. However, their continuous success only reinforces them as good marketing strategies.
1. Find your niche.
You may be tempted to portray your business as the best, biggest, and most amazing at everything. But what matters is how much you can satisfy a niche market. A small group that is 100% satisfied is like a “cult” – they will be loyal, they will promote you, and they will share your message with their friends. They are the most dedicated fans a business can have.
2. Bloggers and Youtubers are great assets.
Mintel’s study suggests that blogging and Youtube are the best platforms for the beauty industry and DIY. This is great for marketers in that industry, because blogging is one of the easiest and fairly inexpensive ways to generate a loyal following of people who trust you, are willing to buy from you, and are willing to recommend you to their friends. You can have your own company blog that teachers reader how to do something, or you can find some successful bloggers in your field and do whatever it takes to get your product in their hands.
3. Need for Information-Driven Content
According to Mintel, customers tend to go to websites such as Amazon to do their pre-shopping research. This includes price comparisons, reviews, product photos and detailed descriptions. What marketers can learn from this trend is that customers want to be informed and empowered by knowledge when making purchasing decisions. You can provide this to your customers by including very detailed product descriptions, many photographs, reviews, and recommendations about your products. Give them everything you know about your product and they will be more likely to buy from you (as well as trust your business).
4. Customer Involvement
Customers respond positively when given the opportunity to be involved in a company’s process. Whether you ask them to send you “selfies” of them wearing your product, or ask them to design your next packaging labels – customers become significantly more invested into your company. Some magazines publish their fan’s top tweets in every issue – something as little as that can generate a lot of conversations and good response on social media. Make your customers feel important and get them involved.
5. Add Personality to Your Social Accounts
Big companies seem more approachable and down-to-earth when customers see real people behind them. This is why allowing your employees be part of the social conversation usually results in more trust from the consumers. It is okay to let them post on the company’s behalf, or include work posts in their personal social media profiles. Of course this involves a certain level of risk, but when done correctly, has great results.
Adriana M. Bóveda-Lambie, Ph.D. 
I think number 2 is so important. It’s definitely a great tool for online retail and makeup like you said. So many of the youtubers that I watch test products that are sent to them or promote brands and websites. Since I choose to subscribe to that blogger I like them and trust their opinion which are feelings that are easily transferable to the brands they recommend.
I think number 5 is a great thing that not many companies are taking advantage of. It seems like the traditional companies are still doing the same marketing campaigns. Great examples of this are jewelry stores that basically do the same thing for every commercial. Its the ones that add personality, (such as the k-mart commercials) that get talked about in social media.
I think number 1 is one of the most important aspects of a brand on social media. If you can find your niche and think about who you are speaking to then that dictates the rest of your strategy. It will point you in the direction of your unique personality and which bloggers to partner up with, what content to post, and how to get your customers involved.
I think number 5 is a pretty good idea. I am currently a moderator on my church’s Facebook page and it has made a huge difference when we encourage our congregation to be involved on our page. People get to see pictures of events, read testimonies, and watch videos about what goes on in our church, and it has really increased attendance and traffic to our page.
Customer involvement is always something good to have because you want your customers to feel involved and as if they are a part of things as well.
As mentioned above, number 5 is important; having that personal appeal as an additional factor helps aid when people are viewing. Along with number 1 where you have to determine what fits you best; allowing you to better grasp what you really enjoy.