Join Renae, your Subscription Box Basics Marketing Coach, for a quick episode to chat all things social media. She'll share some actionable advice, along with some inspiration to get you moving forward...instead of dragging your feet on your social game!
Join Renae, your Subscription Box Basics Marketing Coach, for a quick episode to chat all things social media. She'll share some actionable advice, along with some inspiration to get you moving forward...instead of dragging your feet on your social game!
If you don't know where to even start with your social media, this episode is for you. Welcome back to Subscription Box Basics. I am Renee Gonzalez, your marketing coach here at Subscription Box Basics, and today we are focusing on marketing. Social media to be exact. We are a couple months into 2023. If you are watching or listening to this podcast episode live, then it is mid-March and. Social media is doing a lot of the same, but it is also changing and going into the remainder of 2023, there are some trends as a subscription box owner that I think that you should really be following and really be giving a try when you are putting content out there on your social media. So today we are gonna talk about five of those trends to follow. And some of them are going to be obvious. Some of them are going to be things that you've already done or already tried, but one or two might be new or a little outside your comfort zone. So hopefully this episode gives you a little motivation to step outside that comfort zone and try something new with your marketing. So without further ado, we're gonna hop right into it. And this first one is going to be pretty obvious, but it isn't going anywhere. And that is short form videos. If you are on Instagram, if you are on TikTok or YouTube now with YouTube shorts. Short form video is really making a presence. And not only that, they are favoring it in algorithms. So you've, I'm sure by now have heard on Instagram reels is where the algorithm really helps you. It is starting to shift a little bit. They are trying to bring back more static post. And, give you more credit for a variety of posts. So do not stop with your carousel posts. And a carousel post is multiple pictures in one post. Do not stop with posting a picture of your box. And just having it be a picture. But I am here to highly, highly, encourage you, especially on Instagram and YouTube. If you haven't started short form videos in the form of Instagram reels or youTube shorts. This is the year to step outside your comfort zone and give it a try. It does not have to have your face, it does not have to even have your voice. You can do an unboxing with background video. You can do a day in the life. People love to see what you are doing to build your business behind the scenes. Something that is so easy for subscription box orders when you are packing a box every month. Film that just set your camera up. Set your cell phone up. Film yourself. Speed it up a little bit. Add background videos. People love to see a behind the sight scenes look, and it is so easy because you're doing that from day to day and just recording that and putting that out into social media as short form videos. If you are on your Instagram stories, make it a reason that people want to go and see what you are saying. Don't necessarily always just repost your post that is in your feed. Make it exclusive content. Maybe ask them for ideas for upcoming products. Maybe get their opinion, do a this or. Really have your Instagram stories be somewhere that people want to go and watch and not click through. Cuz you know we've all gone onto stories and you hear someone talking and even if it's something that catches your interest at first, you might hit that forward little and skip over them. You want to talk to people about things that is ex. Exclusive in that area that doesn't skip over. So use that short form video to really have it some be something that captures their attention, but not necessarily always something that's just from your Instagram feed. I could go on forever about short form video. But I will leave it at that at the bare minimum. If you do nothing else in 2023 that I talk about today, take a chance and add more short form video to your Instagram and social media content, or give it a try if you haven't yet. The next one, I think you are going to really enjoy. It is saying goodbye to the perfectly curated feed. When social media first started to make its presence in the business world, it was very important to have a scheme, maybe have a color scheme post pictures that all correlated with the post before and the post after it. We are, and I'll talk about more about this in the next one too, but we are moving more towards a movement when we're on social media. You just can be real. It's not necessarily important to post every single picture. Be a professional picture. You can do some behind the scenes. You can do some. Fun videos that maybe you look kind of goofy in the screenshot. That's okay. Cuz that's real. And that gives people that whole no, like trust. They get to know you a little bit better and see that you're not a perfectly curated, big brand necessarily. That you are a real person behind the scenes. A small business that's building your subscription. For your subscribers, and sometimes that includes being messy. So if you are stressing about a perfectly curated feed, stress no more because the trends in 2023 are moving away from that. Now, that doesn't mean little asterisk, that doesn't mean just post on the fly every single time. Still think, and it is still super important both for your time and sanity and the plan of your subscription box that you have some sort of plan when you sit down for the month for your social media. Whether that's batching it out, which means post or scheduling posts all at one time, or at least having a vision when for the week when you go to post. The occasional on the go post is okay, but really having. Plan in place because ultimately your goal is to sell more subscription boxes and really let people know that you are the go-to resource in your target niche. And doing that always on the fly is hard to convey that message. So you really need a plan together so you can post the fun behind the scenes. Not perfectly curated. Every once in a while, but still make sure you're moving towards your ultimate goal, which is building an audience to make more s or have more subscribers to grow your audience as a subscription box owner. And the next one is a perfect way to do that. So we already said that your feed doesn't have to be perfectly curated, and then these next resources will help you with that because they can help provide content for you. So user-generated content, And micro influencers are going to continue to grow in value in 2023. So user generated content is anything for subscription box owners that your subscribers. Take a picture of or do video of maybe an unboxing. So what this means as subscription box owners is that it is so important when you send out your boxes and when you are talking about messaging with your subscribers. To put a high value for them to share with their audience. Not only does that help you grow your reach and grow your audience, but it gives you good content that you don't even have to create. They create for you that you can then re-share on your. Feed, and then that's just like a testimonial. Like, look at this subscriber. They're enjoying this. Look at their inboxing and what they're saying. You get to share that on your feed for content, but also for a testimonial that is so much more fun to watch than just having a. A quote from them, it's actually them speaking or actually their intonations of how they're excited when they're opening your box. So user generated content in 2023 is something that put it on your calendar once a month. Remind your subscribers to tag you on social media or to email you if they have YouTube links where they do an unboxing. Really train them to. Put the content out in front of their audience and then to let you know when they do so you can re-share it on your platform. And then I also, I mentioned micro influencers and an influencer. I'm sure we're all familiar now. Everyone is watching influencers. Next thing you know, it's late at night and you're like, how did I even get this? And why do I want this product? A micro influencer? And someone that has a smaller audience. But for subscription box owners, this is so important because if you find a micro influencer, someone with a smaller audience that is in your target niche, they are just as good. Even better than finding someone who has maybe millions or hundreds of thousands of followers. But not necessarily specific to your niche. So really search out those micro influencers, people who are possibly posting on social media, and you find yourself. Within their target audience, interested in what they have to say and looking forward to their next post, or when they suggest a product. It is something that you're interested in. Those are people that you can maybe partner with and see if it is something that. You give them a box in exchange for some social posts or work out a deal where you work with micro influencers. But if you are not ready for micro influencers yet, it is okay because your subscribers are able to provide user-generated content for you and spread the love about your box to. audience as well. So you already have people that you can use, and it is one of those trends in 2023 that will help you move your social media forward and grow your box. Now, this next one, I know many people listening, this one's gonna make you a little uncomfortable, but I'm gonna spit out some stats for you and hopefully convince you to give it a try. So grow your. With live streams, that means going live. Yes, I know it's uncomfortable, but it's okay. It's gonna help you. 80% of people prefer watching a live video than reading a blog post. And you don't have to write a blog post. You can just get on video and say whatever comes to your mind about your box or a specific topic that you're talking on. And I know you know that you've found yourself watching a live stream and. It's totally taken you away from whatever you were supposed to be doing, and it's held your attention way longer than you thought it would get on live video, whether that is a Facebook Live, you can go on Instagram live and do live in that form, get on live video. People like watching it, and then the longer they're watching, they're finding out about you. They're getting to know about your subscription box and then. They're gonna discover new products, and the algorithms are gonna work in your favor because you're having more people get eyes on your page and then you will be rewarded when you post other things too. Little bonus, the live videos then live, you can have it on Instagram, you can have it then live in your feed. So it repurpose as the video and on Facebook live. It then stays in your feed as well. So it's becomes just like a post where people can watch it after. So I am going to encourage you if live video makes you uncomfortable, make it a goal this month to you. Remaining two weeks. If you're listening live, make it a goal this month to get on live video and give it a try. You can talk about an upcoming box, maybe give a spoiler, get on live video. Make yourself a little bit comfort, uncomfortable. Get outside your comfort zone. It will be worth it. That is one of the trends in 2023 that I want you to give a try. And this last one, we're speeding right through this, but hopefully this episode is bringing you some value. This last one is near and dear to my heart. It is prioritizing the customer experience, and I know as subscription box owners, the whole reason that you started this box was. To fill a need or find a community, but really to help bring people together with a like cause and send them Happy Meal. So I know naturally as a subscription box owner, you want to prioritize the customer experience, but as you move into 2023, do not forget that. Do not. Forget to go back to your roots. Really make your customers a part of the experience. Really prioritize customer experience. Really keep your customers in the know. Let them know when their box is about to ship. Let them know when they're about to renew and that they can skip if they want. Let them help you. Product source for upcoming. Boxes and upcoming products. When you really prioritize your customer experience, it's going to make them more likely to post and let their friends know there's that user generated content for you, but it's also gonna help you with your retention rates. They're gonna want to stick around longer, and it is so much easier to keep a customer than it is to try to gain a new one. Prioritizing your customer experience should always be a priority, but in 2023, it's going to be something that you want to prioritize prior, prioritize prioritizing the customer experience. So that was. A quick little rundown of five trends in 2023 that for social media specifically, I think you should be focusing on. There are so many other things you can do. There is so much noise and overwhelm. I know, but if you do those five things in 2023, you are going to help. Grow your social media channels, but also really find your target people and help turn them into subscribers. So I hope you enjoyed this episode. Julie will be back either with myself or with a guest next week. If you haven't listened to some of the past episodes, we have had some really good guest experts on Liam, a few episodes. Talked about TikTok with Julie. We've had Jennifer the sub team talk about some trends, so I felt this was a perfect segue into that as well. And analytics. She talked about. Binge your subscription box basics episodes, and then we will be back next week with a new one. Bye.