4 Reasons Why Personalization Is Key In Content Marketing

Content marketing strategy is constantly evolving. With over 4.62 billion consumers dominating the social scene, both post-pandemic platform trends and changing user attitudes are transforming the future of social media marketing.

In a new age of conscious consumerism, user-generated content and purpose-driven posting, attracting the attention of your demographic has never been harder. 

Digital natives of today require personalization. While more passive forms of traditional marketing carry a “one voice too many” approach, today’s social media strategy needs to speak directly to the individual.

New research by Smart Insights found that 63% of consumers will simply stop interacting with a brand that doesn’t speak directly to their values. 

On the back of a post-pandemic e-commerce boom, if you don’t want your target audience to bounce to one of your many competitors, offering a personalized experience is critical. 

 

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As you can see above, 27% of marketers based in the US and UK state they prioritize extensive personalization within their campaigns. 

From personalized ads to conversational content that targets the consumer’s values, providing a tailored experience has been listed as a contributing factor in advancing customer relationships by 99% of all marketers.

The question is, just how effective is social media personalization in 2022? Read on as we delve into the demands of the modern-day consumer and discover the benefits of providing a tailored social platform experience for your targeted demographic.

Are Digital Consumers Looking For A More Personalized Experience?

According to YouGov, a whopping 71% of Gen Z prefer a personalized brand experience. 

This is quickly followed up by over half of digital natives requesting personally optimized websites, preference-tailored apps, and purpose-driven social content that speaks directly to their needs. 

Digital consumers are now willing to pay more for a tailored experience and are three times more likely to interact with a brand that shares their values.

The question is, why have digital consumers become so picky? In the wake of online evolution and social platform popularity, Gen Z and Millennial consumers are much more active. 

They are able to search the web for what they want, only follow social influences that speak directly to their values and even create rival content that has the potential for virality. 

When seeking out an experience online, active consumers will search for a product, service or piece of content that ticks all their boxes. Therefore, If brands want to attract their demographic, they must first know what boxes need to be ticked and work harder than ever to stand out amongst a wave of user-generated content.

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Brands that strive to meet personalization demands are sure to see the benefits. According to Agility PR, a personalized experience leads to happy, loyal customers, while an impersonal interaction may see customers pulling away.

Let’s have a closer look at the four key benefits of personalizing your next social campaign.

4 Benefits Of Personalising Your Next Social Media Campaign

There are a number of different personalization strategies that you can use to improve your social campaigns. From optimizing your copywriting to picking the right platform for your targeted ads, the list is endless.

While investing in personalization may not provide immediate payoffs in the same ways as other strategies, here are four reasons why you’ll see a huge return on investment if you prioritize it in your next campaign.

Consumer Engagement 

One of the main benefits associated with adding personalization to your social strategy is a boost in consumer engagement across your platforms.

In fact, 55% of marketers say that an increase in engagement and improved customer experience is one of the most significant benefits of using a personalized marketing strategy.

The key here is knowing your target audience inside and out. Your demographic is much more likely to interact and engage with your content if it speaks to their values and sits in line with current social trends. Using insight-driven platforms such as Google Analytics and Finteza, you can take audits of demographic trends and gain further insights into demographic characteristics, such as their age, location, gender and previous engagement statistics.

When you know what makes your audience tick, it’s easier to create content that aligns with their values and would organically fit into their social feeds. 

On popular platforms such as TikTok for example, it’s important to blend in with consumer content in order to gain more organic engagement. If you use demographic content trends to your advantage, your content is more likely to be liked, shared and commented on, boosting engagement and increasing your chances of going viral.

Customer Loyalty 

If you take time to personalize your branded messages, you’ll be likely to see a spike in customer loyalty alongside engagement. If your demographic feel as if you are speaking directly to them, they are more likely to keep following your brand across social platforms and engaging with future content.

In fact, 84% of smart marketers, believe that personalization can directly improve customer loyalty and retention.

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Better still, customers that remain loyal to your brand on social media are more likely to follow targeted links to your website and become repeat purchasers of your products/services. Investing in your social strategy personalization shortens the sales cycle and saves sales reps time when prospecting.

Brand Awareness 

Improving brand awareness is a key concern for social media marketers in 2022. With more social competition than ever before, gaining brand authority within your niche is vital if you want to turn a profit.

This is where the benefits of personalization come into play. When a piece of content speaks directly to a consumer, they are likelier to like, comment and share it across their social platforms. 

In return, the brand is marketed to a wider audience within the same demographic and may even attract consumers’ attention outside your target audience.

Better still, 92% of all online consumers trust recommendations from their followers rather than a sponsored post or a pop-up ad. If your brand is shared by your target consumers themselves, you are much more likely to see interaction with your products and services.

Lead Conversions 

Last but certainly not least, your conversions are going to rise if you incorporate personalization into your social strategy.

As we’ve established, your consumers will be much more likely to interact with your content if it is tailored to their needs. Higher levels of engagement mean more chances to generate sales leads. 

Essentially, personalization aids in the shortening of the sales funnel. As content interaction peaks, sales prospectors can easily collect leads and create more customer conversions for the business, boosting ROI while increasing brand awareness.

Moving Forward 

Social strategy personalization is no longer best practice but rather a must-do for social media marketers in 2022.

After the e-commerce industry grew by over a third in 2020, competition for demographic engagement is high on the social platform playing field. The future of content needs to be both creative and adaptable to speak directly to each and every one of your target consumers.

As online platforms continue to evolve, social media marketers need to be on top of the trends and give digital natives what they are looking for if they are to have a shot at success.