Social Marketers Call Understanding Target Audience A Challenge

What’s the biggest challenge facing social marketers, today?

About half (47%) say it’s developing a strategy that supports their organization’s goals, according to Sprout Social report. That’s despite the fact 71% of all social marketers believe they provide helpful insights to teams outside of their departments.

What’s more, 90% of social marketers believe that investing in social media has a direct impact on their business’s bottom line.

For its findings, Sprout Social said it surveyed 1,000 social marketers, then cross-referenced their responses with those of about 1,000 consumers.

The social-marketing startup identified a number of other challenges facing today’s marketers. For example, 43% say identifying and understanding their target audience remains a major challenge.

To resolve this issue, a majority (63%) said they believe social listening will play a more prominent role in their strategies, going forward.

advertisement

advertisement

Although discounts and sales might prompt purchases, marketers are find entertainment and inspirational messages are becoming more powerful tools across social channels.

In fact, more than two-thirds of consumers (67%) say they will engage with social posts that are entertaining, while only 37% say the same about posts that included discounts or sales.

That represents a big shift from Sprout’s 2018 report, which found 67% of consumers said they were most likely to engage with discounts and more than half (51%) said they would share posts promoting sales.

Employee advocacy is also gaining popularity among brands and consumers.

Indeed, nearly three quarters (72%) of social marketers are using their employees as social-media advocates, while 45% of consumers say they are more likely to research a product or service after it’s mentioned by a company’s employee.

Also of note, live video, user-generated content and Instagram Stories will continue to shape the social landscape throughout 2019, Sprout found.
Next story loading loading..