Top 6 Social Media Marketing Challenges in 2024, According to 1,500+ Marketers [+ How to Face Them]

I’m undecided which social platform is profitable the algorithmic gymnastics competitors this 12 months. Is it Instagram? Perhaps TikTok?

Both means, it looks like all of our favourite channels are actively competing for gold, which presents fairly the vary of social media advertising challenges for us.

From algo updates to unpredictable tendencies, we’re all the time left questioning: Which platforms will present the best return? The place’s our viewers hanging out now? And the way can we create content material they’re truly interested by?

These are all honest questions. In truth, our latest social trends report exhibits that they’ve manifested into the most important challenges social media entrepreneurs are dealing with this 12 months.

Right here’s what the information says.

High 6 Social Media Advertising Challenges in 2024

1. Creating partaking content material.

As somebody who creates content material, I can let you know firsthand that creating good content material is difficult. And the usual for good content material is all the time altering.

It seems like I’m not alone on this considering as a result of our survey exhibits that 17% of entrepreneurs mentioned creating partaking content material can be their largest problem this 12 months.

The important thing to high-quality content material creation is assembly your viewers on the intersection of what they care about most and what’s trending on their favourite platforms.

Sprinkle in a number of fickle social algorithms, and also you’ve created one of the difficult recipes of all time.

That’s why it’s no shock to me that this looks like a stress level for entrepreneurs.

Easy methods to Overcome This Problem

Rachael Samuels, director of social media at Sprout Social, believes dedicating time, sources, and headcount in the direction of social media is important for long-term success.

As she places it, “The social panorama is turning into more and more saturated with new networks and seemingly infinite potential audiences to interact. Social groups of 1 are not sufficient to maintain up with the demand.”

Samuels provides, “As shopper preferences and expectations proceed to develop, social entrepreneurs require higher funding of their groups and sources to achieve success.

Manufacturers should guarantee social is prioritized as a vital communication device and supply their groups with the sources wanted to supply artistic, related, and genuine content material.”

As a former social media group of 1, I wholeheartedly agree that lack of time and sources are blockers for content material creation.

Nevertheless, in the event you’re not able to extend your social media headcount, listed here are a number of extra methods you’ll be able to beat the partaking content material problem:

• Repurpose content across channels to get essentially the most bang on your buck. For instance, take one in every of your 1,800-word weblog posts and rework it into punchy short-form content material for channels like Instagram or TikTok. HubSpot’s free AI paragraph rewriter is nice for this.
• Use social media AI tools to streamline content material planning, creation, and posting throughout your social channels — and to open up time for extra creativity.
• Pull suggestions from the video under on easy methods to create an efficient social media content material calendar:

2. Maintaining with options and algorithm updates.

I already talked about the fickle social algorithm, and right here it’s once more, rearing its not-so-pleasant head in problem quantity two.

Our knowledge exhibits that 16% of entrepreneurs are having bother maintaining with new social media options and algorithm updates.

After taking a look at only one instance of Fb’s algorithm from Meta, I get it. (Not the algorithm, however why that is giving social media entrepreneurs a headache.)

Source

And coming from a blogger who has been quietly beefing with Google over their all-too-regular algorithm changes, you’ll be able to belief and consider that I perceive the battle.

Easy methods to Overcome This Problem

As entrepreneurs, we are able to’t cease the algorithms from altering. However we are able to take steps to be proactive, keep knowledgeable, and regulate our content material to satisfy new calls for. Right here’s how:

• Get to know the algorithms in your most steadily used channels. It’ll be simpler to navigate the modifications in the event you already know the fundamentals about how issues function.
• Keep updated on the most recent algorithm modifications. Sources like HubSpot (cough, cough) Sprout Social, and Hootsuite are nice sources right here.
• Create content your viewers needs to interact with. Content material relevance is an enormous rating issue for many algorithms, no matter platform.
• Post on social media on the proper time. The extra engagement, the higher your probabilities of exhibiting up in-feed — so catch your viewers on-line early and infrequently.

3. Discovering concepts for brand new content material.

Based mostly on our survey, 16% of entrepreneurs additionally reported that discovering concepts for brand new content material is an enormous problem this 12 months.

Why? It may be exhausting (and tough) to constantly pitch new concepts for social platforms, particularly once they already really feel overcrowded with content material.

Fortunately, we’re at some extent now the place we are able to faucet AI to assist generate new content material concepts if we’re feeling caught. In truth, the under ChatGPT immediate is one in every of my favorites as a author:

“Give me [number] of [content type] concepts about [topic] that may enchantment to [target audience].”

Right here it’s with the blanks stuffed in: “Give me 5 weblog publish concepts about social media that may enchantment to entrepreneurs in 2024.”

And right here’s the response I obtained:

I additionally talked to an knowledgeable about this problem — let’s see what she recommends.

Easy methods to Overcome This Problem

Christina Garnett, former principal advertising supervisor at HubSpot, suggests researching what already exists when searching for new concepts.

“When looking for the brand new you could devour and see what sort of content material is already obtainable after which search for hole alternatives.

Are there questions not being answered? Totally different views not being shared? Perhaps the content material exists however not in a format that’s tailor-made for a particular learner or viewers,” says Garnett.

She provides, “As soon as you identify what you’ll be able to create, you’ll want to decide who wants it, and the way it can finest be packaged to enhance their expertise. Content material has the identical want to search out product-market match as merchandise and options do.”

4. Reaching their target market.

Up subsequent, 15% of entrepreneurs additionally recognized reaching their target market as one in every of their prime social media challenges.

Creating partaking content material and discovering new content material concepts are nice, however what’s the purpose in case your viewers by no means sees it? (Like if a tree falls within the forest, and nobody is round to listen to it … )

The excellent news is we have already got a fantastic piece on the weblog that explains how to find your social media target audience. I’ll summarize a number of of the motion objects under.

Easy methods to Overcome This Problem

• Determine or create buyer personas. Take into consideration who your present prospects are. What are their jobs? Age? Revenue?
• Discover out the place your viewers is most lively. This may enable you to prioritize which social media platforms to give attention to.
• Have a look at your opponents. Who’re they interesting to? Who’s responding to their posts and interesting with them?
• Survey your prospects. Ask what kind of content material they devour, what social media websites they like, or who they observe.

Then, use all of this data to satisfy them the place they’re on social.

5. Creating content material that generates leads.

Lead technology can be proving to be a hurdle in 2024. 14% of these surveyed report creating content material that generates leads as a prime social media problem this 12 months.

Lead technology is a job all by itself. Group that with content material creation, pattern monitoring, and neighborhood administration, and also you’ve simply described the duties of the quintessential social media marketer.

To take a few of the stress off, right here’s how one can construct a powerful social media lead gen strategy.

Easy methods to Overcome This Problem

To start out, take into account driving your viewers from sure social platforms again to devoted touchdown pages, or monitor clicks on particular CTAs for every of your social media campaigns.

Let’s say you are operating a marketing campaign aimed toward driving income in the direction of a brand new product providing, create a product touchdown web page and hyperlink to it on every of your social profiles. That means, you’ll be able to monitor what number of clicks come from every web page, and alter your technique accordingly.

For instance, in the event you’re seeing most clicks coming from Fb, which will point out that it’s a good suggestion to place paid promoting behind your Fb technique.

Talking of paid promoting, social media adverts and influencer advertising are additionally highly effective methods to generate leads through social media.

Talkwalker’s former CMO Elena Melnikova emphasizes the significance of studying the room when creating adverts for social media:

“Too business, and this younger viewers will scroll previous your model, searching for the following dance routine. Learn the room. Observe the tendencies. Be spontaneous,” notes Melnikova.

And in terms of influencer advertising, Melnikova says:

“Savvy manufacturers will work with influencers to create content material. And with nearly all of TikTok influencers being Gen Z, they‘ll perceive how to make sure their content material stands out, and improve a model’s engagement figures.”

6. Maintaining with new tendencies.

Final however actually not least, our knowledge exhibits that 14% of entrepreneurs cited maintaining with new tendencies as one in every of their prime challenges for this 12 months.

At this level, nearly every part materializes as a pattern — whether or not it’s a brand new platform, an outdated meme, and even only a sound (I’m taking a look at you, TikTok).

However the actuality is that this: Each pattern isn’t a very good match for each model.

Generally the most popular social platform isn’t the best place to search out your viewers. Or possibly your prospects aren’t acquainted with, and due to this fact wouldn’t respect, that trending phrase that everybody is utilizing of their movies this week.

(For instance, I mentioned “generally, you’ll want to eat a complete cucumber” to my mother yesterday, and he or she had no thought what I used to be speaking about. Shoutout to @logagm on TikTok.)

The fixed battle between what’s present and what resonates together with your viewers makes it tough to find out which tendencies to faucet into.

Easy methods to Overcome This Problem

I’ve two nuggets of recommendation for this one.

First, discover a strategy to hold a pulse of the most recent social media tendencies.

Observe business leaders like Sprout Social, join knowledgeable newsletters like The Marketing Millennials, or see what your viewers is presently speaking about on discussion board websites like Reddit.

Additionally, monitor the most recent information and releases out of your favourite social media channels (or curate a community of insiders like Annie-Mai Hodge on LinkedIn) to be the primary to learn about new options and algorithm updates.

The second is to decide on the strategies with the best ROI. And in the event you don’t know the way, check out HubSpot’s free lesson on How to Measure Social Media ROI to be taught extra.

Like I mentioned earlier, it’s not value it for each model to hop on each pattern. If it might tie again to your viewers’s pursuits and your largest enterprise outcomes, you’re in the best place.

Problem(s) Accepted

There you’ve got it! The six largest challenges that social media groups are dealing with in 2024.

Now that which challenges you’re up towards, take the time to brainstorm options that may enable you to stage up your social media technique — for subsequent 12 months and past.

Editor’s word: This publish was initially printed in November 2021 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness.