5 Simple Ways to Stay on Top of Social Media Advertising Trends

[ This article originally appeared on The Way, Sprinklr’s content hub. As one of PRSA Pittsburgh’s sponsors, each month Sprinklr will be delivering you with some insights into how you can use technology to make your marketing more efficient and effective. ]

It’s hard to take your social advertising program to the next level when platforms and publishers are constantly changing. There’s always a new update, trend, or feature to be aware of—whether it’s Facebook’s algorithm, Twitter’s targeting options, or Snapchat’s ad formats.

This makes it difficult to run consistent strategies and repeat successes. That’s why marketers need to adopt habits that help them stay on top of social trends and get ahead in the game.

Here are five simple tasks you can incorporate into your routine right now.

1. Read Those Emails from Facebook and Twitter

When social platforms launch updates, you might find yourself thinking, “How come no one told me?” Sometimes that update will have actually come through your inbox. You just weren’t aware.

Be sure to keep an eye out for marketing emails from your go-to platforms. You might even funnel them into a designated email folder, and check that folder every few days. Then you won’t have to get stuck playing catch-up; you’ll probably even learn about certain features before they go live, giving you time to adjust your strategy.

2. Keep in Touch With Your Account Liaison

You might already have a main contact at your social platforms of choice. Don’t forget to stay in touch with them. They can let you know about key changes ahead of time, and even provide personalized recommendations for new strategies and ad formats. Just remember that it’s their job to encourage you to spend money. So always be sure their suggestions line up with your budget and goals.

3. Set Up a Slush Fund

If you plan your budget a year in advance, either allow it to stay fluid or set up a slush fund for unexpected changes. You never know when you might need some extra cash to test a new ad format, boost a popular post, or reach an emerging target audience. When certain trends do arise, you want to be ready to jump on them and engage your audience.

4. Outsource Your Industry Research

It’s not uncommon for social platforms to roll out changes quietly. This means you need to actively research your industry to keep from being left in the dark. This can be incredibly time-consuming, however, and difficult to do consistently.

Consider outsourcing this task to freelance researchers and consultants. This will leave you more room to brainstorm new content ideas and build innovative strategies.

5. Approach Stand-Alone Solutions With Skepticism

New features may seem exciting, but they’re not all worthy of your time and money. You also don’t want to stretch yourself too thin. That’s why it’s important to take all stand-alone solutions with a grain of salt. Answer this: Will learning, integrating, and funding the solution pay off in the end?

If you’re overwhelmed with updates and trends, try picking just a few to tackle. Find the ones that have the greatest impact on your audience, and incorporate them into your strategy. It’s better to launch a few great campaigns than 10 mediocre ones.

Staying Ahead of the Game

Choosing the right platforms for your marketing operation is hard enough; staying on top of each platform’s updates and nuances is a whole different obstacle. With so many changes, running even one consistent strategy can feel impossible.

By adopting a few of these simple habits, you can stay on top of important new features and trends, and be prepared to optimize accordingly.

The author, Uyen Nguyen, is the Senior Content Marketing Manager at Sprinklr.