Introducing our Social Media Marketing guru, Matt Wort! With 6+ years of marketing experience, He has a BA in Creative Writing from MIT and has worked as a commercial writer, copywriter, account manager, and freelance social media specialist. Matt has a diverse portfolio of work for clients and has experience with local charities, movie launches, and tourism campaigns.
He currently teaches the Social Media paper of our Diploma in Digital Marketing, plus our Micro-Credential in Social Media Marketing Strategy and a whole range of our new On-Demand courses; Meta Ads Manager and TikTok Marketing.
If you prefer, you can watch this chat as an Instagram Live here.
Which social media platform is your favourite right now and why?
It would have to be TikTok. I think the algorithm has done such great things for scrolling. On the flip side, it can be very addictive. What I’ve been happy to see from a business perspective is brands relaxing a bit into the platform. They’re not as stiff as they once were, keeping things at that high-level professionalism. The community want to see a bit of humanity in their brands, so it’s nice to see them relax.
Which platform should marketers and businesses go to for success?
Like before, all brands should be looking to TikTok to explore the potential there. There’s limitless potential for brands. Whether you’re manufacturing glass or pulling your own traditional candy, there’s an audience who wants to see the process out there on TikTok.
Have you noticed any trends in content creation you’d like to chat about?
I think there’s been a definite shift in power recently. The content creators are regaining a bit of independence, and that’s being valued by the community. Content creators are making what type of content they want, what appeals to them, and it’s becoming far more successful that the old, very scripted way businesses would approach them. There’s a lot more authenticity in content now.
Who are some of your favourite content creators now, and why?
Te Ataarangi – an incredible queer indigenous creator. Answering the world’s questions about Maori culture with compassion, humour, and an authentic attitude. I think the work they’re doing is fantastic, just having those conversations. Leading those conversations with patience and grace. Amazing.
Seb Gower – he’s on TikTok and Insta a lot. He’s big into live streaming, and he live streams himself painting these spectacular paintings. I mean, he’s so talented, and the way he talks through his technique is amazing, especially as someone whose artistic talent extends to stick figures.
Over the past 12 months, Instagram has pushed short-form videos in reaction to the success of TikTok. But, TikTok has been pushing the use of photo slides, with this content proving popular on the app. How do social media marketers keep up with these changes?
I would say, and I always say this in class – the hardest challenge about digital marketing, and especially Social Media – is keeping up with these shifts. I think the best thing you can do is to not get overwhelmed. My first piece of advice to students is to sign up for one, really good social media newsletter. Something that will give you the highlights, and offer you more reading if you’ve got time. There’s a real struggle to stay up to date with everything and my professional advice is that you’re going to be early into some trends, and late to others, and that’s okay. When I first started, I signed up for a dozen social newsletters, and every morning I would wake up to a dozen emails it just felt so busy that I’d end up deleting them to feel less anxious.
Do you have any thoughts on influencer marketing and how it can be utilized effectively for social media growth?
I think as we see transparency and authenticity trend, we’re going to see smaller influencers, those with a tight-knit following who trust them, become the centre stage of influencer marketing. Gone are the days when celebrity mega-influencers have sway, users, especially on TikTok, are becoming immune to this type of celebrity influencer.
What are the best practices for engaging and interacting with followers on social media platforms?
As we just chatted about – authenticity is the key to any interaction in 2023. If you’re engaging because you feel like you HAVE to, that shows. It’s like having a conversation with someone who only says wow, or mmm. It’s surface level, and you wouldn’t stand that level of commitment in a conversation, so you shouldn’t have to on Social Media. In terms of best practices, schedule that time in so you don’t forget, 15 minutes in the morning, another 15 after lunch, and if you’re feeling like procrastinating a report, pop in another 15 minutes in the afternoon. Its value is worth it.
Can you share some tools that will make social media success easier?
Firstly, find scheduling software that suits you. If you’re just running one brand, one page, and you like the look and feel of Meta’s creator studio, fantastic. But if you’re running multiple pages, then invest in a social media solution, something like sprout social. My personal fave for managing multiple brands – and this was a result of managing 14 brand pages at once – was agorapulse. It’s clean, neat, and tidy. A bit on the pricy side, but worth it for the collective inbox and social listening. But more than anything else, I would suggest people have fun with their social media, I think that’s something that comes across and allows a brand to elevate itself.
How can I create a comprehensive social media strategy to increase engagement and reach?
Firstly, consistency. If you post every day for a month of a campaign and then go quiet for two months, you’ve lost any momentum you had. So you need to work on a long-term plan. My piece of advice here would be scheduling. I break the content down into two sections. Planned and spontaneous. Planned content is those posts you can schedule a month in advance – you know that Easter is coming up, but the date isn’t going to change – so schedule an Easter post now. Spontaneous content on the other hand is those opportunities that arise at the moment, trends, current events, and viral moments, you can’t schedule these ahead of time, but they will add to your content offering. Think of it like an ice cream sundae – schedule posts are the ice cream – the base – predictable and stable. And spontaneous content is the sprinkles, the chocolate sauce – the cherry on top. Those little additions add the wow factor.
