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By Glenn Hansen

I recently attended a social-media marketing education event , and it was an in-person event ! Minneapolis-based industry expert Arik Hanson creates an annual “ social media trends ” report . It ’ s his look at social media as a business marketing tool , and it ’ s based on his research and work with medium and large businesses nationwide . I ’ m adapting this report to apply – as much as I can – to the power-equipment industry and OPE dealers . Let ’ s jump in .

Social Search is Increasingly Popular For many years , YouTube has been the world ’ s second most popular search engine after Google . That still surprises people , but it shouldn ’ t today with the growth of streaming video and YouTube TV . But using a social media tool for search goes beyond searching YouTube for a video on how to install a P-trap so your kitchen sink won ’ t leak .

More than 45 percent of adults age 25 to 44 use TikTok as a search engine . For those age 18 to 34 years , it ’ s 73 percent . They are doing product research on TikTok . It happens on Instagram , too , with 80 percent of Instagram users acknowledging they use the platform to make buying decisions .

What should you do ? Use relevant keywords in your social media profiles . Use “ Alt Text ” on your images on both Instagram and Facebook . Social media users with disabilities can use screen readers that see the alt text behind an image and read it aloud . Alt text can boost SEO in general as well because algorithms account for all the words

@ RussoPowerEquipment gets Instagram right with a profile page including the essentials . in your posts . And on YouTube , add keyword phrases and subtitles to your videos .

Platform Shift This trend is slow moving , showing that user interest in social media platforms shifts over time .

A group called Insider Intelligence studies , among other things , users ’ trust in social media platforms . It reported in December 2022 that trust for all platforms declined , with Instagram declining most year-over-year and YouTube declining least .

The platform shift is in the continuing decline of Facebook and Twitter , what Hanson calls the “ legacy platforms .” Both these social tools get low scores for trust , with Facebook ’ s issues caused by a variety of conditions , and Twitter ’ s low trust score due mainly to Elon Musk ’ s purchase of

LinkedIn is the professional network tool , and you can use it to build a business brand and find customers .

the site . Still , even with Facebook ’ s poor showing here , the site remains the most used social media platform worldwide . And it ’ s one that customers will likely access to learn about your store , business hours , special events , and more .

What should you do ? Increase your use of LinkedIn . It earns higher trust scores , and it ’ s more than just a job search site . If you sell to a professional audience , or if you simply want to connect with and learn from industry professionals , spend more time on LinkedIn .

Video Earns Eyeballs About 10 years ago , those of us in the media talked about a “ pivot to video .” It didn ’ t really happen . Is Hanson correct to say today that social media video is an important trend ? He shares data saying that short-form video posts on social me-

14 OPE Business May 2023 www . OPEBusiness . com