November 15, 2019 3 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

While social media marketing has been prevalent for the last several years, too many brands still think they can apply old marketing methods to this new medium. Whereas traditional marketing relied on one-to-many forms of communication — think introducing a new product in a TV commercial — today’s marketing, dominated by social media, involves more one-to-one communication.

At the same time, today’s tools make it possible to exponentially grow from one-to-one to a mass audience, as each person you connect with can then easily spread the word to their own networks, and those networks then have ties to other networks of their own, and so on and so forth. Getting there, however, requires a more personal, human approach.

Think about it: In today’s marketing world, a YouTube star or an Instagram model can have more influence and engagement than some of the largest brands in the world who blast out promotional content yet gain relatively little traction. The reason why is that social media users crave human connection and actual social behavior with two-way communication, rather than brands just pushing out their own narrative and not bringing consumers into the conversation.

But marketers don’t have to worry about traditional marketing dying, because anyone can make this shift to humanize their brand and thrive in this new era. Doing so includes a few basic steps such as:

• Creating social media content that looks and sounds more like what an individual would post rather than seeming corporate.
• Showcasing the personality of your brand, including directly highlighting the people who work there and the customers who help make your brand what it is.
• Taking time to respond to conversations on social media in a personable, meaningful way rather than just auto-liking comments.
• Recruiting customers and employees as brand advocates, such as by letting them create content for your brand channels or creating a contest for them to participate in.
• Resetting expectations to concentrate on smaller areas that can pay bigger dividends, like creating a private group to engage superfans.

These are just a few of the many ways you can succeed in this current marketing climate, and on November 20, at 12:00 PM ET, I’ll be hosting a 60-minute virtual workshop on Entrepreneur that dives deeper into this topic. The workshop will include actionable insights in areas such as:

• How to reclaim organic engagement by being either entertaining, informative or inspirational.
• How to work within the parameters of algorithms and leverage them for more success, rather than seeing them as the enemy.
• How to find new customers and partners directly through social media by using platforms as search engine.
• What to do to stay relevant as a marketer amidst the rise of AI, while using automation to increase your productivity and reach.

You’ll also have the chance to ask me questions directly about how to adapt to this new era of marketing and how to take your brand to the next level. Save your spot now, complimentary with an Entrepreneur Insider subscription or available for a one-time fee of $19.