Social media has become a dominant form of communication. The technology has nestled its way into how most people interact personally and professionally on a daily basis. It offers an instant exchange of information in the form of images, videos, text, and live streaming, and has easily become the cheapest and most immediate way to communicate messages to an audience. Because of the simple and instantaneous nature of these platforms, businesses have flocked to the communication format as a means to build rapport with customers, establish frequent contact, and to advertise. Leveraging social media as a business doesn’t just seem like common sense, research also supports the idea and has displayed the many benefits of doing so. It is crucial for brands to interact with consumers via social media in order to stay relevant.
THE RESEARCH
A 2012 paper published in the Journal of Interactive Marketing investigated the effects of social media marketing when it comes to brand posts and their popularity. The authors state that in 2011, over 50% of social media users followed brand pages on social media platforms. This statistic alone is more than enough reason to opt for social media as a means of marketing and communicating a brand message, and many companies are realising this. Worldwide spending on social media marketing in 2011 was around $4.3 billion. Furthermore, a 2010 study suggests that social media marketing allows businesses to enhance existing relationships with consumers, potentially increasing online shopping value.
SOCIAL MEDIA BRANDING TIPS
There are numerous ways to create and maintain relationships with customers on a regular basis via social media. Creating a branded page will allow your business to accumulate a following of loyal customers and potential customers. Furthermore, followers of your page will be regularly exposed to your business via their news feeds. Different social media platforms facilitate consumer engagement in unique ways, which is why it’s important for your business to decide which platforms will best support your brand. Here are some examples of content you can use to simultaneously increase brand awareness and stimulate consumer engagement.
VIDEOS
Videos are an extremely effective method of boosting social media engagement. They can serve as a direct advertising tool for specific products or may take on a softer marketing approach. Videos that don’t have a direct relationship with your brand or business (but are relevant to your niche) can also be created or shared to garner attention, build new relationships, and strengthen existing ones.
Videos of a shorter length featuring text and music seem to do better when it comes to reaching viral status. Furthermore, funny and creative videos will perform better than dry sales pitches. Videos will trigger consumer engagement predominantly in the form of likes, shares, and comments. If your videos are linked back to your business’ website, that’s even better as it will drive more users to your home platform.
POLLS/QUIZZES
Polls and quizzes can be used on branded pages to encourage customer engagement and to also serve as a form of market research. For example, a poll could be conducted that seeks to determine the most popular product out of a range that a company sells. The result may influence future business decisions, and the post itself will serve as a means of direct customer communication and feedback.
COMPETITIONS
Competitions allow businesses to give back to their community of customers and can be structured in a way that results in serious outreach for the brand. Competitions can feature a prize in the form of products or services and may include entry requirements like sharing one of your posts and/or following your branded page. In addition, competition rules can require that participants tag numerous friends to enter, tangibly widening your brand’s audience.
STAY CURRENT AND TRENDY
It’s been said that we are living in the age of information. A viral video that is a week old is now largely viewed as stale and outdated. To keep the attention of social media users, it is important to stay up-to-date and relevant. By utilising social news streams such a Twitter, brand pages can use current events and social trends to draw potential customers to their content. Page managers can attempt to interweave their products and company links into posts revolving around current events and viral trends.
