Traditional means of marketing have taken a backseat. Now, social media marketing is king – especially when your audience are tech-savvy. To maximise your business’ social media marketing is to help your brand build a huge following. Just look at international brands like Colourpop or local brand Multifolds Photography, who rely mainly on social media to promote their products. However, not all social media platforms were created equal. Instagram is best for sharing visual content, Facebook excels at making content go viral and blogs are best for long-form information. Taking that into consideration, here are some tips to add to your social media marketing strategies – to promote your brand and build a larger following.
Make use of Facebook to share video content
Video posts are one of the most popular ways of reaching an audience, with audiences being 10 times more likely to engage with your video content than text or photos. Videos should also be concise – 60% of audiences will stop watching a video around the 2-minute mark. Take the extra step by including captions in your videos. 9 in 10 Facebook videos were watched without sound and adding captions to videos increases the viewing time by approximately 12%.
Encourage User Generated Content (UGC)
A good way to increase your clientele is to share your portfolio online. This is to have potential customers better understand your skills and what you can offer them. Remember to encourage UGC too. Share your social media handles with your customers and tell them to leave a feedback whenever possible.
With social media, customers get to choose from a variety of vendors who offer similar products and services. Hence, a history of genuine and positive reviews will go a long way towards differentiating your brand from the others. Also, customers will take note of how timely you respond to criticism and how you will deal with crises when making their purchasing decisions. This establishes your brand as being trustworthy and credible.
Engagement is key
With the use of social media marketing, communication with your audience is no longer a one-way flow. Show that you value your users’ inputs by responding to their comments and queries on your social media platforms. This not only reflects positively on your business but your replies may also address questions that others might have.
Keep your accounts consistently updated with fresh content to keep users interested. Consider using post scheduling applications such as Hootsuite or Buffer to help you maintain a constant flow of content.
Post insider content
Beyond posting just for the sake of it, brands can use social media to maximise their connection with consumers and bridge the gap that might exist between them. Posting behind-the-scenes videos or blog posts of your creative process will allow customers to better understand what they are paying for.
For instance, people will be more willing to spend a hundred dollars on a cake if they understand the amount of time and back-breaking work that goes into it. Also, customers may be inspired to make purchases after seeing what you’re working on. Why not consider going live? With a plethora of options available – Facebook Live, Instagram Live or Instagram Stories – you can now show your followers a snippet of your work flow.
Create headlines that stand out
Users are constantly bombarded with new information the moment they open any social media platform. Scrolling through mindlessly has also become a habit these days. Thus, the headlines chosen has to be able to stand out amongst the rest. Use keywords aggressively in your headlines or the first few lines of your captions. This enhances Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and helps attract potential audience to your content more easily.
These are but a few tips to maximise your use of social media to build a stronger brand. At the end of day, just remember to keep creating and to share your content consistently!
Social media marketing statistics were obtained from Mediakix (The Facebook Video Statistics Everyone Needs To Know), Rendrfx (37 Video Marketing Statistics You Need To Know For 2017).
