For brands looking to make waves online, social media can be the ideal platform to get ahead. If you are wondering whether there is sufficient interest for your brand, you may be pleased to find out that up to 80% of users follow at least one brand account on different social media platforms. The sustained increase in the level of interest has seen brands surpass celebrities in terms of popularity, which is significant considering celebrities average millions of followers around the world. This interest can be leveraged to boost the efficiency of marketing efforts.
Social media also has the numbers to match the interest, making it a viable platform or your brand’s marketing efforts. Each platform averages a large number of active users, who number about 3.7 billion. They are spread out around the world and feature members of different demographics, which allows for brands to capitalize on their desired audiences. Social media also offers specialized means for interested brands to reach these followers.
Will your brand benefit by setting up online? Like any other business opportunity, you need to be decisive and strategic to benefit from your social media activity. The first step should be to assess how social media can help you meet certain business goals and to develop an actionable plan. Once you have set up on social media, you will need to follow these social media best practices to grow your brand.
Invest in paid ads
You should generally avoid advertising your brand on social media through outright posts on your profile. While this may work to generate some interest in your brand, it is limited to people who are already following you. There are many alternative paid options that feature a larger scope, and which will attract fewer instances of a negative perception in your followers. You need to consider investing in these paid alternatives to avoid impacting user perception negatively, which could harm your likelihood of benefitting. Paid advertisements also offer better value, and can be useful in indirectly boosting certain aspects of growth. For instance, even though instagram is a terribly tough platform for brands that do not already have a large following, you can boost your performance through auto instagram views. While their success is not guaranteed, the high level of interest by marketers suggests that there is some value in pursuing these options. They certainly guarantee better output than traditional avenues. This could explain why the value of social media advertisements has skyrocketed while that of TV, print and radio continues to face sustained declines.
Consider other marketing options
Aside from paid ad strategies, there are also other viable marketing strategies that may or may not require some financial outlay. You need to understand how these may affect your brand in relation to your goals before investing in them. If you are looking for a paid alternative to advertisement, you could make use of influencer clout to generate interest in your brand. Free marketing strategies include running promotions and giveaways to help increase certain aspects of brand performance. Before setting up these marketing strategies, you should consider their potential impact, which will help you determine the most suited one for your specific goals. If you are going to use external representatives such as paid influencers, you should understand the possible risks of misrepresentation and be ready to act quickly to avoid significant damage to your brand image.
Always respond to user engagement
Social media can be a great avenue for personal selling because it facilitates interaction between brands and users on a horizontal level of communication.Unlike print, TV and radio sources, you can know what your clients want and what improvements can be made by your brand to help your products or services match their expectations. You may only be able to benefit from personal selling if you interact with your followers. This should be done regardless of the nature of their interaction, which means that you should respond to clients who use a negative tone just as well as you would those with something positive to say about your brand. By maintaining a positive outlook and ensuring a problem solving approach, you will be able to build brand loyalty and could generate desirable interest in other potential clients as well.
Maintain capacity
If you do not have sufficient staffing capacity, you should avoid setting up on too many social media platforms. If you have already created a number of accounts, you need to address the staffing shortage that may arise from it. The basic rule of thumb requires brands to have at least one more social media team member than social sites they are active on. As you gain traction on social media, you will need to increase your capacity to handle the influx of interaction and engagement by your followers. This will enable you solidify and maintain a personal relationship with all your followers, which will enable your ability to engage in personal selling.
Watch what you post
Whether or not it has been successful with other brands, you should generally avoid sharing derogatory and obscene content. Your followers may react badly to negatively themed content, which could prove costly to your reputation. If you are ever in doubt about any type of content, you may consider running it through a sample group to develop an understanding of how your audience may react to it. This will help you avoid any potential harm to your reputation. You may develop a content strategy to guide your social media team on what type of content is best for your brand.
Maintain consistent posts
Aside from watching what you post, you need to regulate how often you share it. Your followers will be put off by dormancy as much as they will by excessive posts. Before setting up on social media, you should consider looking into the ideal content sharing schedule for each platform that you are interested in joining. This will enable you to share the right amount of posts to build a great relationship with your followers.
Talha Ali is your tech generalist, covering a wide spectrum of topics within the ever-evolving world of technology. With a curiosity for the latest innovations, industry trends, and breakthroughs. Whether it’s hardware, software, emerging technologies, or the intersection of tech with daily life, Talha’s articles provide readers with a well-rounded perspective on the dynamic landscape of the tech industry.
