The value of the latest social media is a no-brainer. Now’s top marketers have fully embraced the power of content, user-driven communities, and brand -to-customer conversations.
The problem is, some brands will do everything by the books — posting consistently, hiring full time community managers, and implementing analytics — and still fail to attain a return on investment. Your societal channels resemble a field of chirping crickets rather than a community that is energetic and lively.
Why?
As it pertains to social media, “great” is far from good enough. A large number of brands are vying for exactly the same audience’s curiosity. People are beaten over the head with branded cat memes, promotional offers, and merchandise info.
Your social management brand needs to stop fixating on best practices and read between the lines to stand out. These 7 tips will allow you to do that, and amplify your social media existence:
1) Jolt audiences with unexpected fits of mankind.
Last summer, two American icons acted the part of grumpy old men. Cap ‘n Crunch and KFC’s Colonel got into it on Twitter.
Social media best practices stress the worth of being human. “Be authentic and let your personality shine” are words of wisdom that brands will most likely hear.
The Colonel-Crunching banter takes that notion to a whole new level.
No one enjoys listening to corporate speak. Discreetly sarcastic, true to life, and surprisingly playful caricatures are a welcomed breath of fresh air. You’d never expect two food conglomerates to poke fun at every other. But here they’re doing it — it is different, grin-inducing, and over-the-top delightful.
One day last year, Taco Bell and Old Spice also found themselves in a similar social repartee:
Enormous B2C brands are not the only ones who’ve liberty to add a little bit of character on social media. Companies like Zendesk are a refreshing case of B2B businesses breaking out of the boring corporate mold …
Why This Works.
According to a recent Pew Center report, 72% of American adults are social media users — but according to a recent study from Edison Research, only 33% of consumers have ever followed a brand on platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Consumers join social media to follow people, not companies. To triumph, brands need to embrace a persona that is human.
2) Encourage your audience to participate.
It is an understatement to say that George Takei hosts one of the most uproarious pages on Facebook. He is assembled a community around witty puns, inappropriate jokes, and incredible commitment to humanity.
He begins by posting a picture with a less-than-obvious joke, driving his audience to think. It is only after you’ve figured it out that you are welcome to like and remark on the photograph (without giving it away of course).
This guessing game generates critical participation, and of course — capitalizes on the fact that crowds are craving that ‘ah-ha’ moment.
Caption contests, fill in the blank games, surveys, and questions are all approaches to improve social involvement. Consider Walmart for example, who will mix in fun posts like below, even when it has nothing to do with what they sell (unless they now sell cats on skateboards, which is news to me).
When most businesses use social media as their megaphone for one-way communication, it’s fine to see when brands are being social on social media by participating in dialog. Comical, attention-grabbing, and engaging content will help your social networking page stick out of the competition. Companies that create 1,000 enjoys on Facebook also create about 1,400 website visits a day. The more you can keep crowds interested on buffs, the more traffic and social networking you’re likely to generate.
3) Be visual.
140 character messages might not be too short to capture the attention of someone’s. The info on the flip side, in an image, just requires a fraction of a second. The company supplements its places with first, inspiring visuals that function as more than advertorials — they are lovely works of art.
Sephora, a brand that sells attractiveness, has developed a social networking strategy that’s driven by a mission to shine a spotlight on the intersection of glamour and everyday life. Custom-designed visuals accompany nearly every post:
During the third quarter of Super Bowl XLVII when a power outage in the Superdome caused a number of the lights to go out for more than 30 minutes, the biscuit brand took advantage of the second with all the tweet and image below. The message caught on forthwith, gaining nearly 15,000 retweets and more than 20,000 likes on Facebook. If it were not for the image (coupled with great timing), this place would have went dark just like the Super Bowl did.
Visual content is why Pinterest took off like a rocket ship in the year 2012 and is used by leading brands now. Actually, a recent study found that 25% are driven by Pinterest pins more sales than it did last year.
GE is one of those consistently stellar cases of a B2B firm with incredible visual content, and their “That Is Genius!” That point is proven by pinterest board once again. Featuring quotations from Thomas Edison (the creator of GE), the pins use typography to make participating visuals. It’s so easy, yet highly creative and effective.
(Sources: 3M Corporation and Zabisco). On Facebook specifically, photos perform best for Likes, comments, and shares in comparison with text, video, and links. (Source: Dan Zarrella) So the next time you share something on social, consider including an easy photo or image along with it.
4) Poke fun at yourself.
Running a big, public firm is serious business. Keep in your mind, however, that your customer acquisition channels are not your investor relations meetings. Social networking is an opportunity to get no matter how big you’re.
Take Adobe Photoshop, as an example. As the world’s leading software for graphic design, Adobe has a larger-than-life reputation. It will be easy — too easy– to preach best practices through social media all day.
The brand takes healthy — and much desired– moments to connect with all the graphic design community, heart to heart. This strategy will transform a brand from ‘industry leading’ to adored.
Like Adobe, Air New Zealand, the airline behind this hilarious and unconventional safety video, is a brand that is known to not take themselves too seriously. The firm, which recently formed a joint promotion for the soon-to-be-released The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, even transformed their real workers into characters from the film.
Based on an 2013 study by Forrester Research, 85% of consumers still don’t trust brands online. That may be because, as consumers, we’re used to (and sick of) phony marketing ploys, over-hyped promotion, and being inundated with promotional messages. Brands which are not unreal are trusted by consumers. Poking fun at yourself is wonderful solution to expose the human side of a corporation.
5) Be part of a movement.
Brands are more than just their products — they’re strong ethnic influencers. Social networking is a powerful route to present support for causes that people care about. At the close of the day, your consumers are the peers of your company. They may be the momentum behind your organization.
Although Toys “R” Us leverages its Facebook page to advertise promotional offers, the company takes rests from pushing sales to adopt its audience’s worth:
Why This Works
Once in a while, it’s good practice to actually cease attempting to sell stuff and focus on other things your audience appreciates and really cares about. Adding a little variety to your content mixture, and taking a rest from the promotion, helps to connect with buyers in more emotive ways.
Huge brands are forces of nature in their businesses. But occasionally, it’s vital that you take a breath of fresh air. Take Oreo as an instance. The brand could very easily restrict its sphere of influence to snack food.
This brand is infamous for venturing into territory where no cookie has gone the Super Bowl mentioned previously, marriage equality, and even PS4’s major start:
Financial institutions are the last type of company you’d expect to venture outside into unknown promotion territory, but the http://www.jeffbullas.com/2014/01/14/6-tips-for-instagram-marketing-mastery/ firm behind the most popular talking baby commercials, ETrade, brings some off-the-wall personality to societal, also.
The reason why This Works
Individuals are more than your persona — people are complicated. Those nuances are what make people intriguing. Why not reflect that in your company? No, companies aren’t individuals. But businesses that investigate new ideas with their followers also make your societal profiles fascinating, and will naturally empower dialogue, stir opinions. Individuals enjoy interesting.
Individuals are the core of social media marketing. Boost exposure by giving more to your community than you take. Share their amazing thoughts and make them a part of your brand.
Here’s an example from Clarity.fm, a startup marketplace that connects advice seekers with subject matter experts and experienced entrepreneurs. The website of the company recently featured a roundup of quotes from 23 business leaders that were noteworthy. Next to each quotation is a ‘Tweet this’ call-to-activity — the site’s readers can call out words of wisdom that they love.
Hundreds of shares inspired:
Brands that are presumed leaders get more exposure on social networks since they’re offering precious content and resources that folks actually want to share. In big part, this Clarity roundup has hundreds of the latest social media shares, to date, because of the 23 pros who were featured in the post. Private links plus content that is excellent are what will ultimately drive viral activity.
Given that brand posts generate half their life reach within the first 30 minutes, a community that is constantly engaged will be extremely significant. Build your distribution strategy around people to prolong the life of your content.
Final Idea: Examine the Waters.
Social networking is an evolving artwork. To put it differently, the textbook is being created by your brand. Don’t be scared to analyze ideas or try something new. At the conclusion of the day, you’re constructing a two-way communication channel with your customers. Enable them to lead your brand to new heights.
What other social media techniques have functioned well for your brand?