Thanks to pandemic restrictions, many brick-and-mortar businesses are leveraging social media to boost brand awareness. In fact, 97% of Fortune 500 companies rely on platforms like Instagram and Facebook to increase sales and engage with consumers.
Now that billions of people use social media to recommend products and services, taking your brand awareness efforts online is necessary. Though we expect most businesses to return to face-to-face operations in 2022, social media is a trend that isn’t going to become obsolete any time soon.
If your business lacks visibility, here are a few social media marketing tips you need to keep in mind for the next fiscal year.
Social media isn’t the only way to boost brand awareness online—but it is the most effective method. If you aren’t yet integrating the internet’s most popular platforms into your brand awareness campaigns, here are a few reasons why you should.
Social media advertising costs almost nothing—at most, you’ll pay for a few sponsored posts that will garner impressive returns on your investments. So as a go-to brand strategy, social media boosting is an intelligent and cost-effective choice.
Compared to traditional forms of digital marketing, promoting your brand on social media garners leads quickly and efficiently—you may not even know you’re doing it!
If you’re out of content ideas, you guessed it—you’ll never run out of them on social media. Instagram and Facebook are excellent sources for trending content that your brand can pick up on when ideas run dry.
You can tap into topics relevant to your target audience through social listening tactics and even obtain direct feedback.
Social media marketing is all for naught if you don’t know who you’re selling to. Ultimately, no two users consume social media the same way.
For instance, you’re more likely to engage with younger demographics on Instagram, whereas you might come across wealthier and more established consumers on platforms like Facebook or Linkedin.
By familiarizing yourself with the way your consumers speak and where they spend most of their time, your inbound marketing strategies will be more likely to succeed.
In line with creating comprehensive buyer personas, you’ll want to know where your customers spend all their time. While there is no hard and fast rule to how many platforms you should have at any given time, knowing which one to prioritize can do wonders for your bottom line.
Are you part of the fashion industry? If so, you might see more success on a platform like Instagram. If you run a tech company, YouTube is an excellent space for publishing instructionals and reviews.
Besides knowing where to post your content, you’ll also want to figure out when the best time to post. Note that these times will vary per platform, though noontime lunch breaks and after work hours tend to perform best.
You’ve heard it before—consumers love relevant and valuable content. They are also privy to trends. Spaces like Twitter and Instagram are best for keeping up with viral content and “newsjacking” trends.
One of the best ways to develop rapport with your followers is to engage in what matters to them. While you need not get overly political or opinionated, sharing your thoughts on a particular trend—be it on your social media pages or on a forum—can be the conversation starter your business needs.
Every industry hosts a niche of influencers, whether in fashion, beauty, technology, sports, or otherwise—and for a good reason. 61% of consumers admit making purchases advertised by influencers, so if you aren’t already collaborating with one, you put your brand awareness at risk of being shot.
Remember, influencers are in and of themselves experienced content creators—they know what works and what doesn’t. Collaborating with them also provides a unique opportunity to engage your following on multiple channels—just pick one relevant to your business.
Creating engaging content is the first step towards getting new followers interested in your brand. Following through is the next. There is no single way to make your content engaging—you might take a storytelling approach, publish user-generated content, or utilize interactive features like live streams, polls, and quizzes.
While it’s virtually impossible to reply to every comment and direct message on your social media, directly prompting your followers to respond can ignite valuable conversations.
While it’s natural to perceive related brands as your competition, collaborating with them can be a strategic move. Like collaborating with influencers, working with a business in the same niche can do wonders for your awareness campaigns.
To stay top-of-mind, avoid working with brands that are direct competitors. Instead, consider reaching out to those that sell complementary products and services—a little bit of give-and-take can go a long way.
If “generosity” isn’t yet one of your business’s principles, it should be. Consumers love free things, and while pricing yourself too low isn’t going to help you make a profit, hosting an occasional giveaway can make your popularity soar.
Just keep in mind to publish a clear-cut CTA—perhaps a follow spree giveaway or incentives for attending a virtual event.
While you can cruise on an unpaid social media strategy, investing in the occasional sponsored ad can help you reach new audiences quicker. In addition, Hyper-targeting your ads can help garner top-performing results without spending too much.
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