Social media marketing is the hallmark of any solid digital marketing plan. Without it, you miss an invaluable opportunity to connect directly with your target demographic on a large scale. If you need help with social media for your business, consider these tips to get you through communications, branding, and story-telling.
Help With Social Media Communications
Social media is a medium you can use to communicate with your audience. Keep your current customers up to date on the latest news with the business and drive new traffic to your website and brick-and-mortar store by keeping an open line of communication across your social media platforms.
1. Listen to Your Followers
Listening to your followers means actively chasing their opinions about your projects and considering their thoughts when making choices about your company. For example, if you have an overwhelming number of followers complaining about slow restocking times, address that issue immediately. Most importantly, let your customers know you heard that concern and have a plan to remedy the problem.
2. Respond to Customer Reviews
Customer reviews can make or break a company. A vast number of consumers admit to being heavily influenced by customer reviews before making a purchase. Unfortunately, people are also far more likely to take to your social media pages and make complaints in the comments. It's an intelligent way to get a quick response, but it can be damaging.
Always respond to comments, whether they are positive or negative. Check your Facebook reviews daily. Customers use Facebook to review businesses as much as Google and other online review sites. Show compassion and generosity to customers who had a bad experience, and be genuinely thankful for those who leave positive reviews.
Help With Social Media Branding
Branding is essential to your business identity, and once you define your brand, social media is the most effective way to present it to the public.
3. Choose the Appropriate Platforms
After you form your business plan and conduct market research, you should have a target audience with specific identifiers:
Age and gender
Economic status
Career choices
Consumer habits
Once you can distinguish the ideal customer for your business, you can choose the social platforms that will reach them.
For example, TikTok is perfect for reaching a younger audience. However, Instagram and Facebook act almost as a webpage for your business. Many consumers will visit those pages before going to your actual website.
4. Be Authentic
Be as open as possible about yourself and your brand. Since the advent of the internet, businesses face increasing pressure to present their company identity to the public with complete transparency. Be as authentic as possible. Tell the storey of your business, show the behind-the-scenes, and make it personal.
Sustainability is a topic consumers take very seriously. Be open about your efforts to run a sustainable business and show that action through your social media content.
5. Be Visually Consistent
If you need help with social media for your company, the first step is to create visual consistency, a basic in branding. Start with the fundamentals:
Create a social media brand guide with a set of rules that represent the way you want your brand to present online.
Establish a visual library where all content creators can find your approved presentation, including every version of your company logo, videos, fonts, colours, and images.
Select the tone you intend to use on social media and include adjectives to define it in your branding guidelines. Are you informative but not condescending, fun but not silly, or intelligent but not too serious?
Use templates to keep your posts and content visually similar.
Finally, developing an approval process is the key to consistency. Assign a team member or hire a marketing professional to compare your branding guide to every piece of content developed. If you have multiple parties creating content across different platforms, develop a training programme to ensure they all follow the same patterns.
6. Choose Content That Fits Your Brand
You already know to create content that visually meets your branding requirements. However, what kind of content is appropriate for your brand? For example, if your business is in the food and beverage industry, you can show your business in operation. Use reels to show the kitchen in action and showcase new items on the menu.
If you sell vintage items, make weekly or daily drops showing your latest finds. Your content is everything, providing you with an opportunity to present the transparency mentioned above and create brand loyalty. It allows consumers to get to know you better.
Help With Social Media Engagement Through Story-Telling
For businesses, telling stories has binding power. It allows the audience to engage and identify with you, attaching something personal to your product. It can be an integral part of a digital marketing plan.
7. Make Your Stories Memorable
As the business owner, you can share the company's origin story, but how you do that can vary among platforms. Instagram is all about creating something visually appealing that captures the audience's eyes. Facebook tells a more authentic story. On both platforms, customers are more likely to engage in the comments. It is your opportunity to hook them with your stories and reel them in with your responses.
8. Use Visuals in Your Story-Telling
Quality visuals can do wonders for your brand identity. For example, a carefully crafted Instagram page should be visually stimulating and tell a story about your company's commitment to creativity. This is part of your visual branding guidelines. Ask yourself if every photo works together in visual synchronicity, whether it's through a theme or just a filter.
Help With Social Media You Can Use
Carry these tips with you as you build your social media presence or revamp your online identity. All businesses need an occasional brand boost, and you can incorporate any of these tips at any point. Remember, getting help with social media is an ongoing process, evolving with marketing trends. Learn more about your social media and advertising needs. Contact Ad. Venture Creative today and discuss the digital marketing packages.