Are You Missing Out on These 5 Most Powerful Social Media Strategies?
Image by PixabayLarge and active following on social media is the biggest weapon of your digital marketing strategy.
Social media platforms have been flooded with users and user-generated content. Leveraging this to your advantage could help you attract new leads and improve your relationship with existing followers.
The choice of content largely matters because video content is ruling the social media, helping companies see a 41 percent increase in traffic.
However, video alone can’t determine the success of your social media strategy. There are other things that are equally important.
This article will talk about the 5 most influential strategies that can help you achieve your social media marketing goals efficiently.
1 – Create Different Content Types For Different Platforms
Not all content type is suitable for every social media platform. It’s normal to post entirely different things on different platforms or change your message between networks for any given post.
Since all the different social media platforms have their audience (who have their expectations for what they want to see on the network), you need to create content that caters to their needs. This will determine how successful your social media posts will be.
General guidelines to what people expect to see in the major social media platforms:
● Facebook: Videos and updates about your business.● Instagram: High-resolution photos, videos, and stories.● Twitter: Company news and GIFs.● LinkedIn: Company news and other professional content.● Pinterest: Step-by-step photo guides and infographics.
You don’t need to have photoshop skills to create an image or poster to upload on Instagram. Free tools like Piktochart allow you to create custom posters in seconds. All you need to do is choose from thousands of royalty-free images and add text. You can share the same image on Facebook and Twitter as well.
When it comes to sharing the same content to different platforms, you need to make it more contextual according to the platform. Have a look at how Gary Vaynerchuk, posted the same content on different platforms and edited the copy (caption) to make it contextual to the platform. In the first example, for Facebook, he started with “Facebook pls read this carefully and understand” but removed it when posting it on Instagram.
Source
2 – Convert Your Loyal Customers Into Brand Advocates
A 12% increase in advocacy can result in a 200% increase in revenue growth.
Once you turn your loyal customers into brand advocates they start supporting you (for free), through actions such as spreading the word about your brand. This will help you build trust with your audience far more quickly than you otherwise might.
The first step towards turning your loyal customers into brand advocates is by establishing such an emotional connection with them that they become more involved with your brand.
You can follow these steps to create brand advocates:
Deliver Proactive Services: It could include simple tasks such as integrating a live-chat option to assist them while they make a purchase or informing them about upcoming sales. One of the great hacks would be informing your customers “not-to-buy” anything a day before the sale and letting them know how they can save a lot if they buy the product the next day.
Ask for Feedbacks: After all, your customers are the ones using your products/services and they can tell you the exact thing about where you are going wrong. You can run polls on Instagram Stories or ask for feedback directly on Facebook. This will not only help you improve your product/services, but it will also make them feel valued (a crucial step in creating brand advocates).
Offer Loyalty Programs: Showing gratitude by offering a loyalty program with discounts or free products based on customer’s purchase history could demonstrate you’re loyal to your customers. As a result, they’re more likely to spread the word about your brand.
Source
Other steps to convert loyal customers into brand advocates include:
● Offer a referral program● Personalize customer experience● Engage with your followers on social media● Offer special offers to your customers on their birthday● Provide great customer service
It’s all about showing your customers that you care about them and they’ll take care of you.
3 – Tell Stories Instead of Focusing on Selling
Using social media to sell your products or services directly to your target audience will do more harm than good. Since most people spend time on social media to enjoy, learn new things, and read stories, you must focus on building a relationship with them before selling stuff.
The key to successful storytelling lies in creating relatable characters and situations that evoke emotional responses. In the end, people would want to know more about you and your brand and thus, they will view more posts and videos about you. Some of them will head directly to your website to understand what you do.
Airbnb twisted the most famous quote “Don’t judge a book by its cover” to suit their property, they said “Don’t judge a dome by its cover” and then went on to explain what the dome has. In the end, they said, “whether you come to relax or soul search, you’ll see the desert holds plenty of space to find what you’re looking for” to attract people who Joshua Tree for any purpose. The post received over 30k likes.
Source
Besides, it is also one of the best ways to convert your existing customers into loyal ones. They get to know why you do what you do in an interesting and relatable manner. You can include things such as how your product helped your customer and what problem does your product solves to make the story brand-centric.
4 – Leverage the Power of Social Listening
Social listening or social monitoring is an art of finding out what people are talking about your brand or your competitor or your industry in general. It could provide great information about your customers which you can then use to create real-time marketing campaigns.
Social media listening tools such as Hootsuite and Buffer can help you monitor social media platforms to know the issues and topics your target audience is talking about. Burger King used social listening to literally “break the Twitter”. It soon became the most liked Tweet of all time.
Source
Other benefits of social listening include:
● Generate high-quality leads.● Identify brand advocates and influencers.● Identify which social media platform is best for your business.● Offer better customer service (on social media by finding customer inquiries and interactions quickly).
Source
● Understand what’s working and what’s not (for your competitors).● Get feedback about your products or services.
Social listening enables you to engage with your audience in a way that can deliver maximum exposure for your business.
5 – Incorporate Influencer Marketing into Your Video Marketing
Influencer marketing is expected to become a $10 trillion market by 2020 while the video is the fastest growing form of content (with a 34.36% increase in engagement in YouTube). Incorporating influencer marketing into your video marketing can take your campaign to the next level.
It will expand your reach (people who know the influencer but haven’t heard of your brand) and will give you credibility (people trust influencers). This increase in visibility and recognition could help you generate more leads and revenue.
Sodastream, a company which manufactures at-home carbonation tool for consumers launched the “Join a Revolution” influencer campaign featuring Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, the actor who played “The Mountain” in Game of Thrones. The video went viral with more than 50 million views and 100,000 shares. In the video, they talked about how they are saving the planet from plastic waste while creating great sparkling water.
Source
One of the most common ways of combining influencer and video marketing is influencers using your product and telling people why it is better than that of your competitors’.
Final Thoughts
Social networks can boost sales and increase brand awareness if used efficiently. Creating different content for different platforms will help you increase engagement.
Put efforts to convert your most loyal customers into brand advocates and prioritize storytelling. Also, use social listening tools to know what people are talking about your brand or industry on social media platforms and then curate content accordingly.
Secret cameras, hacking passwords, Facebook after death and more: Tech Q&A
Each week, I receive tons of questions from my listeners about tech concerns, new products and all things digital.
Sometimes, choosing the most interesting questions to highlight is the best part of my job. This week, I received questions about secret cameras, hacking passwords, Facebook after death and more.
Do you have a question you’d like to ask me?
Tap or click here to email me directly.
Candid cameras
Q: I thought I heard you say that there is a company selling spy cameras built into tombstones. Do I need a hearing aid, or is that true?
A: You heard correctly. Nowadays, a dedicated spy can listen to conversations, and even capture footage, of the passersby in a graveyard. This realistic-looking headstone is just one of the many covert spy gadgets currently available from a particular government contractor.
Cameras are now so small and easy to conceal, and micro SD cards are so compact, that you can add a spying device to almost anything — including in your car keys. This is great news for law enforcement, which may need to document a confession secretly, but it might be a little unnerving to the rest of us since a myriad of devices is just as available to creeps. Tap or click here to see five hidden spy cams you won’t believe exist.
Posthumous social media
Q: What happens to our Facebook and Instagram accounts when we die? Who gets to control these accounts?
A: Social media uses a lot of intelligent algorithms, but it’s very common for platforms to outlive their uses, attracting “likes” and new posts from oblivious friends for years after the funeral. Not surprisingly, companies like Facebook and Instagram have come up with settings that are sensitive to your last requests.
So when the time comes, and you already had the wherewithal to make decisions about your online life, your social media accounts can be programmed to your liking. Tap or click here for post-death Facebook and Instagram settings you should take care of now.
Free newsletters
Q: I’d like to get your tech newsletters. Is there a charge?
A: They’re free. Signing up for these alerts means you will be the first to know about major data breaches, widespread malware and popular phishing tactics, plus what to do about them. I have newsletters that appeal to different interests so you only receive the content that is most relevant to your personal technoverse.
Whether you want to read about Apple Only, Android Updates, Cool Finds or Small-Biz Tips, you can almost always find a newsletter tailored to your preferences.
Tap or click here to subscribe to my free newsletters. Thank you for signing up!
Hacking passwords
Q: I want access to my husband’s Facebook, Twitter and other online accounts. Can I grab all his passwords from a web browser? How?
A: I am going to assume that you have permission to use these accounts and are not just snooping on your husband. I’m also going to assume there is some legitimate reason he can’t just tell you his passwords, like he’s traveling off the grid, or he doesn’t remember where they are.
As it happens, you may be able to find his passwords through the web browser, depending on which one he uses. A password is often buried in the browser’s code, but if you know how to access that code, and what to look for, you may be able to find all his passwords in a jiffy. Tap or click here for the insider trick to getting someone’s passwords.
Hacked camera
Q: I heard that Ring video cameras were getting hacked. How do I make sure that this cannot happen to me?
A: You’re right that Ring attracted criticism for hacked devices. To prevent these kinds of hacks from happening again, the company has created a new privacy dashboard and enhanced its two-factor authorization.
With these improvements, the vast majority of customers shouldn’t have a problem. But it’s an important lesson in how helpful tools can turn into destructive weapons in the wrong hands. If you already user Ring — or any similar camera — I highly recommend you update your device and software as soon as possible. Tap or click here for essential steps to lock down your Ring camera.
What digital lifestyle questions do you have? Call Kim’s national radio show and tap or click here to find it on your local radio station. You can listen to or watch The Kim Komando Show on your phone, tablet, television or computer. Or tap or click here for Kim’s free podcasts.
To grow your customer base, pretend your CU is a campfire
Imagine the chill of the air at your back, softened by the crackling heat of a campfire before you. Sitting in a circle of community members, your eyes turn toward the best storyteller in your group. You settle in, content to be among your friends and eager to hear a new tale.
Humans learn facts by reading spreadsheets or bullet points, but they come to understand their world through stories. From an evolutionary perspective, it makes sense; we’ve had PowerPoint for several decades, but we’ve been sitting around fire pits for thousands and thousands of years. It’s in our blood to love listening to people tell stories because stories speak to us on the deepest level.
In addition to our natural interest in stories, online communication–especially social media–prioritizes real stories from real customers. This is FANTASTIC NEWS for credit unions because you and your colleagues hear stories from your customers EVERY DAY that big banks never will. Here are just a few stories I’ve heard from my credit union clients:
Imagine seeing these stories on your social media feeds; stories involving a real customer or local non-profit will connect your customers to you in ways a low interest rate or other special offer never will. So let’s gather stories! Here are three concrete steps to build share-worthy, like-worthy, engaging content that will garner you new members and higher wallet share among your current members:
Key Players
While collecting stories shouldn’t be the responsibility of just one person, or even one department, it helps to have your leaders create and support a culture where stories are shared openly. Ask your CEO or CMO to convey–and even lead by example–the efforts to collect stories from customers and local partners at your credit union.
Once leadership is on board, identify the people at your credit union who most connect with your current customers and giving programs. These people will become your greatest asset! Empower them to collect and share their experiences with you.
First Item on Every Meeting Agenda
One way to increase the number of stories you have is to use the first ten minutes of staff meetings to tell stories. Rather than leading with an informational update, give everyone a chance to talk about their favorite moment from the past week, someone who made an impression on them, or something else. Not only will this increase your exposure to great stories, it will also connect all staff members to your credit union’s mission to delight your customers. Designate a marketing staff person to collect those stories so they can be shared on social media.
Automate Collection Systems
Sometimes staff members hear great stories from members, but they aren’t sure what to do with them. Create a hardcopy form and distribute it widely or, even better, create an online form that will allow colleagues to easily submit and share stories. Tools like Google Forms are great for this!
My favorite high school math teacher, before handing out a test, would remind us to “show our work.”What did he mean by “show your work?”Even if you didn’t get the answer right, he wanted to see how you got to the solution. He wanted to see how you tackled solving a problem.
I believe a credit union’s most passionate current and potential customers are interested in seeing you show your work through story telling. You can now add story gathering to your digital strategy to begin earning more members than ever before.
Comments
Post a Comment