Social Media top 5 for You

Today Social Media is the top resource to connect with friends and family with ease; no matters how far they are. A room for them to share photos, videos and other snippets of their lives.

But those ages are long passed, and social media is now so much more than just that.

Now, social media makes an essential part of both B2B and B2C marketing. The likes of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn have become retail platforms, product discovery platforms and even customer service platforms. These channels offer a budget way to help you connect with your customers, grow brand awareness, increase leads and, crucially, business.

Given how necessary social media is to your overall marketing strategy, let’s take a look at five ways you can enhance engagement over your channels…

• Prove yourself as a concerned leader

Social media is an outstanding way to prove yourself as the go-to source for information and news on concerns associated with your industry. By promoting your concerning leadership pieces across your social channels, you can show your expertise, starts communications and arrange your content in front of different people.

And if you sincerely know your stuff, people are much more likely to comment on, like and even share your posts!

Channels such as Facebook and Twitter are also a great place to join in with other people’s communications. For example, you can share any content that is relevant to your business besides your own comment to add value. You could also connect with social communities such as Facebook groups to seek customer feedback or get important customer insights.

Frank Cooper, Pepsico says “You as a brand have to be completely confident about your position because you will get criticism. You will have a negative reaction. If you didn’t get a negative reaction, that means you’re standing neutral and you have no point of view. Who wants to participate in that?”

• Join connected influencers

Customers are increasingly seeking reviews from people they believe before buying products or signing up to services. Now, the range of trust has expanded to people they follow on social media, too — extending from celebrities and industry experts to bloggers.

By sharing your content with their audience, these influencers can support you achieve a number of marketing goals such as lead generation, brand awareness and credibility. However, many small or medium-sized businesses don’t have the resources to go after the named influencers.

Instead, it’s worth joining with a network of small, relevant and niche influencers who have built up a loyal and invested audience. These types of influencers get higher engagement rates and cost much less than the big names.

• Nurture user-generated content

If influencer marketing is quite out of your budget, then user-generated content provides an awesome ('free!') alternative. In fact, some brands rely entirely on user-generated content for their social media channels.

For example, you could go for a marketing campaign that boosts and drives your audience to create and share content, tagging your brand for a chance to win a prize or be featured on your social profile's'.

User-generated content is deemed much more trustworthy than branded content and offers an awesome opportunity to involve with your audience. So, irrespective of how you want to nourish it, you should have a place for user-generated content in your marketing mix.

• Get creative with momentary content

In today’s fast-paced world, people’s attentiveness spans are short. They want to engage, bite-sized content that they can digest easily on their mobile devices. And they want it now.

This is why momentary content such as Instagram stories, which is only available for a short span, has become so attractive 'and addictive'. As the videos are usually created on the spot, they give viewers with more genuine, real-time insights. Plus, since stories fade quickly, they’re a great way to gain on your customer’s fear of missing out.

Stories help to encourage and instantly grow your engagement, and there is a huge range of possibilities in the format. For an instance, you can attach polls to your stories or ask questions that can be answered with a simple click.

• Customize your viewers/readers targeting

People are much more likely to involve with your content if they sense it is relevant to them. You can’t exactly customize your social media content for different audiences. But you can customize your ads for as many target segments as you like.

Social media platforms have begun rendering advanced targeting and customization options, so you can guarantee you’re showing the right ads to the right people at the right times. Remember, it’s not just about how many people you reach — it’s about whom you reach.

If you don’t desire to fork out for advertising, geo-tagging your social posts and stories are a simple way to reach audiences in your area. Users can search for posts from short distance or specific areas, so your content will show up in their search results if you add your location.