As social networking users continue to rise significantly, with more and more people seeing it as an excellent tool for connecting with others and creating more meaningful relationships, brands would be foolish not to take advantage of this knowledge. Successful businesses know that they need to be where the people are, and right now, social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are where everyone is.
Traditional media is slowly losing its impact over consumers. People are getting smarter, and they’re not falling for gimmicky jingles or celebrity endorsements anymore. They’re doing their research before purchasing any product or service. More and more, they’re going online to see what feedback they can garner before making a decision.
So what does this mean for brands? It means that they need to be on the lookout for what people are saying about their brand. It means that they need to start interacting with their consumers, instead of merely relying on their customer support to address any concerns. And the best way to do these things is through social media.
Here are some tips for using social media effectively in your brand marketing campaign.
Traditional media is slowly losing its impact over consumers. People are getting smarter, and they’re not falling for gimmicky jingles or celebrity endorsements anymore. They’re doing their research before purchasing any product or service. More and more, they’re going online to see what feedback they can garner before making a decision.
So what does this mean for brands? It means that they need to be on the lookout for what people are saying about their brand. It means that they need to start interacting with their consumers, instead of merely relying on their customer support to address any concerns. And the best way to do these things is through social media.
Here are some tips for using social media effectively in your brand marketing campaign.
- Provide great and useful content
A great way to start the conversation about your brand is to provide great, useful content to your audience. You want people to be interested enough to participate in the discussions. You want them to keep coming back because they really enjoy being part of the conversation.
Though games and promotional gimmicks may work well in the beginning, the people may slowly lose interest over time if they don’t really offer much value. With great content, people will always want to hear what you’re saying, and they’ll generate additional content for your brand by their participation.
- Monitor and address what your audience is saying about your brand
Using social media effectively in marketing your brand means monitoring and addressing what your consumers are saying about you and your products. The thing about social media is how incredibly viral its effect is, and one small thing could easily develop into a huge problem if left unaddressed.
Twitter, for example, has an excellent search feature where you can see who’s mentioning your brand in their tweets. Positive comments are always great, but negative comments may make your business suffer, so it’s important that you address these immediately.
- Engage your audience in ongoing dialogue
Unlike traditional media where you typically broadcast your message and hope that it reaches your audience, with social media, you can engage in ongoing dialogue with your consumers.
In addition to being interested in the product or service you’re offering, more and more customers are becoming interested in knowing the people and personalities behind your company, and this is why they enjoy engaging in two-way conversations.
A good idea is to encourage your employees to blog about your brand. Of course, it’s important that you really treat your employees well, since they can actually be your best or worst brand advocates. When customers read these blogs, they become interested in knowing more about your company, as they get to see the true personas behind the brand.
Social media is the new place for brand marketing, but it’s important that you understand how it works so that you can effectively use it to form a good relationship with your audience and promote your brand.