Ever since Facebook started growing and other social media platforms came into the picture, advertisers and brands jumped on the bandwagon. Soon, we were being inundated with ads for home decor, Mountain Dew, or baby wipes, depending on what we searched for or how we interacted on the internet. Anything in excess is detrimental, and unsurprisingly people have started getting tired of ads. This is why it is important for brands to start thinking out of the box when trying to promote their products and services.
Understanding New-age Social Media and Various Ways to Use It
In an age when we are saturated with information, how do you make your product stand out, without hard-selling it? How do you stand apart from your competitors, each of whom has an almost identical marketing strategy? Thankfully, the advantages of social media aren’t just restricted to its advertising capabilities. There are many ways to use social media besides direct advertising. Here are a few –
For Social Selling
Being full of vendors, social media platforms are now slowly morphing into shopping sites too. And unlike your regular eCommerce sites, here people air their grievances on the brand page itself. Hence it is very important for a business to have trained sales reps who maintain active brand profiles, build trust, forge partnerships, and foster relationships with the company’s clients online. Only then can they expect to make more direct sales off their page. For instance, if you are a consumer looking to purchase a TREK bicycle off the company FB page, you could try interacting with them on messenger. If TREK’s marketing strategy is good, they should have someone on the other end who can help you make a purchase on the TREK Facebook page itself. Brands should also not shy away from giving away freebies or discounts or even loyalty points if customers make purchases online.
To Build Goodwill
Nothing helps more in the digital age than word-of-mouth. Social media is full of people making recommendations about products and services. As a brand, social proof is a great way for boosting conversion rates. Testimonials, reviews, and more go a long way. Social media is a goldmine for this because customers and brand advocates are usually willing to support the brands they love. There are many social listening tools and sentiment analysis methods that crawl social media looking for conversations or mentions regarding your brands and keywords related to them. Once you find some positive reviews, you can always take screenshots of them to put on your landing page on your website, to build goodwill among those who visit your website.
To Create a Brand Story to Attract Consumers
Story sells and is a great way to build a steady audience, but brands must take care not to sound preachy. As a brand, your main objective is to capture the audience’s attention. Whether you want to be informative, inspirational, or impart education is up to you. For example, Nike. Since 2018, it’s had 318 social media profiles online and counting, and is one of the most followed brands online. Its content is inspirational and revolves around a certain lifestyle and way of thinking. This drives people to Nike’s philosophy, and consequently to its stores and products. At the same time, Nike pulled all its products from eCommerce stores and started retailing directly from its website. This helped the brand funnel its most important customers right where it wanted them. Today, Nike’s Facebook page is a hub for its online presence and activities. Apart from being a normal fan page, it has customizable tabs linking directly to its Instagram page and a support page. Other links take users to Nike’s website, and there’s even a ‘Shop Now’ CTA button that takes users to a store.
To Provide Excellent After-Sales Service
The good and bad thing about social media is that grievances can be aired immediately, and they can spread quickly. Since 50% of customers buy from companies that they think provide good customer service, it’s important to ensure that testimonials spotlight this. As mentioned earlier, a sales representative to help drive sales is great but what if someone isn’t happy with what you’ve provided? Even a huge company like Amazon has employees on its social media handles, combing comments and helping consumers. This is what makes a big difference in helping current customers bring in new ones. If you are sloppy with after-sales service, an unresolved complaint can quickly snowball into something untoward, as various brands have unfortunately learned over the years. Even the smallest gesture matters. Like this instance of a steakhouse giving a customer a free surprise meal, something that would’ve gained them a lot of goodwill.
To Connect with Influencers
Today every dollar spent on influencers has a return on investment of more than $5. People look up to celebrities and personalities, making marketing easier with the right connections. For example, NBA and NFL athletes in the USA are widely followed across all social media platforms, and some of them are influential voices across Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Many of them do promotional posts for brands for a fee. However, you don’t always need to shell out a top dollar in every case. People also heed the advice of local influencers, as they believe that such influencers may have a genuine interest in the product that they’re reviewing. In any case, if you have a brand that manufactures sports hydration drinks, you have the option of doing a post with a pro athlete and spending thousands of dollars or roping in a local influencer for a slightly lesser amount.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, everything your brand does on social media does not necessarily have to be an ad. While marketing budgets and ad spends are no doubt important, it is also vital to build a brand ‘presence’ online. Your brand needs to have a ‘personality or a ‘voice’ that attracts people. Read this blog about the evolution of content marketing, to get a clear idea of how to make a great content strategy and reach out to your audience.
