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Leveraging social media is a relatively inexpensive way to boost your branding. It can, however, also tank your brand if wielded unwisely

In the past, traditional advertising, because of high costs, forces engagement to be both concise and compacted into a package loaded with contrived salesy talk. For example, if you are selling a product and have the budget for only 15 seconds on TV, you can only afford to splice in bite-sized information such as the price of the product, and probably, superfluous hyperbole about how it’s the best thing since sliced bread.

But social media platforms are free from those constraints, so it’s time to rewrite your playbook. Refrain from just bombarding your audience with sales pitches or discounts. Instead, engage them as if they were your friend: create a community, foster discussions about similar products – it costs next to nothing.

For example, if your company manufactures audiophile speakers, your page could cross-promote other audiophile products such as remasters of classic music albums, or audiophile music players. In addition, you could also post tributes to well-known musicians, therefore, stimulating discussions among your audience.

Also Read: There is social media and then there is Facebook; company releases data of dominance

At the end of the day, increased audience engagement with your social media channel may translate into stronger brand loyalty.

1. Leverage social media tools

Most social media users rarely give a thought about how their feeds are shared, who reads them, etcetera; their engagement with the platform starts and ends at the interface.

But for brands, it is not sufficient to sit back and let the social media wizards take the wheel. You need to take dissect and analyse the science behind your social media statistics to harness its full potential.
As the world shifts towards a more Internet-dependent economy, companies are increasingly leveraging social media platforms to boost their branding. These tools are not only inexpensive compared to traditional ad spending such as TV ads, but can also be a more effective and efficient means of reaching a large scale audience instantaneously.

Social media can, however, be a double edged sword. On one hand, you have access to a pool of about 1.8 billion individuals, on the other hand, well, a lot of people and their friends are going to hear about it if you make a boo-boo on your company’s Facebook feed.

So how do you stay on top of your social media game, and cultivate a hip and approachable image? Here are 5 quick tips.

2. Treat your social media account as if it were a sociable human being

Social media platforms represent a paradigm shift in the dynamics of customer/audience engagement.

To do that, there is a whole array of third party social media tools available.

Also Read: 15 Asia-based social media startups you need to know

Toronto-based social media analytics and insights company Sysomos is one example. They offer a portfolio of powerful tools that enable companies to measure and report social media success across earned, owned and paid channels; harness the power of their communities; and find conversations and topics that matter most to their business.

Using these tools allow brands to better understand their customer base and maximise their resources.

3. Think before you post

This one is really a matter of common sense, yet many big companies are guilty of committing social media gaffes from time to time.

As rule of thumb, it is really best to avoid blasting out messages that might provoke racial, religious, cultural, and gender sensitivities.

Even if you are a young hotshot social media manager, and think you have your thumb on the pulse of the cultural zeitgeist, it would be prudent to at least gather opinions from amongst your colleagues.

Otherwise, trawl through various news website or social media sites regularly to understand what might constitute a faux pas.

If you are engaging your customer base on a particular issue, always be polite. Avoid impulsive, snarky and sarcastic remarks even if it is an inane complaint you have to address.

4. Test different strategies

Designing the optimal social media campaign requires a lot of testing and patience.

The time-tested methodology of A/B testing will be crucial. To illustrate this: if you wish to launch a promotional ad for a new product, you could test it out with three variants of the message or image, then analyse which ad generated the most engagement or hits.

While you need to ensure that the message is consistent across all social media channels, you also need to tailor the content to the differing formats. For example, a post on Instagram might require more visuals than text to convey the same message.

5. Stay ahead of the latest social media technology

Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter may be the head honchos of the social media arena, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t new ones carving out their own niche.

Also Read: Top five social media predictions for 2016

Keeping abreast of new and emerging social media platforms will put you in good stead to reach out to more of your target audience.

For example, the hip kids used to go on Facebook because, well, it was the only one available. Now there are a plethora of alternatives out there vying for their attention. These include popular messaging app Line, and Snapchat.

But of course, not all of them may have beneficial to your brand image, so it’s important to test out and find out which ones are frivolous and which one generates actual value.

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Disclosure: This article was produced by the e27 content marketing team, sponsored by Sysomos.

The post To avoid scuttling your social media image, heed these 5 key tips appeared first on e27.

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