Social Media Marketing Part One: Engagement and Partnership

If your company or brand has already embraced social media as the marketing platform giant that it is, then this blog post is mere vindication. However, if you are not one of those brands, we are going to attempt to change your mind. No matter your business or industry, you and your brand are a good fit for social media marketing. We are going to convince you over the next few weeks, with compelling information, that social media marketing is worth it!

AWARENESS

Awareness is key.  There is no other platform that puts your brand directly in front of hundreds of thousands of consumers, with a minimal budget (compared to other platforms, such as TV and Radio). While, in the past, you have had to rely on faith that consumers are looking or listening, with social media you receive palpable, measurable and sticky exposure. Which leads to our next point on what makes social media marketing stand out from the pack, engagement.

TWO-WAY ENGAGEMENT

Unlike traditional platforms, social media allows your audience to participate in two-way communication. This means your brand can now communicate directly with consumers, find its niche (which could end up being different than what you thought), and give the brand a personality. Facebook explains, “As people rely more on messaging apps to communicate with their friends and family, there’s a growing expectation that they will be able to communicate with businesses in instant, expressive, convergent ways.” Make things easy for your consumers, if an experience purchasing your product left the consumer feeling frustrated, we all know their likelihood to purchase from or work with you again is low.

Marketers and advertisers alike, know to never scoff at two-way engagement, because of it’s worth. Consumers having another level of involvement can open wide the loyalty door. Studies have shown brands engaging in conversations with their followers are more likely to gain brand loyalty from those individuals and those who follow brands on social media are more loyal them. This loyalty leads to a partnership. This is when your social media followers begin to personally invest in your business and brand. Re-sharing brand content, replying directly to the brand, and interacting with what brands are sharing are some of the ways you will see users react when they buy into your brand.

BRAND LOYALTY

Followers love witnessing a brand come to life and have a personality, it continues to build brand loyalty. Having the feeling that you know who you are purchasing from only increases the likelihood of additional purchases. Another plus for your consumers or customers is how easy it is for them to contact you. Social media eliminates hurdles for your consumers to jump through. With brand loyalty comes brand ambassadors, someone who loves your brand enough to tell others how awesome it is.

According to Forbes.com, “…studies have shown that social media has a 100% higher lead-to-close rate than outbound marketing, and a higher number of social media followers tends to improve trust and credibility in your brand, representing social proof. As such, simply building your audience in social media can improve conversion rates on your existing traffic.”

Leveraging social media properly starts with understanding how to communicate within it. Brands produce content for their audience and ensure it is contextual for the platform you are using. This is where a brands marketing strategy should start. Adopting the perfect social media marketing strategy is something SevenVerbs excels at. We can be your advocate for building the perfect approach for your content and desired results.