5 Social Media Marketing Tips To Engage Your Audience

Social media has become a hub for advertising and marketing, brands are receiving mass amounts of engagement as well as being able to directly connect with their audience. The biggest attraction to social media marketing is the open environment that it offers. Brands can interact with their audience daily, on Instagram for example, posts and stories are direct attention grabbers.

Posting on your Instagram daily whether it be posts, reels, or stories, is a portion of their day that your audience dedicates to you every time you post. Think about that, your audience has a moment every day where they focus on you. Who wouldn’t take advantage of that? To get the best out of this opportunity, make sure it is something that will interest them and entice them to look more into what you offer. 

From the perspective of a consumer, brands with a strong social media presence are valuable and will receive the attention they deserve for the volume they produce. To put this statement in perspective, just over 70% of consumers agree that social media is a major driver of brand awareness. This statistic is just in America, social media gives outreach to countries all over the world, you can imagine how much higher this percentage is for that market.

If you want to make your organization appeal more to your audience, then I suggest you look at applying these 5 tips to improve your ability to do so.

Get Active With Responding

Brands always assume that the key to publicity is going viral and generating mass amounts of likes/views. While this is of course a great situation to be in if you’re fortunate, however, social media is a direct access point to engaging with your audience. This means brands tend to use social media as a megaphone when it’s meant to be a walkie-talkie. Get in the comments, respond to direct messages, this is a personal touch that shows the audience you care.

Develop a Personality

Brands engage in Twitter wars occasionally and it is incredibly entertaining. These reflect the personality of the brand, for example, you often see Wendy’s on Twitter being very sassy towards other brands. Or brands responding brutally honest to customer complaints in a funny way. These exchanges bring in a lot of traffic on Twitter and are yet another opportunity for your audience to focus on your brand for free. Now I’m not saying go on Twitter and start bashing other brands, but find a way to incorporate some witty comments that reflect characteristics for how you want to be perceived. 

Use Relevant and Trending Topics

Post about things going on (that are not political) for example if you are a catering service post on National Fettuccine Alfredo Day a picture of some Fettuccine Alfredo and a clever comment. Doing this not only draws attention to your services but also demonstrates that you are fun and in tune with the world. There's always something trending, use your creativity to find a way for these trends to work for you online. 

Use Appropriate Visuals

While you’re keeping up with relevant trends, using images that capture the message you are trying to send drives engagement through the roof. If you utilize your creativity and develop something that gets lots of shares, likes, or retweets, you are putting your brand in the spotlight. Develop something eye-catching or funny, something that will entice someone to say “oh my friends have to see this”. The same rule goes for promotions your brand may be having, if you are a shoe business and you’re having a back-to-school sale, incorporate something on campus. It is the little things that make a big difference, again it’s not about going viral, you simply want to communicate with your audience.

Ask For Feedback 

A sometimes overlooked aspect for brands on social media is being able to ask your audience for reviews and responding to them directly. Believe it or not, you can respond to the negative comments with positivity to show your audience that you care. Furthermore, this will benefit your brand's image by demonstrating that you engage with your audience and value feedback. Getting feedback will allow you to adjust your marketing strategies. You can find new perspectives from your audience and then tailor your approach as you go. 

Conclusion

Social media entails the same principle as the genuine relationships you have day-to-day. You are directly communicating with your audience, engaging in exchanges, and sharing a moment in your day with that individual. From a brand perspective, it is in your best interest to make as much of your audience satisfied as possible. It’s impossible to please everyone and there will be negativity, but you are still representing the brand, respond to situations with that in mind. Social media today creates opportunities that we never had 10-15 years ago. This form of communication and ability to connect with audiences is going to grow more over the coming years. Is your brand prepared to capitalize in this market?

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