With so many sources of information available to communicate with consumers, having a good social strategy with compelling content will ensure your brand reaches consumers more effectively and precisely.
In today’s world, online innovation and an exponential rise in social media usage have reduced traditional communicative barriers, whilst increasing transparency in communications. However, being a social brand is not only about being present on social networks; it is about starting conversations with consumers and providing them with useful information about your brand and offerings. In order to be successful across numerous devices and social platforms, your brand content needs to be device neutral and completely ‘frictionless’. How are you making the most of your social potential?
Social media is a great platform for content sharing, which enables you to reach a diverse and international audience. While more than 400 million people use Facebook daily, Twitter maintains 100 million active users and Youtube reaches over 3 billion videos viewed everyday. With such impressive numbers, it is surprising that just 50% of social network users are connected to brands, and only 38% of people are likely to post comments about a brand. So what strategies are you using to discover what your consumers are talking about on their social networks?
In our blog article Why do the majority of Social Media campaigns fail? we discuss the best strategies to harness your social media campaign. Consumers only follow your brand on social networks to get direct personal benefits. Therefore, an innovative and unique approach is imperative to suit this new, overly social outlook . If you want to increase the social value of your brand, you need to to understand what makes consumers want to share things and work hard to deliver relevant content and experiences that your consumers will find useful.
Offline brand experiences are the main online conversation starters. Experiential marketing is increasingly seen as an excellent platform to socialise with your consumers in both real and online worlds. By offering your consumers a positive social experience with your brand, you can have a high impact on information sharing and buying intention. From live events to free givaways, PR stunts, interactive games, and brand challenges to name a few, experiential allows truly social interactions, whilst delivering content and experiences that consumers will want to share with their social networks, thus advocating your brand for free.
Recent examples of successful brand interactions have relied upon the socially viral powers of the internet, to great effect. Carlsberg exemplifies this perfectly, integrating elements of surprise and humour into their latest That calls for a Carlsberg viral video. Challenging unsuspecting cinema-goers to take a seat in a screen packed with intimidating looking ‘bad boys’, those brave enough to sit down were rewarded with cheers, applause and bottles of Carlsberg. When posted online, the video received a fantastic response with 3 million views in the first week, spreading exponentially around the net through social media sharing.
Ultimately, rather than trying to socialise across every channel, by focusing upon two-way communications, technological incorporation, and appropriate platform targeting, you can successfully integrate offline face-to-face experiential activities with online social media communication. Your brand needs to demonstrate a willingness to actively listen and respond to consumer enquiries in real time. You can develop genuine relationships with your consumers by starting conversations with them and creating engaging content that will challenge consumers to think differently about your brand. Whatever the format of content you decide to use, if it is a blog, microsite, viral video, SMS, mobile app or email, you need to recognise and appreciate the best social platforms available to meet your objectives, and develop a consistent social strategy for content sharing across multiple-platforms. The opportunities to perfect your social interaction with consumers are endless.
Hotcow is a multi-award winning brand engagement agency specialising in experiential marketing. Our mission is simple: to help brands understand the power of “experience-based marketing” and offer expertise in how to develop, plan and execute campaigns in the right way to get the right results. For more information or a free consultation contact us.