While calculating social ROI isn’t always easy because likes and shares don’t translate directly into sales, there’s still no excuse for letting social marketing lag by the wayside. The most recognizable big brands are the ones killing it on social because they know it ultimately pays off in brand awareness, customer loyalty, leads or all three.
Small brands sometimes shy away from social marketing because while social campaigns might not cost money, they can require a hefty commitment of time – not to mention creative thinking. But when you consider that people across demographics now spend one seventh of their waking moments using social media and that YouTube reaches more people than cable TV, social simply can’t be ignored. The key is making sure your time and energy aren’t wasted and you can do that by checking out winning social strategies employed by big brands like these:
Red Bull: What’s one thing you’ll almost never see in a Red Bull post? The actual product. You might see the logo on one of its hundreds of YouTube videos – the most popular of which have tens of millions of views – or its custom Spotify channel or a promo for the latest episode of the Sheckler Sessions on Red Bull TV. What else won’t you see? Sales pitches. Red Bull keeps engagement high without sacrificing brand awareness by putting itself out there as the promoter versus the product being promoted. If a sport is extreme, it’s probably being brought to you by Red Bull.
See if this strategy works for your brand by silencing the sales pitch on social and concentrating on feeding your fans and followers content that will amuse and excite them. Make your brand one they want to be associated with.
T-Mobile: First off, this brand is leveraging social media in its customer service in a big way. Reps answer close to 90% of all questions asked across the brand’s social channels with a focus on getting people answers ASAP. In that sense social media is definitely a two-way street for T-Mobile. When T-Mobile creates conversations around new devices, like the new iPhone, it’s more than a sales pitch. At the same time it’s turning fans into hardcore brand ambassadors with hashtag campaigns like #breakupletter, #unleash, #nocontract and #UncarrierAmped, which leverage fan-created content to spread the word about new service and product options. This word of mouth approach to social has been behind a significant number of new subscribers. In fact, T-Mobile has enjoyed nine consecutive quarters of adding a million customers or more.
You can make this strategy your own by using customer emotions – positive or negative – to your advantage. Give fans opportunities to sing your praises and treat every complaint as a chance to demonstrate how responsive you are.
Taco Bell: With a presence on just about every social network you can think of, this brand’s social strategy can be summed up thusly: a picture is worth a thousand words. Or maybe a picture of Chucks-wearing hipsters enjoying tacos is worth a thousand likes. In fact, glance at your feed quickly and you might mistake a Taco Bell post for one of your best friend’s Instagram snapshots. Don’t think a Burrito Supreme can be on trend? Think again. And this commitment to the visual has gained the company more than 10 million fans on Facebook alone. But don’t discount the power of words. Taco Bell’s team has adopted an irreverent, playful tone in its responses to comments, and fans love it.
Assuming your audience is as young and hip as Taco Bell’s, have fun with your social presence. Next time someone says they love your brand respond by suggesting they “Put a ring on it.” Post plenty of pictures and see what happens when you get silly.
Even if you only have a few hours to spare, social needs to be a part of your marketing strategy. Leads and customers will be looking for you on social media and if they don’t find you, they are almost guaranteed to move on.
from Darlene Milligan http://ift.tt/1RK1fwU via transformational marketing
from Tumblr http://ift.tt/1Oxrqs5
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