Okay, understand this – You don’t have to be a PRO to get a massive following on social media, but your content needs to be. Read that AGAIN.
Recently, I read this amazing book by the marketing ninja ‘Garry Vaynerchuk’ – Jab, Jab, Jab Right Hook and I am stunned by the amazing facts shared by him on how to engage on social media, get more followers likes and shares on social media acounts. He clearly breaks down the importance of Social Media Marketing in the present era.
All-in-all, So here I am presenting my learning, my inputs and the key takeaways stated in the first few chapters of the book.
Realizing the importance of Social Media
Let me start this by asking you – Where are you currently reading this piece of content? Your smartphone, tablet, Ipad, laptop, desktop? Whatever the medium is, it’s easily accessible to you.
Now, give a little throwback to your past 2 days – observe, analyse and understand how people were spending their time in your surroundings. 95% of them would be networking on their smartphone – sending a status update on Whatsapp, posting on Facebook, double-tapping on Instagram, snapping on Snapchat or watching videos on YouTube or TikTok.
Everyone is Social, and your brand needs to be where your audience is – Social Media.
Get over the fact that traditional marketing will get you business and sales. Ever since the evolution of the Internet, it rapidly leached the audience from Radio, Newspaper, Television and now Social media is on its way to overtake them all.
It’s 2020. Most of the businesses have realised the importance to be Social, so they are there – but just for the sake of the presence. They login, post and leave and then crib later that social media is not giving them business.
In order to make your social media a selling machine, you need to tell a story, create relevant, valuable, shareable content that hooks your audience wherever they are.
To hook the audience, present them with irresistible content that captures their interests, entertain them, benefits them, voices their opinions and concerns.
Doing social media right involves a lot of time and hard work. A few years back, it was easy to capture the interest of the audience but now, the competition is tough, really really tough.
How to use Social Media Marketing to make your brand stand out from the rest?
1. Understand
that every social media platform has its own set of rules, patterns, time and content requirements. Just posting the same content on all the platforms won’t serve the engagements.
2. Don’t be afraid
to try a new social media platform. If you see a teenager dancing on TikTok, don’t just log out of it thinking its not for your brand or you cannot do it. Instead, figure out how you can make it better for your niche audience.
Give the new platform the respect they deserve, because you never know when it will start exploding. And, once you see it exploding, try and test your content in a way that your specific audience wants to get it.
You cannot win in social media if you’re going to be afraid of emerging technologies.
3. Be aware
of your audience. Understand your audience’s requirements. What do they want from you? How can you fulfill their requirements? Analyse and comprehend what the competitors are doing.
Use social media specific data analytics, data mining tools to gain insights and adjust your tone, post timings, content accordingly. The better you learn about the audience, the better you can tell the right story at the right time.
4. Create a desire
desire to try your product, your services. Tell your story in a way that doesn’t only lead the crow to the water, but also inspires him to drink too. Aesthetics, tone, design – everything should appeal to the audience.
While telling the story, stay true to your brand while bringing value to the platform’s consumers. Different platforms allow you to highlight different aspects of your brand identity. Have fun with that.
5. Keep Testing
There is no secret to great storytelling. You have to experiment with what suits your audience the best – when are they most active, does your engagement increases if you use a hashtag, video or photo or GIF – which performs better.
Remember the first point, each platform is unique in its own way and requires unique content. What works on Instagram might not necessarily work on Pinterest.
If you want that people should engage with your content, hear your story then you should understand the platform’s native language, pay attention to context, understand differences that make each platform unique and alter your content to match its need.
I hope that now you realise the importance of social media and you won’t shy away from using social media marketing to grow your business to new heights. So, from which platform are you going to start with or if you are already on it, are you analysing it correctly?
Let me know in the comment section!