Social media plays an inherent role in any clever marketing strategy. From supporting an SEO campaign for organic reach (crucial for optimum online visibility) to boosting brand awareness and authority (equally essential), you can’t ignore the power of having a positive, active presence on the right platform for you, your brand and business, and your target audience. It’s also a high-value proposition for building a loyal community of brand followers and advocates – and this is priceless.
KEY INSIGHTS
- Social media can be an intrinsic part of a clever marketing strategy, effectively supporting SEO, reaching targets, and boosting results.
- Brands with their finger on the pulse of current trends are embracing the power of social media; they are, however, shifting from merely chasing likes and empty follower numbers to building loyal communities for tangible engagement.
- Community-driven social content now outperforms vanity metrics – and private groups, micro-communities, and user-generated content have an important role to play.
It’s all in the name: SOCIAL media.
Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, LinkedIn: whichever of these (or others) you use, as a business owner/marketer, you need to understand that the way people interact on these platforms differs dramatically from how the more traditional marketing channels operate. While brands are traditionally used to broadcasting at their consumer audiences via marketing and advertising channels, social media is geared towards conversing with audiences. Herein lies the critical difference.
Are you getting it right?
What’s the Point of Using Social Media for Businesses?
Brands can no longer get away with expecting to aggressively push their products or services onto their audiences – and especially not on social media.
People use social media for enjoyment, relaxation, and a place to fulfil their need for community, connection, and belonging. When businesses have a social presence, consumers look to them not for a hard sell, but for a deeper, lasting relationship. After all, with a literal world of options at one’s fingertips thanks to the internet, aren’t you also more judicious about which businesses you patronise? Don’t you prefer to spend your money with brands you genuinely trust, that resonate with you, and almost feel like “friends”?
How Has Social Media for Business Changed?
There was a time not long ago when a brand’s biggest goal on social media was to have the most “likes”. Many even bought likes and followers (some still do), treating social media as a popularity contest.
Most people have come to understand, however, that purchased likes are nothing more than “bots”. Once consumers become aware of or suspect this, it looks to them like fraud – because it is! Faking followers is not just a waste of time and money, but it could be incredibly damaging to your brand and business.
Likewise, inactive, unengaged followers are ultimately worthless in terms of ROI for businesses on social platforms.
Wouldn’t you rather have a smaller number of genuine, engaged followers and fans with whom you are building real, lasting relationships for your business via social media – real people who are likely to become real, repeat customers?
Broadcasting versus Conversing
Traditional advertising simply involved broadcasting with a product-centric approach to communications with consumers. This doesn’t work with social media because:
- It is impersonal and lacks emotional connection
- It ignores the potential for audience feedback and insights
- It fails to exploit the power of word-of-mouth lead generation
Conversing with your audience and building a community with them is a much more effective way to succeed in our modern markets.
What is Community-First Social Media?
A community-focused social media strategy puts the interests and needs of people at the forefront – shifting away from a product-focused strategy – with the ultimate goal of triggering meaningful engagement and lasting loyalty to your brand.
The benefits of this approach include:
- Builds authority and credibility for long-term trust and loyalty
- Enhances local engagement
- Invites user-generated content
- Achieves measurable organic growth for brands
- Enhances natural curiosity about your product or service
A lot of consumers, even those who are not super-social online, look to a brand’s social media to identify its legitimacy and niche authority before making a purchase decision.
Why are Social Communities the Way of the Future for Marketers?
The way brands connect, communicate, and thrive online is changing. The opportunity for brands to succeed with social media has never been greater – the caveat being that those brands that build, grow, and nurture their own loyal, engaged social communities. But beware: getting lots of likes, comments, and shares on posts doesn’t necessarily indicate that you have built a community.
Humans inherently need connection. We need to speak and feel heard.
Social audiences are now actively looking for less noise, less drama (let’s face it, social media can be a minefield of drama and angst), and are seeking smaller, more niche spaces to intentionally share their interests, values, and experiences.
Your brand’s social media needs to deliver on this.
3 ways to potentially achieve this include:
- Microcommunities: small, interwoven online forums where participants bond over niche interests.
- Private Groups: these communities provide safer, high-value, niche spaces online for fostering and nurturing stronger relationships. Bring together loyal, interested, engaged audiences for focused conversations without the external noise that is so prevalent on public social pages.
- UGC: publishing user-generated content encourages participation, makes audiences feel seen and important to your brand, and offers a range of other benefits, including:
- Provides social proofIncreases credibility and trustBuilds communityLeverages genuine customer experiencesDrives conversionsProvides a stream of fresh, dynamic content
- Supports SEO
YOUR COMMUNITY IS WHERE THE SOCIAL MAGIC HAPPENS – AND MEMBERS CAN BECOME YOUR BIGGEST BRAND ADVOCATES
QUICK TIPS:
- Create value – but don’t just focus on your product offering
- Engage consistently and listen to your audience
- Empower and reward participation – make your members feel appreciated
- Focus on shared values – e.g. advocacy, sustainability, activism, charity
- Encourage friendly, informative, meaningful “side-conversations” between your followers.
- Update and evolve as needed.
Talk to a Savvy Digital Strategist!
Do you need help building your social community?
Dot-to-Dot Digital is perfectly positioned to help you adapt and refine your social media marketing strategy for evolving audience expectations. From helping you identify the right social platform for your brand, clients, and customers, to getting into the nuts and bolts of your social media strategy, we can provide as much or as little help as you need – from helping you get off the launch pad to managing the entire process for you.
With an enthusiastic team of experienced digital strategists, we look forward to working with you – and helping you join the dots!
Get the ball rolling now for social success!
