Socially Awkward – Engaging Social Media for Business
“Look at that hipster, standing on the chair to take a photo of his food!”
It’s not uncommon for businesses to shy away from the ill-perceived ‘wankery’ that is often attached to the now commonplace practice these days of doing ridiculous things for a great Instagram photo. Why on earth would we encourage something so ridiculous and seemingly self-serving?
Because it’s good for business.
Viral Social Media sharing is to the modern day consumer a supercharged form of word of mouth advertising. If your customer wants a bit of height to get a better photo, let him look a bit silly and hope he’s standing on one of the sturdier chairs. The amount of influence that an individual can have on your business by sharing something online can be both fantastic and frightening. This week has seen the WEST END Deli receive enormous support through their social media rebuttal of a scathing but shady review of their restaurant.
Much like an Aasgardian with a frost giant, the best strategy when tackling the social giant is head on. An engaged audience can be so many valuable things to a business, from on demand market testing for new products and services to the defenders of your virtual honour as with the WEST END Deli situation.
Engaging your audience is easy, keeping them consistently listening is the hard part. Ever wonder why you have hundreds of followers but only ever two likes on a post? Thanks Mum. Depending on the size of your business, you might be able to handle it on your lonesome. But even Thor knows the benefits of a good team once in a while, though personally, we’d bench Hawkeye.
If you’re already stumbling around the Social Wonderland, refresh your technique to not get side-tracked by the virtual Tweedledum and Tweedledee. If you’re yet to fall down the rabbit hole, here are a few basics to bear in mind.
- Quality over quantity
Want to make your product look desirable? Don’t post that grainy low light photo just because it happens to feature your brand. Quality content brings business. Our previous post highlighted the importance of good imagery for websites, and it is just as essential for social media. It doesn’t have to look like a carefully posed stock photo though, go natural with good lighting and you’re sure to be better off. - Stop Monologueing!
We know it isn’t a word, but The Incredibles illustrates perfectly how your audience can switch off and focus on something else while you’re having what you think is a super important conversation with yourself. Engagement is about communication, so keep the dialogue open and respond when they reach out! - The Song and Dance
The Mr Burns approach to showing off your merchandise might seem attractive – most folks like a big production, after all! But when it comes to your social media content, being relatable is key. Hard selling through a social medium can be incredibly disenchanting for consumers. - Déjà vu
Every platform is different, their audiences are different, and they consume information in different ways – so don’t try to feed them all the same thing. Learn what your users want and create a comprehensive strategy on how to effectively market to each of them.
Or you know, we could do it for you… hit us up if you feel like a bit of levelling up in the Social universe!