Social Media Strategies for Amplifying Your Brand’s Voice
The “noise” on social platforms is getting louder, and brands’ voices are getting quieter with every post. Cutting through the social noise continues to be one of the biggest challenges for today’s digital marketers.
But if this space is so crowded, why do we persist in attempting to reach customers and prospects through these outlets? It’s simple; social media matters. For example:
82% of enterprise marketers say their social impacts their company’s bottom line
As trends and viral ideas come and go, the names behind them are often forgotten with time. What truly solidifies a company’s position is how its brand is constructed and communicated over time. Social media has helped level the playing field for many brands, connecting targeted audiences and communities far and wide. However, it still takes a smart social strategy and audience targeting, along with the with the right multi-mix storytelling:
Lead with a Prominent Visual Identity
Staying “on brand” and on point is often a top recommendation for social. So how do you tell your complete brand story without losing your audience halfway through your copy? The answer is in your visual storytelling ability.
As the most instinctual form of communication, visual media resonates with audiences across social platforms and strengthens a brand’s perceived value. Pairing strategically curated imagery that best follows your brand’s identity and further illustrates an important point with tailored typography helps cut through the social clutter. At Fastlane, we often advise our valued clients to say more with less.
With video taking over the digital landscape, now is the time for brands to lock in existing and prospective customers with content that exposes them to the company, educates them about its services, and drives action. Determining the best format of video will require an understanding of the audience and a good deal of A/B testing. Once that is determined, you can continue to build on your nurturing and engagement funnels.
Add More SEO to Social
Due to the fast-moving nature of social, SEO is often over looked. However, by adding the right tags and keywords, brands will boost the chances of attracting the right audiences to your company’s page. Think of this social SEO on your profiles just as you would on your website.
Strategically developing your content with the right messaging drives users who are actively searching for products and services similar to yours. In fact, the number of social users doing so is growing by the day. According to recent studies:
Over 40% of consumers use social media to actively search for new products. Overall, 55% of consumers discover new brands on social
And, this strategy is not just limited to the traditional copy; alt text also works in your favor. It is used as an accessibility tool, rapidly being implemented across platforms, but it can also be leveraged as a search optimization tool by providing context on images for search engine crawlers and indexing the content so it appears as search results.
An Ear Towards Social Listening
Analyzing individual discussions and overall trends related to your brand and market, social listening allows companies to know all the buzz that’s happening in and around their brand. In a recent Social Trends report, Hootsuite shared:
48% of marketers strongly agree that social listening has increased value for their organization
At Fastlane, we leverage the latest AI-driven social listening tools to uplift brands with competitor intel, industry trend reports, and overall enhanced customer relationship management. With the live product and service feedback we often recieve in this ongoing listening process, companies can improve messaging, audit their campaigns, and even refine their service delivery based on real user experiences.
Consistency, Consistency, Consistency
You’ve heard the old brand adage – Consistency is key! With the increasingly fragmented nature of more marketing and communications mediums and social channels, it’s more true today than ever before.
Building an audience on platforms is more than just growing a follower count, but establishing a community. Social platforms are as much of an instrument for nurturing your brand’s relationships with customers as your CRM system. For example, Sprout Social found:
68% of consumers agree that social media allows them to interact with brands and companies.
And the study showed that these interactions play a big role in shaping today’s consumers purchasing decisions. For example, 78% of consumers are willing to buy from a company after having a positive experience with them on social
On the algorithmic side of the equation, platforms favor those who post consistently. Instead of attempting to decode or outsmart the algorithms, place a focus on creating valuable content that delivers consistently in relevancy and frequency. Posting with a healthy cadence will keep your brand at the top of customers’ minds and feeds.
By setting this solid foundation of best branding and messaging practices across social platforms and leveraging the evolving tools that drive algorithms, today’s brands can ensure their piece of tomorrow’s market share and mind share.
Javian Pereira,
Marketing Executive
Fastlane
