It may look easy but it’s not
Social media has become an integral part of the digital marketing strategies of businesses worldwide since it represents an opportunity for brands to engage their audiences in a more informal manner than what is possible using websites. While it is easy to get distracted by the number of followers, likes, comments, and shares, successful marketing on social media requires a special set of skills that demonstrate how well they understand what their customers want. Some of the most effective social media strategies that businesses can implement to engage their audiences better and build enduring brand reputation and loyalty.
Use Chatbots for Responsive Interaction
All digital marketers know how important it is to respond to customer queries and complaints promptly. Unfortunately, it can be quite expensive to set up and operate a helpdesk manned by trained customer service personnel, especially if you have to provide round-the-clock services. An easy way of reducing both the cost and other hassles of training and manning helpdesks is by using chatbots. According to Search Engine Journal, you can deliver personalized service and also improve the user experience with the help of chatbots. Integrating chatbots is a relatively simple affair because you don’t need to have any special technical or coding skills. Not only is the technology portable across all social media platforms but also it integrates well with payment systems. In one stroke, you can implement a 24×7 helpdesk solution that does not need any day-to-day human intervention for the majority of the interactions at a very affordable cost.
Create and Deliver a More Personalized Experience for Users
Using chatbot technology not only allows businesses to automate their customer service to a great extent but also facilitates the creation and delivery of a more personalized experience for the target audience. This can be done very easily by delinking social media advertisements exclusively from landing pages and creating advertisements that point users clicking on them to a messenger window where the interaction is taken over by a chatbot. By employing a chatbot, you will be able to personalize the customer experience, create loyalty, and boost your sales.
Implement an Efficient Strategy for Content Marketing
Every social marketer knows that it is the quality of content that drives eyeballs in the busy world of social media. Only very high-quality content can engage the discerning social media audience. As in website content, quality content in social media needs to be relevant to the target audience, be original and updated, and presented well and in diverse methods. The content has to be engaging, not only informative because customers should want to go through your posts. Brands also need to study the best days of the week and the best times during those days for posting their content so that their target audience has the maximum chances of seeing them and engaging with them. Evolving the most effective posting schedule and the right posting frequency can take some amount of trial and error till you find the most optimum balance. By ensuring that you post quality content, you will be able to engage with your target audience, make them your customers, and build enduring brand loyalty, and reinforce your brand image. The content marketing strategy can be made more effective with the use of optimized hashtags that enable better content discovery by users. If this seems too complex, you can always engage a good social media marketing agency to take the load off your shoulders.
Focus on Creating a Community of Users
Even though improving your social media account performance in terms of metrics like followers, likes, comments, ROI, etc. is important for marketers, you should not assume that your social media objective is fully met by mastering these benchmarks. The success of your marketing campaign to a great extent can be measured by how well you can build a community of loyal users and brand advocates. For this to happen brands cannot take a formal stance, rather they have to demonstrate to customers their human nature. This can be done by injecting emotion and humor into your social media posts so that it is possible for your target audience to relate better to your brand. To retain their interest, you need to post content about diverse subjects but make sure that they are all that will be relevant and interesting to them. You can also engage them with interactive communications in the form of questions, asking for opinions on matters of their interest, sharing information on newsworthy developments instead of just pushing sales information, liking and sharing their posts, and requesting them to like, comment, and share your posts.
Make Your Profile Fun and Refreshing with Different Types of Content
It is well proven that users of social media like to be entertained and engaged with content that has good images, videos that are fun or educational, captions that are full of humor, and interesting podcasts. It is important not to be boring by presenting the same type of content day after day. You should also jazz up your delivery style by using all the content formats available to you. Often repurposing content according to the style preferred by users on a particular platform can serve the purpose well. For example, a text-heavy post on Facebook will not find many takers on Instagram but is likely to have good engagement when the same content is dressed up in an infographic that is easy to comprehend and interesting to view. The kind of content presentation you use can add to your brand personality for better engagement levels.
Conclusion
While businesses can use chatbots for handling customer service and add to the customer experience, follow efficient content marketing, create a vibrant user community, and use diverse content styles to engage users, they can additionally consider brand advocates marketing to leverage the influence they exercise on their followers to increase brand awareness, increase the number of followers and raise the level of engagement for lasting brand loyalty. There are many different kinds of influencers and you should choose wisely with an eye on your brand personality and values so that your brand emerges more credible and trustworthy with the association.
