If you are trying to buy social media the way you buy traditional media then you are getting the whole concept of social media wrong. The concept of buying media doesn’t work at all in the new age of social media, only naturally grown brand can exist for long term. Off-course you can run Facebook ads or twitter ads to gain fans or followers, but gaining followers and engaging with followers to build a long term relationship is completely different game.
What matters in social media is the story that you are telling your customers, because stories can be retold and shared among other crowd. It is this story that every company needs to build. Story is a new means of spreading information about your company and its vision, ads can get many eyeballs, what you show to these eyeballs is crucial.
1. Authentic Voice
Authentic voice doesn’t mean being different or showing that you are different. Authenticity means being who you really are. This message needs to be communicated through all your channels – websites, marketing materials, your product and your culture.
It is not about sharing unique message, but how you approach to telling these messages which matters. Authentic Voice also means great product or service packaging which is going to communicate the core value of your company. In addition to packaging the product or service need to delight your customers. This will help you get genuine feedback and mentions in social media.
2. Be Sharable and Accessible
Many companies out there are not trying hard enough to reach out to their target audience. You need to push every bit of online platforms to communicate about your product or service is the best possible way. For example, if you are using Slideshare, make interesting and valuable presentations about your industry. If you are in Youtube, create animations or simply recorded video to communicate about your service.
In addition to creating this massive content in every platform possible, create a way to share this content too. Making your content sharable allows you to cross the boundaries and reaches out to different crowd. For example an implementation of simple share button in your blog posts, a simple subscribe me button in your blog makes all the difference. This will help your company be visible in the internet.
3. Content is the king
In the midst of every brand building exercise lies CONTENT. Content is regarded as the king of new age marketing. Content can be a blog post, video tutorial, animation or simple unique presentation. Blog is the most essential part of content because they are sharable, can include rich media, can be subscribed, can be commented to create contextual discussion and more importantly be searchable in the internet. Putting more and more content will help you create the brand you are hoping for.
4. Engage, Interact and Energize
In addition to creating content and distributing, you need to engage with customers and people through social networking sites like twitter and Facebook, and also email. You need to reply to all the messages and mentions as possible and make people aware that you exist not just as a form of content, but also as an identity that can communicate present argument and make meaningful discussion. This helps to create better image of your brand.
5. Grow along with your crowd
Lastly but not the least, social media is a network of people communicate to and fro with each other. In the beginning of the process you could be dumb and novice in your approach. But with time, you need to make your followers and fans realize that you are growing and improving. This helps to create an aspiration among people for better future which is essential part of building relationships and brand among people.
