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In January 2021, 20.5 million Australians were active users of social media, that’s almost 80% of the Australian population. Furthermore, 33% of Australians say they use social media when looking for information about a brand.* Source: Genroe.com
These are just two of the many statistics that support the importance of social media for a business. With a huge reach of engaged users at your disposal, businesses simply can’t afford to not be on social media. And with Facebook continuously developing features that support advertisers, the opportunity to promote your business on social media has never been bigger.
But despite the clear opportunity social media presents to businesses (of all kinds - service and product-based) many businesses are slow to adopt this channel. Many businesses feel that the old way of doing things “works just fine”. Others are nervous to venture onto a platform they know so little about. Some are just simply struggling to grasp the foundation of a solid social media strategy.
In this blog, we’ll discuss the three key foundations that we recommend to our clients when they start out on social media. But first…
What is the role of social media marketing for business?
Social media brings many benefits to your business, but perhaps the most important is TRUST. Social media not only gives you an opportunity to keep top of mind with those 20.5 million Australians, but it helps you build TRUST with potential clients. And it does this in an authentic and engaging way. Social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram offer free brand awareness helping you reach more people. When done correctly, a mix of organic (unpaid), paid content and ads become an effective strategy to meet, nurture and convert new leads for your business.
Not sure what platform you should be on? For B2B businesses, LinkedIn is by far the most powerful. If there’s one thing you do today, set aside time to develop a LinkedIn marketing strategy for your business! If you get stuck, we’d be happy to assist you.
Foundation one - stick to your brand personality
The best thing about social media is that you can get SOCIAL with your followers. Social media allows you to let your brand personality shine! And formats like reels and stories can help your brand shine brighter than ever before! However, it’s important to make sure you stick to your brand personality.
Authentic content with real people telling real stories performs a lot better than dry, sterile content, but be careful not to lose your brand’s tone of voice.
For example: instead of posting a photo of your coffee, post a photo of your team with their coffee in hand with a write up about each team member’s favourite brew. End the post with a question asking people to comment with theirs to get some engagement on the post.
Foundation two - be consistent
The most important ingredient in a marketing strategy is consistency. Results take time and giving up too easily won’t do you any good. It’s important to be consistent with your marketing.
To keep your brand top of mind in traditional marketing, you’d need to pay to publish an ad in a magazine or newspaper that has a shelf life. That gets costly pretty quickly. On the other hand, on social media, you can publish content consistently without being charged.
One way to help you be consistent is to plan ahead. Set aside some time to decide what content you’re going to publish that month. Creating content pillars can help with this. We recommend these four content pillars - brand values, customers/case studies, fun and tips/industry trends.
Foundation three - publish a mix of content
Publish content consistently (aim for three times a week) and make sure you do a variety of content - feed posts, stories and videos that showcase your brand, your services, your customer success stories and social content that your audience will find inspiring, entertaining or informative.
Visit our blog for more tips and recommendations for your social media marketing.