As a local digital agency based in Surrey, something the team at Thunderbolt Digital is familiar with is social media management and how to effectively market brands online. It can be daunting to many SMEs and local businesses trying to navigate their way through social media as a company for the first time – it quickly becomes clear that it’s a very different experience using social media for leisure compared to using it for work and marketing! We’re feeling generous this week, so we thought we’d share some tips to help out those just starting out in the big wide world of social media marketing, so get ready to take some notes!
Social media Surrey team Thunderbolt find that many companies, once faced with online marketing, can very quickly forget what it’s like to be on the receiving end of corporate social media efforts, which can end up with very cheesy and ‘fake’ sounding content and updates being rolled out, which doesn’t reflect well on you! Something that rates very highly for consumers is authenticity – they are aware that they’re being advertised to most of the time, and in a world of products being pushed in their faces, sometimes they want a break and some content that feels genuine!
So how exactly does one be ‘genuine’ in this situation? The answer is more simple than you think – be human! It’s very easy to appear as a faceless corporation on the web, where your profile picture is that of your logo, and most of your updates and content is related to your products and services, so that’s what needs to be addressed! A good company to look at for a general idea of what we mean is Innocent; their style of posting may not be appropriate for every company, but their humorous updates and interaction with followers has done much to endear them to the hearts of many, especially as they keep their humour interspersed with relevant content (i.e. pertaining to fruit and vegetables) as well as tackling more serious issues related to their company’s ethics (e.g. this post regarding the climate talks in Paris).
A good thing to keep in mind is that social media users are browsing (usually!) in their free time – this is not when they want to be pitched to, and may switch off if that’s what they think is happening! This is why ensuring you produce quality content to bolster your online presence really is paramount – the more users find your content enjoyable or useful, the more they’ll engage with you, which will lead to a stronger brand relationship and increase the likelihood of (repeat) custom – excellent!