Developing and honing the right voice on social media can take time, but it is imperative that businesses regularly consider how they appear across various platforms. For many, social media is the place where businesses make their first impression. By planning a coherent social media strategy that balances pragmatism and personality, a business can quickly reach out to a much bigger audience than previously possible. Here are three factors to consider when evolving a branded social media account.
Personality
An engaging social media personality is important for a number of reasons. It gives the brand a voice that humanises the business and allows room for emotional attachment. Through consistently humorous or insightful posts, social media accounts can quickly swell their followings. This gives the business a platform to raise its profile. Even if nothing posted on the account is explicitly promotional, or at best tenuously linked to the business, a popular social media personality allows companies to transcend their industry and create something bigger.
The Museum of English Rural Life rose to prominence on Twitter for its self-aware and deadpan summaries of museum possessions, with an aptitude for catching the wave of wider trends. Arena Flowers is a florist that specialises in surreal humour to the point where the account apologises for occasionally having to tweet about flowers. Italian football club AS Roma have made waves with their English-language Twitter account, a pioneer when it comes to sporting clubs posting more light-hearted content in the hope of generating a vast worldwide following.
Roma’s unconventional approach allows them to stand out from the crowd. Source: AS Roma via Facebook.
Those are just three examples, with their industries’ diversity showing how there are no boundaries when it comes to social media. While it may be difficult to produce a post or a meme that goes viral overnight, considering the tone and manner of social media posts is essential when starting out.
Competitions
More companies are using social media as an outlet for distributing prizes and rewards. Online competitions create a buzz, particularly if their stipulations are either straightforward or uniquely challenging. In terms of simplicity, making a prize potentially available to those who merely like or share a post is an easy way to generate a mass response.
This is something that the leading online casinos are doing with more regularity. Online casinos are traditionally generous in dispensing rewards, but these usually take the form of sign-up bonuses for new customers. By offering prizes to those who interact with the brand on social media, online casinos can quickly and effectively engage with a large audience. Most of those who follow the casino on social media are likely to be loyal and satisfied customers who signed up because of the original bonus. A competition of this format feels like the business is generously giving something back to its clientele, albeit with the element of drama that comes with the ‘will they/won’t they’ win the prize.
Online competitions can also take more challenging forms, be it in the form of a quiz or in a specific task. For example, an individual may have to take a selfie with a product in an unusual or exciting location. These are less instantly gratifying than entering through liking a post, but they do encourage entrants to spend more time actively thinking about a company or product.
Feedback
The phrase ‘the customer is always right’ is of course not applicable to every single occasion, but consensus in business is largely a reflection of the strength of a company or product. If a large proportion of consumers are clamouring for a change to a service, it is foolish not to listen. If one company doesn’t listen, another will.
There are numerous instances in which a disenchanted individual has taken to Twitter to bemoan their wi-fi provider, only for a competitor to directly message them with an attractive deal in the hope of tempting them to switch. This is why it is imperative for businesses to remain cognisant of their consumers’ thoughts and desires, with social media by far the easiest method.
Responding to comments directly is one way of doing so, especially now that these responses can be shared and reposted to reach the entire base of followers. When these comments are criticism, there is a fine line to walk between demonstrating confidence in a product and displaying an indifference to consumer needs.
Greggs’ recent release of a vegan sausage roll took Twitter by storm, with the British bakery widely praised for their social media interaction in the aftermath. As a plethora of individuals took to Twitter to express their unmitigated anger that a vegan sausage roll would be allowed to come into being, Greggs’ comic replies brought global attention to the bakery.
In that example, in which the complaints are completely specious, Greggs’ strategy of responding humorously paid off. In instances where the complaints are more nuanced and grounded, it is understandably imperative that official social media accounts respond with due care. By providing reassurances and giving guidance, companies can respond quickly to disaffected consumers. Feedback can also take much more positive forms. Companies can open polls to give fans and followers a feeling of ownership over the business. Polls show that a business is willing to listen to its clientele, while also generating higher levels of interaction on social media.
While a strong social media presence is not something that happens overnight, a well-planned strategy can enable a business to steadily increase their online followers. Through humour, competitions and customer support, a brand can make a real impact on social media.
