Social Media Tactics That Your Brand Should Consider Adopting
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Since its advent, social media use and adoption has taken off like a rocket, with more users and companies climbing aboard different platforms every day. And the trend has only accelerated faster with the global pandemic of 2020, with restricted brick-and-mortar experiences driving even more consumers, companies and activists to use social media for communication and branding. And yet, even though more people are on social media than ever before, brands must be increasingly savvier to successfully reach them.
More social media activity means more for users to look at, more rivals competing in the same space, and less time to get your message across. So it stands to reason that organizations with more social media savvy and clout will find themselves better at reaching and persuading target demographics than their competitors.
With that in mind, here are five social media tactics that your brand should consider adopting immediately.
SHORT-FORM VIDEO
Perfectly suited for fast feed scrolling and short attention spans—and with editing tools that make it easy to add quick scene cuts, animation, music and more—short-form video formats like Instagram Stories and TikTok continue to capture an increasing amount of engagement on social media.
Whether structured as a mini-commercial with a complete narrative arc, as a sneak peek for an eye-catching new product, as a company announcement, or as a helpful how-to, these mobile-optimized and bite-sized videos are here to stay and will remain an important tool for brands to engage with their audiences.
One fun example is the Washington Post’s use of TikTok to encourage younger generations like Zoomers and Millennials to read the news and subscribe to a daily paper. Another is how the National Cowboy Museum uses Instagram Stories to advertise current exhibitions.
INSTAGRAM BIO LINK TOOLS
Instagram’s popularity continues to grow; however, it remains difficult to drive a significant amount of organic traffic to your landing page or website given that the platform still doesn’t allow clickable links on organic posts. Fortunately, there are workarounds.
Tools like Linktree and Linkin.bio allow you to set up links for each post in one central place. Using this system, a user can click your bio link on your Instagram profile, select one of your posts, and click through to whatever destination you’ve linked that post to. Thus, you can organically promote something like a new product, new blog article, or a new event, and provide a way for your user to click through, learn more, and take the next step (e.g. registering for an event).
LIVE STREAMING & VIRTUAL EVENTS
COVID-19 made in-person attendance for live events like grand openings, concerts, educational courses, and open houses more difficult, if not completely out of the question. But where the virus made physical gatherings virtually impossible, social media made them possible virtually—allowing organizations to host important meetings and grand openings by streaming them to audiences at home, allowing children to attend class via Google Meets, allowing homebuyers to tour a potential home via live stream, and so much more.
And even as we settle back into a world where in-person gatherings are again safe, your audience will likely still expect and appreciate that they’re able to attend virtually. Going forward, the quality of your brand’s interactions with its audience will largely be based on how convenient and accessible they are. And few things are more convenient than giving your audience the ability to participate with your organization in real time—whether through tools like Facebook Live or Zoom—from wherever your audience is.
AUTHENTICITY AND INCLUSIVITY
Emphasizing that your company is committed to cultural inclusivity and diversity will continue to be a critical touchpoint with your audience. Your customers, stakeholders, volunteers and employees need to know that you empathize with their experiences and that you’re making efforts to lift them up and ensure that everyone has equal rights and an equal voice.
You should demonstrate this in your social media images and videos, showing that the people you include in your marketing are representative of all backgrounds and lifestyles.
You should use social media to highlight your philanthropic activities and other ways that your organization engages with the causes of civil rights and social justice.
And you should also be mindful of when not to weigh in on cultural observations and controversial issues. It’s easy to issue a statement for a particular event and moment, but if you can’t also demonstrate that you’re actively engaged in being part of the solution, the most respectful thing may be to say nothing at all.
LEAD ADS
For some brands, social media can be an effective tool for growing an audience off of social media. Take Facebook Lead Ads, a type of ad where the call to action is a lead form that pops up within Facebook as soon as a user clicks on your ad. With a few additional clicks, a user can submit their contact information, which can then be downloaded or automatically submitted to your organization’s customer relationship management system (CRM). From there, you can add a user to your email list, have your sales team call them, or whatever other point of contact you advertised.
This allows you to use Facebook’s powerful targeting tools to find qualified leads—or people ready to hear about your organization and what it has to offer, but who may not have heard of you yet or simply need a nudge to engage with you further. This could also help grow your audience if your website isn’t set up for lead generation, or help you generate even more leads alongside your website.
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