It’s no surprise that the continuous nature of social media and online marketing can be a drain on creativity. Many organisations churn out the same old tweets and posts in a slightly formal, corporate way, perhaps with a standard picture of their product or service. For some, of course, this works well. Certain businesses must maintain a professional and serious tone if they are to be regarded as legitimate and trustworthy, while others are more successful when using a more whimsical or humorous narrative.
The use of social media in branding can really shape the reputation and influence of your business.
It is well known by SEO and social media gurus that the content that goes viral and is most effective in marketing is the content that gets shared the most. What do people want to share with their friends? Things that make them laugh or cry, things that inspire them or things that they find useful – basically, anything they believe their friends need to see too. Utilising the role and brand image of your business within your marketing strategy can therefore not only boost your reach, but help shape how your business is perceived by the general public.
But how do you maintain this voice without falling into the trap of those repeated, stale tweets?
Good organisation and a clear focus, with branding rather than the number of followers as a priority is a good start. It can be hard to remind yourself that this should be the case – it is immensely satisfying to watch numbers and traffic increase, but that data means nothing unless they are relevant followers who love your brand. A cute picture of a puppy will probably receive a lot of shares and cause a spike in traffic, but that’s no use if it doesn’t match your usual brand image of inspirational fitness images, for example. Creating high quality content therefore requires a shift in our ideas about the expected result – it is real engagement and interest from followers, rather than simply an increase in traffic, which counts. Keeping a consistent branding strategy and tone on your social media platforms in this way is crucial to building a loyal client base.
