Businesses need publicity, that much is certain. But short of spending a huge sum of money on hiring social media marketing services, how can businesses that run on a tight budget grow their outreach and gain more public access without breaking the bank? A big plus point of living in today’s heavily-connected world is having access to a large percentage of the world’s population that is connected through social media.

According to online statistics, market research and business intelligence portal Statista, social media platform Facebook has over 1,870 million active users as of 2017, which translates to a market share of 18%, 7% more so than its closest competitor, the Facebook-owned, WhatsApp.

 

This effectively means that social media represents a highly-recommended digital marketing strategy that could potentially bring businesses the wide publicity that they so need. Social media marketing is a digital marketing strategy that utilises various social networks to reach brand marketing ideals. Social media marketing comprises activities involving the propagation and dissemination of content, videos and images to social networks for brand marketing purposes, as well as paid social media advertising. In this article, we will discuss methods to create a brand sensation by using social media marketing as the main tool.

1. Select the best social media platform on the market

As mentioned earlier, it’s pretty clear that Facebook dominates the social media landscape, making it the best platform on which to focus your brand marketing efforts. Recent research from Pew Internet shows that 76% of Facebook users log in daily, and with its users coming from all parts of the world, Facebook offers a ready store of diverse audiences to which you can promote your brand. To create a compelling and appealing digital marketing strategy, it’s important to first understand the motivations of your target audience for being on Facebook, and how the platform can cater to your social media marketing needs. Starting with a business fan page on Facebook is a good move, as it gives your audience a one-stop starting point from which to get to know your brand. Keeping the tone of the page casual and welcoming will encourage more people to stick around – widen your business’ social network by posting industry-related articles, interesting infographics and videos that capture, and retain, the audience’s attention. It’s also important to design a visually-pleasing layout for the Facebook page, as visuals are a key feature of the Facebook experience.

 

2. Expand your social network

Socialising is a crucial brand marketing strategy to consistently expand the outreach of your brand via social media channels. When you expand your social network, you create an arsenal of contacts that can later be used to your advantage to grow your brand. The wider your social network, the further the outreach of your brand marketing efforts. Even a single contact has the ability to give a business many sales opportunities as a result of that contact’s extensive social network. With a whole host of social media platforms available at your disposal, don’t limit yourself to just one platform. Instead, grow your social network on as many platforms as possible. Professional network LinkedIn is a good platform to grow your business contacts, while more fun and relaxed platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter could be used to connect with the general public.

 

3. Get the audience to be your champion

A brand that’s just starting out will require as much publicity as possible to make it to the big leagues. With social media marketing, a key tactic is to gain as many supporters as possible, not only from the general public, but also from the audience in your industry. Among the ways to do this include tagging the key figures that you referenced when sharing content on your social media pages, or letting them know through email that they’ve been referenced in your digital marketing strategies, and constantly making references to them or referring to their sites in your marketing content. This makes them your ally and gives them the motivation to propagate your content among their own social networks, creating a win-win situation for both parties. Another way of getting audiences on your side is to give trial periods for services that you offer, samples of your products, or even discounts, freebies or other items that are sure to delight, making them more receptive to spreading positive reviews or thoughts on your business across their respective social networks.

4. Provide shareable content

The rise of content marketing in recent years tells businesses that the key to effective brand marketing lies in the relevance and relatability of their content. Businesses who wish to build a strong brand reputation would do well to focus on creating content that is not only edifying and interesting, but relatable and contains a call-to-action in which the target audience would willingly engage. When producing content for your social media marketing efforts, it’s important to know the type of content that will garner you the most publicity. In today’s fast-paced world, where people have nary a moment to spare, going with infographics, eye-catching images and even videos would be a better bet to interest a wider social network than bland words on virtual paper. It’s also important to create content that reflects your brand and raises its profile. Fast food behemoth McDonald’s recent digital marketing strategy was a big hit with the social media community. Its marketing video featuring their fried chicken, which focused on its crunchiness and spicy flavours, was widely shared and generated much discussion and excitement among the social media community.

 

5. Create a unique identity

People remember a brand by its identity, which is made recognisable and memorable through a variety of methods. Symbolism is a strong force in brand marketing, and it very much applies in the realm of social media marketing as well. The first thing that people notice about a business or brand is its logo, which, if emphasised or seen often enough, will surely stick in their minds. A unique logo that is attractive, relevant and easily recognisable has a much higher chance of being remembered and spread across social media. Many brands use the same colour palettes and styles of their logo in their social networking pages, making it easily recognisable. It also allows the public to make the brand connection instantly, without having to even peruse the content. Consistency is key to an effective social media marketing campaign. The cover photo of soft drink giant Coca Cola’s Facebook page features a group of hip and young individuals dressed in the brand’s colours – red and white – and a large, very visible Coca Cola logo on the top left corner of the page!

 

We at ThunderQuote hope that this article has been able to open up your eyes and realize that social media is such a strong marketing tool in today’s world whereby it is able to fire up a brand sensation. For more information and related articles come on over to our site ThunderQuote

ThunderQuote is the most comprehensive business services portal in Singapore, Australia and ASEAN , where hundreds of thousands of dollars of procurement contracts are sourced every month by major companies like Singapore Press Holdings, National Trade Union Congress and more.