Social Marketing: How to Increase Brand Likeability
Social marketing is a must for any business, but you have to do it right. These tips will not only get your name out there – they’ll increase brand likability.
You don’t have to be a social media strategist to have logged into a social media account today. That’s because over three-quarters of the American population has at least one social media profile.
The world of social media is a hugely influential one, and we go there in our millions. The average smartphone user checks into social media for a total of 106 minutes per day. 79% of smartphone users confess that they’re on their social media accounts within fifteen minutes of waking up.
What does all of this mean for you and your brand?
It means that social marketing is no longer a choice. It’s an absolute necessity.
But, with so many other competing forces, in a 24/7 arena, your social marketing has to hit the right note all of the time. In this regard, we have some pretty good news. There is a way to cut through the ever-present noise and stiff competition on social media.
It all begins and ends with brand likeability.
Curious to find out more? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. We’re about to share the best insider tips on how you can make your brand more “likable” on Social Media.
Ready? Great! Let’s get to it.
Social Marketing and Making Your Brand More “Likeable”
1. Be Authentic
“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care”. This quote is often attributed to Theodore Roosevelt and the reason it’s so awesome is because it’s true.
In the social media world, we can go one step further. People won’t care what you have until they know who you are. And, it’s up to you to show them.
A key component of any social marketing strategy must be dedicated to telling the story of who you are in a transparent, interesting and unique way. The voice of your brand should be a human one and it must always be real and genuine. Essentially, this is like thinking from the inside out and allowing your brand to communicate that thinking in its own remarkable way.
2. Create a Community
After you’ve shown your audience who you are, it’s time to show them what you stand for.
Most people are social beings who want to feel part of something greater than themselves. Our need to seek out the company of others is, in many ways, what makes us human. From the moment we arrive on the planet, we are wired for connection.
The social media strategist in you can leverage this innate human need. You can make your brand more likable by striving to create a connection with your customer. You can do this by consistently sharing your mission and validating the choice your customers make every time they engage with you.
Every time your brand speaks on any social media platform, it can have one eye towards building a community of like-minded people. Every piece of content you provide should be saying, either in an implicit or explicit way, ‘You’re just like us. Come join us’.
3. Do More than Communicate, Seek to Engage
Everyone wants to be heard but not everyone is willing to listen. In the world of social media, and in the real world itself, many people forget that communication is a two-way process. It may sound counter-intuitive, but often, the most effective way to get attention is to give it.
If you’re thinking like a social media strategist, the implication here is clear. If you want your brand to become more “likable,” you must listen to your customers and you must never, ever stop listening.
Social media platforms offer you the unique opportunity to do this. You can engage with your customers by inviting discussion and asking them various questions about your brand, and topics related to your brand or even topics that are completely off the beaten track. Why? Because it makes you more “likable,” of course.
Engaging also means acknowledging feedback of all kinds – the good the bad and the ugly. It means responding to problems as they arise. Nobody said you were perfect, right? And who likes perfect anyway?
Engaging with your customers allows you to WOW your customers with that wonderfully “likable” listening ear.
4. Share Compelling Content
For the social media strategist, social marketing offers you a blank canvas on which to paint your message. To become popular, that message must be compelling, high-quality and it has got to add real value.
Your audience lives in a world of constant stimulation. On average, you have less than 8 seconds to grab someone’s attention or they are gone scrolling to the next entertaining thing. To reach above that noise, your content must be creative and shareable.
Adhere to the unwritten rules governing each particular platform and mix up your content so that it appeals to a cross section of people – go visual, use text, create videos and share other interesting content you happen to come across.
In essence, what you’re looking to do here is to take social marketing and permission marketing to the next level by being super nice, and super cool in the process.
5. Be Consistent
If we were to write the book for the social media strategist, the first line would probably read something like this: You must be consistent in all that you do. Forever and ever. Ok?
And, if you are to make your brand more “likable” on social media, let this be the golden rule for all your interactions. You absolutely must be consistent. Everywhere. With everything. All the time.
This means that everything you post, everything you do, and everything you like and comment on, must be in absolute congruence with who you are and what your brand stands for. Consistency, after all, is one of the key attributes of exceptionally likable people.
Social Marketing – Brand Likeability and You
If you can find a way to put all or even some of these tips into practice, you will probably never have to do the hard sell ever again. You may not even have to strive for the soft one.
Attracting an avid following of engaged customers takes time, effort and creativity, and it all begins and ends with “likeability.”
Set out to be authentic and build your community slowly over time. Then seek to engage with your audience by listening and sharing amazing content. And if you can do all of this while remaining consistent in all that you do, you may never have to sell anything ever again.
Because if you do all of that, your customers will flock to you all by themselves.