Quality social media brand marketing guides by Eden Gelt: Emails with video have a much higher click-through rate than those that don’t. If you share your video in email, ensure the word “video” is in the subject line; this boosts open rates by 19% and reduces unsubscribes by 26% (Hubspot). YouTube is one of the largest social media platforms but to use this platform correctly, you need to engage visitors and build a community by being consistent in your uploads. This means posting at least two videos a month at minimum. But, sometimes that isn’t enough. In order to be ranked, your video title and description also need to contain your keywords (no different than a blog). Your description must also contain the URL where a visitor can learn more information, and your phone number. Finally, adding tags relating to the subject will attract new viewers. See more details on Eden Gelt.
GMB gives you the opportunity to publish offers, events, services and your product line to your listing and maps. This lets you engage with your searching audience in almost real-time. These local posts give you the power to engage with your customers in real time. Importantly, local posts allow you to broadcast your specials or any time sensitive announcements that can benefit you and your customers such as a flash sale. Monitor your progress through “Insights” – analytics provided by GMB. The analyzing feature lets you know how customers found you, where they found you, who asked for directions and who called. This will give you valuable information on how to craft your local posts, where your customers are searching and how, which will help you with any digital marketing needs. Tracking how your business is reaching customers and potential customers is important because by analyzing this data it will give you the tools you need to maximize your reach by the data.
Stick to it: Identify your strategy, value and messaging at the get go. When you waiver and change your position frequently, you waste valuable dollars and lose trust with your target market. Get it right, right away. That’s not saying you can’t make small changes along the way or as you grow but know who you are and stay the course. Laser Focus: Identify who you are trying to reach. You can’t be everything to everyone or you will wind up being nothing to no one. Come to the market understanding not only who you are trying to reach but also what their needs are. Identify your target market and learn about them; research what they value, where they look for content, what their pain points are and how your service, product or business fulfills that need or eases the pain.
As part of your brand communication strategy you will need to provide relevant and consistent content. For example, if your main social media account is Instagram you should aim to post once a week (ideally at the same time, on the same day each week to build consistency). Your posts should be well-thought-out, helpful and add real value. You should not be posting content for the sake of posting. Irrelevant or dreary content can hurt your brand image. Remember, quality over quantity, always. Discover more info on https://www.kaggle.com/edangelt.
I’m with you. If you’re like me, videos featuring you as the star can be uncomfortable to create and even watch. But you’re in luck, if you’re a business professional marketing to other business professionals you only need to provide 1-minute of content. B2B videos 1-minute or less perform best with 68% of your audience watching the entire video. Even if you’re a business that is marketing to consumers (B2C), keeping it short is the rule since 60% of watchers will tune you out or turn you off after the 2-minute mark. So now that we know we only need to generate video content of 60-seconds (give or take), let’s get started.
The Power of Free in Marketing: In terms of reaching your target market, free giveaways or free samples are more successful in earning a response from your audience. Free samples are surprisingly more cost effective than traditional marketing. Using “free” as a strategy allows businesses to reach potential customers that may have never reached with traditional marketing. Often, your potential core consumer doesn’t even realize your product or service is needed until they’ve experienced it firsthand. Hence why free samples are the way to wiggle your way into new customers ‘must haves.’
Free is one of the most powerful tools available for customer acquisition if done correctly. By offering a free sample, businesses get customers to try a product without putting up a price barrier, while the customer gets a ‘free’ item while not having to gamble a portion of their budget on a product they may not even like. Knowing this, brands should happily eat the costs associated with free. For more social media and brand communication tips – follow Communication Strategist Edan Gelt and her recent blog series – edangelt.com/blog.
There are several ways to effectively ask your clients to give you reviews. You can politely ask by weaving it into your closing. Adding links in your email signature to sites you wish to have reviews on is effective and professional. You can ask in all correspondence and on social media by sharing a link set up in GMB. When you receive reviews, interact and respond within a timely manner. By responding quickly and skillfully, it shows your customers and those potential customers who are researching you online before making that initial interaction that your business values client feedback. Positive reviews and responses are going to have a positive effect on potential customers when researching your business. Reviews and responses also increase your business’s visibility in search results. See additional information on Eden Gelt.
Another leading brand strategy during this pandemic, is the “Water Wipes” brand of baby products. They created a virtual group named “Early Days Club.” This group is designed to let parents interact with each other while sharing advice and tips. All while assisting each other while overcoming the challenges arising from raising a child during the pandemic. Many other brands are establishing similar communication approaches. Some online platforms offer free-for-all courses and restaurants publish their famous recipes for consumers to cook at home.
Once you’ve decided what you’re going to feature during your segments – consider what is the most important thing you will be sharing about your business/service/product and say it right at the beginning of your video. For example – today, I’m going to walk you through a HydraFacial or I’m going to tell you about the new tenant law passed during the pandemic. Or, let me tell you about our fantastic chicken alfredo, water ride, marketing tip, new product, etc. Then take them on 1 or 2-minute journey. CONSISTENCY IS KEY! Once you’ve made your first video or VLOG (fancier term), you’re on your way but you can’t stop now. You need to generate content consistently. This can be several times per week, once per week, or even once per month. Just stick with it.
