Cultivating More Customers: The Essential B2C Marketing Tips
There are more than 27 million small businesses in the United States, and a large portion of them are in the B2C (business to consumer) space. As a company, how in the world can you stand out from the crowd?
This can be a tough question. But one of the best things you can do is ace your B2C marketing. When you do this, you'll connect with your audience and convince them to become customers.
Here's how to make it happen with some essential tips.
Utilize Social Media
It's no secret that social media is a massive part of our society. More than 65% of the population uses some form of it.
As a business, this means great opportunity. Social media is the perfect place to cultivate an audience, educate prospects, and generate leads and sales for your company.
Depending on your goals, you can even nurture current customer relationships, helping to retain them and also upsell them. The possibilities are endless.
It's all about deciding your goals, picking the platform that aligns best and getting started. It will put you on the path to social media success.
Respond Professionally to Negative Feedback
Any time you have an online presence as a company, it’s essential to monitor your online reputation. Customers will leave reviews on sites like Google, Facebook, and Yelp, and you’ll receive a mix of both positive and negative feedback.
When you do receive negative reviews, that’s okay. Every business does. The key here is how you respond to them.
Be sure to reach out and show empathy for the situation. Issue an apology and ask them what you can do to resolve their concerns. Potential customers will see this and feel comforted, knowing that you care about your customers and are willing to help when needed.
Engage in Content Marketing
Content marketing is a valuable tool to add to your B2C marketing strategy. The idea here is reaching people where they’re searching.
Let’s say you sell shoes. Someone has a question about running shoes and types into Google, “How do I pick the best running shoes?” Well, the results that show up are just pieces of content that people have written.
And you could write that content, answering the question, and leading people to your wide selection of running shoes. It’s a fantastic way to naturally and organically generate interest in your brand, ultimately growing your customer base.
Consider starting a blog and developing a content marketing strategy for your company.
B2C Marketing Tips You Need
Now that you’ve read all about these essential B2C marketing tips, what’s next for your business? It’s time to implement these ideas into your company’s plans.
However, we know that it can feel a little overwhelming. That’s why our team of experts is here to help you every step of the way.
Questions? Comments? Get in touch with us at any time.
What Do I Need for Market Research?
Market research can be a daunting undertaking, especially for small- or medium-sized business owners that don’t have experience with conducting their own research. We’re commonly asked by business owners what they need for market research and our answer is always “it depends.”
The specific needs of your market research will greatly depend on the type of information that will benefit your business. Depending on the size and breadth of your study, you might not need much in terms of technology – but you will always need a lot of human capital. That being said, there are a few tried and true staples that are beneficial in all market research projects.
Below are a few important things for launching any successful market research project:
Questions & Goals
Before you can effectively launch any type of market research initiative, it’s necessary to have a firm understanding of what your business is trying to learn/achieve. Before beginning any project, it’s necessary to be able to clearly articulate your specific research questions. Without developing specific questions, research often becomes tangential and useless at building a better business.
Develop Specific Research Methods
Research methods are simply a very specific set of plans that designate how the research will be conducted. After you’ve developed your questions, it’s time to develop very specific methods. Research is not the time to shoot from the hip or initiate half-cocked plans. Every good market
research strategy requires a specific set of plans or methods for collecting and interpreting data.
Having well-defined methods in place will guarantee that you’re collecting the proper data to answer your questions, and will maximize the value of conducting research.
An Experienced Team and/or Team Leader
Market research sometimes appears to be simple; however, just because something looks simple it doesn’t mean that it’s actually easy. Having a research team that’s experienced, primarily composed of individuals that have received professional training, will ensure that you’re collecting valid data.
There are many tiny nuances that can greatly impact your data collection; we recommend that you speak with an expert, but if you’re eager to learn more on your own you should consider picking up a book on market research or behavioral science methods. Paying for an experienced team might be costly upfront, but it will be beneficial to your bottom line in the long run.
Participants
If you want to do any kind of primary data collection—such as interviews, surveys, focus groups, etc.—you’re going to need to find people to participate in those projects. Participant recruitment can be the trickiest part of your data collection. Never forget, it’s important that you do your best to capture a representative sample of your target customer. If your customers are females aged 34-40, your participants should fall into that category; similarly, if your primary customers are outdoor runners, then you need to include runners from a variety of different backgrounds.
As a rule of thumb, descriptive surveys require 100+ participants, while descriptive interviews will require 30+ participants. But these are just the minimums, the more people participate in your study the more data you will have!
Software
You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Computer software has made life easier for many aspects of data collection and interpretation. For example, if you want to launch an online survey there are several software packages to consider (Qualtrics, Survey Monkey, etc.), for focus groups you can use transcription software, and for secondary data analysis, there’s software that can help you sort through big data.
That being said, some of these software packages are not user-friendly and can be expensive for small businesses to afford. If you foresee your business regularly conducting market research, investing in these software packages can be extremely beneficial.
Location
The old saying “location, location, location” has never been truer. If you’re collecting data in person, you need to pick a location that provides you access to an accurate sampling of your target audience. Oftentimes, unless you’re running a small study, it’s necessary to collect data at multiple locations to accurately reflect your target customers. Admittedly, negotiating for access to venues can be difficult, but it’s important that you don’t settle on subpar locations.
If you’re launching an online study that doesn’t require a physical location, you still need to think
about when/where/how the link to your study can be distributed. Oftentimes, businesses indiscriminately e-mail blast everyone they can possibly put on a list. This approach will get you results sometimes, but oftentimes businesses benefit from a more thoughtful distribution process.
Patience
Patience is a necessary virtue when conducting research. Remember, data collection is something that occurs over time. Small studies sometimes generate information that is immediately groundbreaking, but oftentimes market research requires some time to understand the bigger picture. Don’t get focused on preliminary findings that only explain the tip of an iceberg, have the patience to let research develop and tell the whole story.
So, what are the things you need for market research? To start, you need to develop specific questions that are beneficial for your business. Good questions form the foundation for great research. Be concise and specific while developing your research methodology, this will prevent you from going off track and developing useless data. After that, all you need is a solid team of researchers to find participants that are relevant to your business. There’s also a variety of software that will assist in processing the data from your market research, it’s often worth the investment to save you time in the long-run.
But at the end of the day, all you really need for market research is people. Never forget, human capital is the cornerstone of all research.
7 Questions to Ask Before Choosing a Market Research Agency
A cursory Google search will reveal dozens, and potentially hundreds, of market research agencies vying for your business. This is why choosing a market research agency can be difficult. It is especially difficult if your company does not have anyone who has experienced with conducting research.
Narrowing down which agency to choose can be tricky, and there are a number of things to consider when selecting the right one. Price will obviously be a deciding factor for many businesses, but you should never select a company based on price alone. This article is meant to give you an insight into how to choose a market research company.
Below, we’ve listed a number of questions that you should ask your market research agency before signing the contract. If a company doesn’t have adequate answers, move on to the next. There are plenty of other agencies who will be able to find out what you need:
Do the Research
What is your process for designing and implementing research?
Any research firm should be able to walk you through their research process from start to finish. It might not know every detail of what the project is going to entail (yet), but they should be able to easily explain how project design and implementation. It should be apparent who will do the research design, data collection, data analysis, and results collation.
Who will be conducting the physical research?
If you’re considering contracting a research firm, the work history of their employees should not be a secret. It should be very clear what employees are the “boots on the ground” collecting data on behalf of your company, and what makes those individuals qualified to conduct research. You have to feel confident that the research firm you choose has experienced staff that is equipped for the tasks ahead of them. What is your hiring process for choosing research personnel?
Is your firm experienced with conducting research in different cultures? Do you have an example?
Regardless of your company’s location or target audience, it’s important to hire an agency that has worked with diverse demographics. Throughout the course of any study—large or small, researchers encounter individuals from different backgrounds and cultures. If a research team isn’t prepared to account for cross-cultural variation, it’s likely that they will overlook important factors impacting the study being conducted. Further, having a team with cross-cultural experience will help them avoid making potentially offensive mistakes while representing your company.
Don’t be afraid to ask for an example of a company’s cross-cultural experience. There’s a big difference between researchers that have a theoretical understanding of cross-cultural work and those that have actual real-world experience working abroad in different environments.
Can I have access to the raw data as the study progresses?
It’s important that the consulting firm you choose is transparent with all the steps of the research process. Part of that transparency is giving you access to the raw data whenever want to see it. Even if you’re not highly skilled in scrubbing or analyzing data, having access to the raw figures is a way to stay involved and keep the market research team honest with their work.
What is your data cleaning process?
Many good studies have been ruined by poor data management. It’s certainly not the most exciting aspect of conducting research, but it is extremely important. All data needs to be “cleaned” or “scrubbed”. Cleaning data most commonly entails looking for duplicate data, scanning the data for unusual or unexplained outliers, and carefully logging any changes or corrections that might need to be made to the data. Data cleaning can be extremely tedious and not everyone is familiar with how to properly scrub data. For this reason, data cleaning is sometimes skipped over by the research team—this is a terrible mistake and can sometimes have huge consequences for the results of research.
How will the summary of results be presented?
Before you ever sign a contract with a research firm, it should be clear how you will be receiving the results of the study. Companies obviously can’t tell you the results of research that hasn’t been conducted, but it should be clear how you’ll be receiving the final report. Will there be a brief write-up, a slideshow presentation in your office, or a Skype conversation explaining your research outcomes? You need to discuss these details before you decide to sign with a company. It’s important that information is presented in a way that works best for your company.
Has the research firm ever worked in your industry before?
It sometimes helps to work with a research firm that has launched products in your industry. This isn’t always necessary because many of the tenets of good research remain the same regardless of the type of industry you’re working with.
If a company has some experience in your industry (or a closely related field) they might already be familiar with some of the hurdles specific to your company’s work.
Get the Best Results
Don’t be afraid to ask questions about the market research team you’ll be hiring! It’s the job of a good research team to seek answers to your questions; therefore, they should be capable of answering the very basic queries we’ve laid out above.
Leave It To the Pros: The Top Reasons to Outsource Digital Marketing
Today, businesses of all sizes must prioritize their marketing efforts or face losing clients to the competition. This means business owners and upper management must make tough decisions regarding advertising strategies.
Organizations now have a multitude of ways to reach their target audience. However, doing so takes time, resources, and expertise.
If you’re considering trying to handle your marketing initiatives in-house, you may want to reconsider. Outsourcing digital marketing services will put you in a much better position.
Let’s go over the top benefits of handing the job over to the pros.
The Right Tools
In addition to experience and know-how, professionals also have the right tools. This includes the technology needed for research, implementation, and tracking.
Sure, these tools are available to you as well, but they’re costly. Plus, understanding how to use them is no easy task.
Another thing to consider is marketing technology is always changing. Keeping up with new software and digital marketing trends is a full-time job.
By outsourcing, you get dedicated experts who devote themselves to staying up-to-date on the latest tools and strategies needed to expose your business to more people.
Save Time and Money
Paying for outsourced marketing may seem counterproductive when trying to manage your budget. However, you need to consider your return on investment.
Professionals will take a proactive approach when attracting new business. Trying to do this yourself will take twice as long and be much less effective.
In addition, by relying on a third-party service, you’re taking all marketing responsibilities away from your staff. This means they remain focused on day-to-day operations.
Clear Analytics
One of the most important aspects of marketing campaigns is analyzing their success. Doing so helps you determine how to approach future digital marketing initiatives.
Tracking and analyzing the data from email campaigns, web traffic, and social media promotions is difficult. It takes ample experience to understand the numbers.
By outsourcing your marketing, you’ll have professionals overseeing your campaigns. They can explain marketing metrics in a way you’ll understand. They’ll also be able to propose changes based on hard data.
If you keep this process in-house, you run the risk of generating convoluted data you don’t understand.
Ongoing Success
Remaining competitive requires consistency. You can’t afford to put your marketing efforts on hold for any reason.
Most industries have peak seasons and periods of slowdown. This can lead to inconsistent marketing if you’re handling things in-house.
By outsourcing, you ensure your marketing strategy is always in effect. A team of experts is constantly working to optimize your online presence and keep your business in front of consumers’ eyes.
This will provide peace of mind that your marketing efforts aren’t getting neglected. You can then focus 100% of your attention on improving your operation.
Outsource Your Digital Marketing Services Today
Don’t run the risk of subpar marketing by taking on the task yourself. Instead, hand the job over to a company dedicated to providing top-notch digital marketing services.
If continued growth and a streamlined operation are important to you, opt for outsourcing today.
We provided a wide range of advertising and marketing solutions for businesses of all sizes. Contact us to discuss your options.
What Is the Role of Digital Marketing in Your Business Growth Plan?
Are you looking to get instant marketing results to grow your business? If so, how do you achieve this at a low cost? For every small business, achieving growth in a cost-efficient way is the ultimate priority. This means every dollar you spend on your growth plan matters.
To obtain instant results, your business must embrace a marketing strategy that’s versatile, results-oriented and quantifiable. Does digital marketing fit this bill? What’s the role of digital marketing in your business growth plan?
Find out here why you should include digital marketing in your business growth plan.
1. Advanced Analytics
You need to adopt a marketing strategy that can be analyzed to determine success rates.
Through digital marketing, you can find out how many customers saw your ads. You’re able to tell how many potential customers interacted with the post, including those who liked or shared it.
You can also tell what makes these individuals likely to take action and who’s easiest to convince. All this is easily attained with free analytics. You can also choose to use paid tools to gain more insight.
2. Scalability
Just like traditional marketing, you need initial investment to attract traffic on digital marketing. But its advantage becomes evident when you see how easy it is to scale and adapt as your business grows.
For instance, with search ads, display ads, and social media campaigns, you can choose a daily or weekly budget. You can tell how much the advertisement costs your business.
When you begin to see the results you wanted, you can increase your advertising budget. Video marketing is a great way to increase traffic on your website.
Check out this post on how to boost your website’s traffic with video marketing to find out more.
3. More Targeted Marketing
Unless you have a huge budget for marketing, you may struggle to reach wide demographics. However, digital marketing enables you to whittle huge demographics into targeted groups. This will give you opportunity to focus on specific population.
Identifying your target audience allows you narrow down the focus of your marketing efforts.
4. Increased Conversion Rates
If you run a small business without huge financial resources, then you need an advertising channel that’s budget friendly.
Traditional channels such as bus benches, TV, billboards, and radio can be too expensive. Plus, they don’t offer you a way of telling how many people saw your advertisement.
A well-planned and executed digital marketing strategy makes sure every dollar you spend offers a chance of converting a new client.
This is why you can rely on a small budget to bring significant impact.
Learn More About the Role of Digital Marketing in Business Growth Today
The role of digital marketing in your business growth plan can’t be overlooked. Digital marketing not only helps your business grow but also gives it the competitive advantage it needs to sustain the growth.
A successful digital marketing strategy promotes your company brand while fostering customer loyalty. Customers develop a sense of attachment to your business and they’ll seek to do business with you.
At Harness Consulting, we offer a range of digital marketing solutions for businesses.
Contact us to learn more about our services.
B2B Marketing: 5 Tips to Start 2019
Marketing can be challenging.
Especially if you're competing for a limited number of eyeballs in a competitive space like business to business marketing.
If you want to stay on top of your marketing game in 2019, keep reading for a few timely B2B marketing tips.
Revisit Your Digital Presence
Despite the constantly shifting tides of marketing trends, your website should still be the hub of your marketing efforts.
If you haven't updated your brand's website in a while, now is a good time to look it over and explore how you could optimize the design and content.
Are you clearly conveying your story?
Can customers easily engage with and understand your company?
These are just a few of the questions you should be asking as you reassess your website in 2019.
Content is Still King
In the digital marketing space, content is not dead.
If your business relies on your website and a strong digital presence, you need strong content now more than ever. While the competition has increased in this area, the necessity has not decreased.
Stay active on your website by producing good actionable content that your business to business clients and prospects will find useful.
Stay Social
Whether you're running a B2B or a B2C operation, social media is still one of the best ways to connect with your customers.
With over 500 million users now on LinkedIn and another 2 billion on Facebook, there is no shortage of potential customers to connect with.
For B2B marketing, LinkedIn is a very tool. It allows you to directly connect with others in specific fields and jobs. This makes it very easy for you to track down exactly who you need to get in touch with to make a sale.
Don't count Facebook and Twitter out either. Facebook ads generally have a very high ROI, even for B2B marketers.
Automate, Automate, Automate
In 2019, if you're not automating your marketing, you're missing out ... big time.
The tools for marketing automation are more powerful than ever and easier to use than ever before. From email to your website to social media, you can track and interact with leads without lifting a finger.
Use the power of inbound marketing in 2019 and automate your marketing cycle with powerful email and other marketing tools.
What About Search?
Although it's now more competitive than ever, SEO is still one of the most important pieces in a successful marketing strategy.
With trillions of searches made on Google every year, it's clear that individuals are using search to find everything from new shoes, to local restaurants, to solutions providers for their business.
Don't let your search optimization slip in 2019.
Putting It All Together
B2B Marketing doesn't have to be difficult.
If you can be consistent with a few simple principles, you'll continue to reach more customers and expand the reach of your organization.
But, if you're having trouble gaining traction, you're not alone. Get in touch with us today to learn how we can help optimize your marketing efforts.
How to Create a Powerful Digital Marketing Strategy
Are you in charge of your company's digital marketing strategy? Do you know what actionable content is bringing your company success? Better yet, do you know what comes next?
Identifying trends, creating relevant content, and keeping your finger on the pulse of the customer is crucial to creating a successful digital marketing plan. Read on to learn more about what works, how you can create a successful campaign for your business, and when to call it quits on a method that no longer works.
Identify Your Customer
One of the biggest hurdles in the digital marketing world is understanding the customer. What do they want? Who do they listen to? Where do they go to discover new things?
Naturally, some distances are more difficult to bridge than others. If you're marketing at millennials, immerse yourself in their world. If you're marketing a product for children, talk to teachers, childcare workers, or data.
Not knowing what's cool (or worse, what rings trite with customers) can be the kiss of death for your digital marketing strategy.
Create Solid Goals
In order for your marketing campaign to be a success, you need to define your goals. You can't be successful if no one knows where the bar is.
Set a sales goal or target click-through rate. Find a way to quantify the success of your new campaigns. Rank your methods. Reach out to influencers within your niche.
Stay true to your brand and reward employees that exceed expectations. Find what works and know when to change course when an outdated strategy is no longer relevant.
Companies who refuse to let go of old methods are doomed to failure in today's fast-paced digital marketing world. What worked last year may no longer be relevant.
To find success, you need to follow the customer wherever they go to consume digital marketing content. Change platforms, networks, and strategies if you want to keep your product in the eye-line of the consumer.
Learn from Your Mistakes
Made a mistake? Great. Now you know.
While employees should be held accountable for their work ethic and ability to collaborate with others, routine failures are normal when fine-tuning a digital marketing strategy.
Innovation requires some risk-taking. Exploring new markets and giving new ideas a shot are two concepts essential to digital strategy.
Let the data guide you and take care not to blow your whole budget on any one method. Setting aside a separate budget for exploratory advertising can be a great idea too.
Spy on Your Competitors & Learn from Their Successes
Keep your eye on the competition. If your competitors are scaling at breakneck pace or getting great engagement on social media, do a little digging.
Are your competitors investing heavily in social media marketing campaigns like Instagram story ads? Are they relying heavily on influencer marketing? Ad-words?
Look for the similarities in the successes of your competitors... then find a way to do it better.
Digital Marketing Strategy and What It Means for You
Still unsure of what you need to do to make your digital marketing strategy a success? You aren't alone.
Fortunately, we're here to help. Visit our blog for more helpful ideas to help you make a digital marketing plan that works. Let our experts help guide your next viral campaign.
We're ready to help and cheer on your successes.
Top 5 Digital Marketing Trends to Look Out for in 2019
You need digital marketing savvy if you are hoping to compete in today's landscape.
When you fail to adapt to the digital marketing trends of the day, your company will always be struggling to stay relevant. Thankfully, you don't have to be clueless when it comes to getting the word out about your business.
The five trends below will be useful to you when you are trying to leave your mark and attract more business.
Starting a Blog
When you want your small business to have a big web presence, starting a blog is the way to go about it.
Who would have thought that something that largely began as a means to have a personal journal, has grown into one of the most worthwhile marketing tools on the planet?
Today, you can really market yourself when you talk to your public via blog posts. By publishing 4 to 5 times per week (or as much as possible), you offer lots of value, improve search engine optimization (SEO) and set yourself apart from the rest.
What's more, this is the beginning of a monetization strategy that can bring you lots of revenue.
Artificial Intelligence Bots
Artificial intelligence (AI) is here to stay, and will have an even bigger reach in 2019.
Chat bots allow you to interact with potential customers without having to do a single thing. Your AI will draw in valuable information and speak to them, so you can virtually be everywhere at once.
With these chat bots available around the clock, you never have to worry about missing out on potential customers.
Creating a Plethora of Video Content
The possibilities are endless with video marketing, and there are several ways to go about it.
This is one of the most important forms of digital marketing right now, and you can keep your business growing when you really learn to do it. Video puts a face with a name, so that you are able to spread content across the web and on your terms.
Making Mobile the Foundation
The number of mobile users in the United States is set to hit close to 5 billion by 2019.
Because of this, you aren't truly reaching everyone if you aren't thinking mobile. Optimize your site, develop a mobile app, use text marketing and do everything you can to communicate on this platform.
Getting Lots of Great Reviews
Great reviews will make it so that your reputation always precedes you.
Sweeten the pot by rewarding your customers for leaving you positive reviews. The more quality reviews you have, the higher your brand recognition will be as a whole.
Prioritize These Digital Marketing Trends
When it comes to digital marketing trends, let these five get you started. Focusing on these strategies will be helpful to your company in 2019 and beyond, no matter what field you work in.
Digital marketing is a process that pays off when you go about it the right way. Touch base with us to learn more about our work and how we can help you out.
Why Small Businesses Need to Embrace Digital Marketing
Almost half of all businesses don't have a digital marketing plan in place. Is your company among them?
If so, you need to make some moves. Small business digital marketing is essential for scaling your business in 2018. Advertising is on its way out, and digital marketing is taking the world by storm.
Want to learn more about digital marketing for small businesses, and how to create an effective online marketing plan? Read on to learn more about the importance of digital marketing strategies for small businesses.
It's the Way of the Future
83% of businesses report that their digital marketing tactics are working to grow their business. There's no denying that we live in a digital economy today. Smartphones are so pervasive that people spend 24 hours per week staring at their phone.
In the twenty-first century, you'll find people on digital outlets more than anywhere else. In the past, car passengers would certainly read bus stop benches as they zoomed past on the highway. Now, they stay occupied by the phones in their pockets.
Same goes for other popular forms of advertising, like newspapers, for instance. Every major news outlet has an app now, so people turn to their phones to get the latest news. It's easy, digestible, and usually free.
Even magazines are turning more and more toward digital publication. You'll find fewer places to place print ads in 2018. Those ads won't get beneath nearly as many people's eyes as digital strategies, either.
Connect with Your Ideal Client
One of the most potent uses of digital marketing strategies is to connect you to your ideal client. Digital marketing offers ways to market directly toward the exact demographic you're trying to target. Traditional advertising methods don't allow this direct targeting method.
Here's a social media marketing example. On Instagram, you can find hashtags that your ideal clients are searching on the app. Once you see these hashtags, you can begin to use them on your posts to reach that demographic.
Here's another example relevant to content marketing. By writing a blog and hosting it on your website, you can attract organic leads that are interested in what you have to say.
With some light research, you'll be able to find the questions your client base is asking online. From there, you can even tailor your blog topics to answer those questions directly. With some search engine optimization, this can land your potential clients right onto your website.
Your Small Business Digital Marketing Plan
Digital marketing is the only way to scale your business in 2018. As old traditional advertising methods die out, small business digital marketing has become a much stronger alternative. It's also the best way to reach your target demographic directly.
Want to learn more about how to dive into online marketing for small businesses? We can help there.
We specialize in inbound and video marketing, two of the most significant branch of digital marketing today. Get in touch to find out how we can help you scale your business!
5 Ways to Use Video to Better Your Social Media Marketing
According to Social Media Today, video posts on Facebook have 135% greater organic reach than photo posts. Videos yield crazy engagement on social platforms...and there’s no slowing down. More people are consuming videos from their mobile devices at alarming rates, so it’s critical you position your brand to capitalize on this movement.
Adding video to your social media marketing offers huge benefits such as increased brand exposure, better follower engagement, and more opportunities to drive traffic to your web pages. Your audience will appreciate the variety you bring to their newsfeeds while giving an alternate approach to engaging in your content.
So, give the people what they want more—video!
Five different ways to incorporate video into your social media marketing
#1 Your Story is Important. Share it!
Storytelling is a time-tested tactic that works great at pulling your audience into your brand message. People connect with you through your story. It helps you establish common ground with your followers, making you relatable and real. Stories also separate you from other brands which give you that competitive edge in the industry.
Humanize your brand by communicating its story on video. Delve into the “why.” Who do you desire to inspire and what problems are you solving through your products? What charitable contributions do you make to your community? Share what motivates your team to get up and go every morning. Sharing your story will add greater meaning and purpose when people do business with you.
#2 Offer Short Instructional Videos for Your Followers
An excellent move to promote your brand with social video is to create short, instructional videos demonstrating how your products can be used to solve a problem for the viewer. How-to videos are beneficial because you’re showing people how to achieve a specific result. As a result, you’ll keep viewers engaged while strategically placing your brand in front of your social following.
Reduce your video to the most basic steps of the process then speed up your video in production (editing), so it only lasts for about 30 seconds. These social video snippet can be product-related or simply something relevant to your niche. The beauty is they quickly solve a pain point for users.
#3 Answer Questions
Consider the FAQs that often hit your inboxes or are typically prompted by your prospects. These are excellent content pieces for your blog, email campaign, social media posts, and of course, videos. You see, you’re giving the people exactly what they want because these inquiries derived from your audience. By addressing their questions, you’ll boost thought-leadership and be viewed as an expert in the industry. Plus, it gives you endless content to share across your marketing platforms.
Enhance your credibility by posting videos that highlight one question then offers an in-depth response. Since many social users are leveraging search as a way to connect and discover new brands, be sure to include keywords or hashtags that your audience is actively searching for. Whereas hashtags reign on networks like Instagram and Twitter, keywords perform better on Facebook, YouTube, and Pinterest.
#4 Go Live!
Live-streaming platforms such as Facebook Live, Periscope, and Instagram Stories are driving tons of engagement on social media. There’s something special about connecting with someone in real-time. People get to see and experience the real you! Live videos quickly build trust and can accelerate your brand’s presence fast on social media.
Use these tools to your full advantage. Invite followers into your world by taking them behind-the-scenes at the office, in the field, or company event to share a taste of your brand’s culture. Host live Q&A sessions where you give your audience a chance to ask you anything industry or product related to getting on-the-spot responses. Report breaking news and share your insight and opinion of the matter...give your followers a chance to do the same to foster conversations.
Commit to making live-streaming a regular content strategy in your social media marketing. With consistency, you’ll experience a significant boost in engagement and followership.
#5 Highlight Fan Content
Did you know that 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation? Positive testimonials and reviews are killer ways to foster trust with your audience especially those who haven’t heard of you before. Prospects want to see if your products or services genuinely bring results. Sharing others experiences with your brand is a great way to show it!
With that said, use your fan’s content as a form of an online review. User-generated content can be creatively compiled into one video as a promotional tool or multiple videos to build up your content vault. Give users credit by mentioning them in the post. Growing this strategy can prove to be a valuable tactic in your inbound marketing as you highlight your customers and give social proof that you’re making a difference.
Don’t Get Left Behind
The numbers and stats prove that people enjoy videos on social media. Its popularity has caused brands to tailor their social strategy accordingly to meet the demands of today’s consumer. Use these tips to better your social media marketing and give the people what they want!
Ready to amplify your social media marketing with video? We know how to create compelling video marketing campaigns that humanize your brand and gives you the slight edge. Reach out to us today and let’s chat!