by Fronetics | Mar 8, 2019 | Blog, Marketing, Social Media
Take note: Brands in the supply chain are not immune to these social media mistakes.
Highlights:
- There will be over 3 billion social media users by 2021.
- Not knowing your audience can cripple your efforts.
- Social media is about connecting – not promoting.
Approximately 81% of small and medium businesses use a social platform. And we all understand why. By 2021, it is estimated that there will be around 3.02 billion social media users around the globe. That’s a lot of potential customers.
It’s easy to see why companies are jumping on the social media bandwagon. And there’s no disputing that social mediais an effective way to increase brand awareness and generate leads. But it can be virtually useless if your company isn’t doing it right.
Are you making any social media mistakes? Check out our list of the biggest blunders we see companies making to find out.
4 social media mistakes supply chain brands are still making
(Made with Canva)
Mistake #1: Not knowing the audience
You’d be surprised how often we find that brands don’t have a clear idea of their audience on social media. This covers everything from knowing when followers are active to what content hits home with them to other interests followers might have. You need to know who you’re talking to before you start creating and sharing content on social media.
So how do you figure out your audience? First, it’s important to create a detailed description of your target buyer persona – including location, education level, role in the industry, needs and concerns, and anything else that’s relevant. Next — and we can’t say it enough — engage with your audience! Participate in discussions, encourage comments, and pay attention to what your followers are telling you.
Mistake #2: Using objectives instead of strategy
Social media platforms are continually making changes and updates to improve the user experience. In order to weather these changes and keep your audience engaged, it’s imperative to have a clear strategy that includes types of content, frequency, and pillar topics. Posts should reflect your brand, so make sure posts follow style guidelines and reflect your specific tone.
A strategy will also help achieve ROI. Social Media Examiner’s 2018 Social Media Marketing Industry Report found that only 44% of marketers agree that they know how to measure social media ROI. That means two-thirds of marketers don’t know whether or how much their marketing efforts are paying off when it comes to the use of social media. A strategy that incorporates defined goals, tracking, and measuring will help prove ROI and improve your social media presence.
Mistake #3: Using the most popular social media platforms
Not all social media platforms are created equal. In fact, all social media channels have a differentiating quality that makes them appealing to specific audiences.
Start by identifying where your target audience is spending their time. For example, 81% of millennials view their Twitter account on a daily basis. If your company is looking to capture millennials as leads, your social media efforts should certainly include Twitter.
Once you’ve determined where you should be posting, concentrate on creating content that caters to those specific platforms. Lots of companies post the same content across all of the apps they use. We understand how easy that is for marketers, especially with automation tools. But the foundation of social engagement is authenticity, something that is hard to achieve when posts are the same across all channels. Work to create content — including video and images — that caters to specific platforms to build brand awareness and loyalty.
Mistake #4: Promoting instead of connecting
This one may be the cardinal sin of social media. These platforms are all about engagement. Users don’t want to engage with brands that are pushing their products and services. Users want informative, interesting, and, yes, even fun content. Companies need to focus on creating content that leaves their users wanting more.
[bctt tweet=”Users don’t want to engage with brands that are pushing their products and services. Users want informative, interesting, and, yes, even fun content. ” username=”Fronetics”]
Companies that are succeeding on social media are finding innovative and creative ways to relate to users. When you engage and get users involved in your story, you create long-lasting customer relationships. Storytelling creates an emotional bond with your company and drives brand loyalty.
Greg Hadden, executive creative director of Motive Made Studios, sums up the power of connecting with users: “What often gets lost is the fact that good storytelling is potent stuff. It has the power to make people want to believe and to belong, which is the goal of all storytellers. We’re all selling something, be it an idea, an exploration of the human condition, or say, a vacuum cleaner. It’s no mistake perhaps that good stories often create products.”
What social media mistakes do you try and avoid?
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by Fronetics | Apr 2, 2018 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Marketing, Social Media, Supply Chain
If you’re looking to increase your brand awareness, and quickly, here are 10 tricks to accelerate your efforts.
If you took Psychology 101 in school (or even if you didn’t), you know that people are more likely to buy from brand names they’re familiar with than those they don’t know. This goes for purchasing things like medicine, and for procuring components or parts as part of the supply chain.
That’s why so many of our clients come to us looking to build brand awareness as one of their main goals. They want to customers to know about them — and sooner rather than later.
Particularly if your business is new, you’re trying to change an existing market perception, or you have to make your marketing dollars work fast to meet a boss’ deadline, you need to grow brand awareness quickly. We’ve got some ideas to accelerate your efforts.
10 tricks to grow brand awareness quickly
1) Instagram Stories
Instagram Stories is an on-trend platform that delivers targeted content to B2B buyers and builds brand awareness with potential customers. This feature consists of sequences of content that a user posts over a 24-hour period. Besides photos, Stories can include video and Boomerangs, seconds-long motion clips that play forwards and backwards.
2) Partner with other brands
Creating a promotional partnership with a brand that is ancillary to your role in the supply chain can be a huge boost to your brand awareness, if you choose wisely in your partnership. You benefit from its image and reputation and build collegiality.
3) Start content partnerships
Again, this is all about leveraging other people’s audiences to spread the word about your brand. Reach out to the blogs or media sites your target buyers frequent to see if you can author a post for them. Invite them to guest author on your blog. Basically, create two-way content partnerships where you will ensure that your brand’s name will come across the screens of target buyers.
4) Make sharing easy
This is a great way to let your successes go to work for you. Make it easy for your audience and followers to share your content with their networks. Give them sharing options for email, social media — heck, put share links on anything and everything. Social media is a powerful tool in building your brand. Don’t underuse it.
5) Hold social media contests
Everybody loves to win a contest. Use your social media platforms to create contests in which followers submit a photo or video, and let other users vote for their favorites. Contestants will share the link with their networks, and your brand awareness grows exponentially.
6) Try paid social advertising
Facebook and Twitter ads are relatively cheap, and both platforms do a great job of making sure your content gets to your target audience. You can set metrics and customize your preferences for a targeted audience in a variety of ways. It’s one of the most effective ways to grow brand awareness quickly with a very particular audience, though you have to pay to play.
7) Infographics
These are eye-catching and colorful ways to display interesting data and statistics, and are often overlooked for the content powerhouses they are. They’re prime candidates to be shared far and wide on social media.
8) Personality
Having a memorable personality for your brand isn’t just for B2C companies. While you don’t need to hire the Old Spice Guy, letting your content have a voice and perspective is important. Buyers want to know they’re dealing with a human being.
9) Podcasts
Starting your own industry podcast, perhaps interviewing your own executives and other industry experts, is a great way to build your brand and simultaneously develop relationships with your supply chain peers.
10) Become a resource
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Your most important asset is your knowledge and expertise, not your products and services. Content marketing is all about being a trusted resource for your audience. Ditch the blatant sales pitch in your content and think about how you can help your target buyers instead.
How do you grow brand awareness quickly?
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by Fronetics | Jan 24, 2018 | Blog, Content Marketing, Current Events, Logistics, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy, Supply Chain
Companies in the supply chain and logistics industries should take note of these top social media trends in 2018.
While we don’t know what 2018 has in store for companies in the supply chain and logistics industries, we do know change is coming. That is true not only in terms of the economy and your business, but also for the marketing tools you use. Of course, ever-evolving social media platforms are an important part of that.
We already know that Facebook News Feed will be making some big changes this year. What other platforms or types of media will be hot? What will your industry peers and competitors be trying in 2018? As we dive into the new year, it’s important to be aware of the social media trends that will dominate the next 12 months so you can incorporate them where you are able.
As always, good content will be as important as ever. With over one million new-data-producing social media users each day, high-quality content is the only way to stand out from the masses. But we also think you should pay attention to a few social media trends that we have highlighted in the following video. We’re certainly planning to adjust our strategy and those of our clients to consider these things.
As you start to strategize for 2018, and beyond, be sure to consider these social media trends in your content marketing plans.
Top social media trends for 2018
Make sure to follow our blog for our monthly social media news posts to stay updated on the latest platform updates. And feel free to reach out to us with questions or if you would like to see a certain social media trend covered on our blog.
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