With every company and startup business wanting to promote their products online, starting and managing social media campaigns have become more challenging than ever.
Cashing in on the online marketing phenomenon, there are a number of tools that have come up in recent times to manage your social media campaigns.
But what does it actually take to build an online audience that is not made up of dead likes or follows? How do you keep your online audience engaged?
The answer lies in your ability to create content that will keep your online audience hooked on to your product, for a sustained period.
The content that you create for your social media campaign follows two primary strategies:
- Make the content product-oriented – this involves gathering a host of already tried and tested content that works in your product segment and give it your identity.
- Make the content audience oriented – do a thorough analysis of your online audience, find out their demographics and interests to create content, and measure your content marketing efforts.
Ultimately the content that you create should be a perfect blend of the two strategies for an audience.
Here are a few ways you can use to build a better social media audience.
Unleash the Power of Social Media Paid Advertising
Social media paid advertising is a great way of reaching out to a larger audience. Advertising models, such as PPC, charges you a small fee for every follower that you get on your social media page.
More and more companies are allotting a large portion of their marketing capital to this model.
However, social media paid advertising will not help you get an engaging audience unless your content is spot on. The content that is displayed via these models should be crafted to attract a particular audience.
Here are a few ways you can maximize your content to get new followers:
- Display your strong points in a concise and attractive way.
- Create relevant contests and prizes that will increase the chances of your content being shared.
- Smart discount offers on your products that will bring in a larger audience.
One main thing to keep in mind is to keep the content product detail. Contests and prizes, if any, should also be related to you product and desired audience.
For example, if you are a core technology company, organizing a nature-themed photography contest might not get you the online audience you desire.
Focus on creating something that is specific to the technology you are manufacturing.
Whether you engage in a tech meet-up for budding technology experts or host a gathering of some of the best technology minds in the business for an interactive session that reaches out to your particular online audience.
Deliver Value via Content Curation
Getting access to a mass audience is one thing, but keeping that online audience engaged is quite another. Once you have a suitably large audience, you have to make sure you produce regular content that will keep them hooked on.
Content Curation has two main aims:
- Keeping the current audience engaged.
- Increasing the chances of organic followers.
Scour the web for all sorts of information and topics that your audience will enjoy. Three main factors to keep in mind while selecting content are the demographics, geography and diversity of your audience.
Remember that the audience that might like your products may be from all over the world and different schools of thought.
Set a certain percentage of how much content should be product related and how much should be just for the reading pleasure of your audience.
Guest Posting and Thought Leadership Campaigns
The success of a product gets elevated the moment the audience respects the company’s leaders.
One good way to develop trust with your audience is for the heads of the company to establish themselves as thought leaders.
This may seem like a time-consuming activity, but the effect it has on audience engagement is phenomenal. You can do this through email marketing campaigns, blog posts or even through your personal social media pages.
However, these posts should not be designed as a direct marketing campaign.
Here are a few tips to follow while developing a thought leadership campaign:
- Never promote your product directly – rather talk about how you believe the product segment that you operate in is adding value to the world.
- Empathize with your audience- remember these posts are about how you want your audience to perceive you. Talk about the various problems of your audience; encourage them to engage with you on a personal level as well.
- Inspire your audience and give them food for thought.
Establishing yourself as a thought leader will in turn make people write about you, invite you to conferences to present talks and look to you for inspiration.
All this goes a long way in adding value to your personal brand.
Attracting a relevant and engaged audience is the key to the success of any business online. Follow these simple ideas and watch as your online engagement spirals positively upwards.
And remember, the real trick is to keep engaging your audience with new and innovative content that will grab their attention and turn them into brand loyalists.
