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10 Killer Social Media Strategy Examples

Whether or not you should be doing social media marketing is no longer the question. Over half of the world’s population has a social media account. In other words, excuses along the lines of “my target audience doesn’t use social media” no longer fly.

Instead, try asking the more important (and potentially more fun) question of “What can I do to make my social media strategy a success?”.

There’s a vast number of answers to that question, so in this post, we’ll take a look at ten examples of media strategy. They may be simple, elaborate, ingenious – but they most certainly work.

In no particular order, here we go:

1. Be Funny

A lot of people spend a lot of time on social media simply looking to be entertained. True, they may also be looking for a recommendation for something or catching up with their friends and favorite influencers. But a lot of that “aimless” scrolling comes down to looking for something that will make their day a bit brighter.

As a brand, you are (fortunately) able to do quite a bit to warrant a chuckle or an outright laugh.

However, do make sure that your comedic voice is in line with your brand. For instance, if you’re part of a successful law firm, you’ll need to adjust the humor to match your business. You don’t want to come off as a band of jokesters, and you still want to maintain your professionalism.

A brand that does social media humor exceedingly well has got to be Oreo. Their Tweets are funny, they’re incredibly good at speaking up and jumping on the latest trends, and they’re not afraid to take potshots at themselves.

2. Highlight Your Values

People love following brands that stand for something, that are trying to make a difference, that have a clear set of values they are not afraid to voice. In a sea of faceless corporations, showing that you care can make a world of difference. And we mean not only in the marketing sense but in that real-world, tangible sense that makes you more than just a brand.

Social media also just happens to be the perfect platform for highlighting these values. It enables you to gather a following of like-minded individuals who can help you spread your message and make the world a brighter place.

A campaign we’re all probably aware of is Dove’s #ShowUs project. Their aim to create a more inclusive vision of beauty that other advertisers and media companies can use is helping women and girls all over the world embrace their bodies as they are, as opposed to trying to fit into a specific social media-fueled mold.

social media strategy examplesSource: dove.com

3. Be Omnipresent

When it comes to the social media channels you choose to establish a presence on, there are two schools of thought you can follow. First, you can decide to register an account across a large range of platforms.

The downside to this tactic is that you will need to invest a lot of resources (most notably time) to maintain all of these profiles. However, if you choose not to actually try to post every day or nurture a specifically active presence, this tactic can prove to be a good one.

On the upside, you can run paid ads across multiple social media channels and get noticed by a wider audience. It also allows different audience profiles to get to know you through their favorite medium. Even if you don’t aim to rack up a large following, you will still be present where it matters.

This is what Mixam does: they have profiles across five social media platforms, and they’ve chosen them well. Facebook and Twitter provide good advertising options (and have been around so long that they’re practically a given).

social media strategy examples - 10 Killer Social Media Strategy Examples - 2Source: mixam.com

Instagram and YouTube allow them to showcase their very visual work. LinkedIn, of course, lends that level of professionalism as well.

4. Choose One Platform to Invest in

On the other hand, you can choose to focus on one platform and ignore all the others. This allows you to truly make an impact where it makes the most sense. It will demand fewer resources and you’ll create better campaigns, as there are fewer of them to think about.

Choosing the right platform is essential in this case. Take careful stock of your target audience, their interests, and the channels where you can best reach them.

A friendly piece of advice: even if you limit your actual presence to one network, do also create a profile on all the other major networks. It lends credibility to your brand and still allows people to find you (or at least check you out) where they like to hang out.

Spores has done just that. They give you eight ways to connect with them, yet their most managed and active profile is the one on Twitter. Here they retweet, share, and get involved in industry discussions, and they’ve garnered quite a bit of a following.

5. Make the Most of User-Generated Content

User-generated content can help your social media presence in a number of ways. For starters, it solves the immediate issue of not having anything to post. It also helps you widen your reach and establish a deeper connection with your audience. All in all, it humanizes your brand voice significantly.

How and how often you lean on this type of content will depend on your overarching strategy, but you can practically base your entire social media presence on content generated by others. This is what Made does almost exclusively: they share their customer’s posts featuring their products. Their Instagram clearly highlights what you need to do to get shared, and their customers love to be featured.

social media strategy examples - 10 Killer Social Media Strategy Examples - 3Source: instagram.com

The Everygirl does something similar, and they used to rely on the content of others quite heavily. Now their editorial team has taken to the Gram more often, but they’re still doing everyone whose image they share a huge favor, showcasing them in front of an audience of millions.

6. Use Medium as a Medium

With everyone doing something on social media, it can be quite difficult to stand out and make your presence felt. After all, everything has probably already been done before, and you can’t actually force things to go viral, can you?

However, there are still plenty of social networks (or at least networks) that you can use.

There’s Medium, for one. While regularly publishing posts on your own blog is certainly important from the SEO standpoint, by also publishing them on Medium, you’re instantly gaining access to a huge audience.

You can use the canonical tag if you’re posting the exact same posts. Or, you can adapt your writing to the platform’s audience and talk about issues you don’t write about on the website.

Optimal Workshop leverages Medium well, as they publish very interesting posts on topics that will certainly spark interest. The blog on their site is just as useful, but it naturally gets less traffic than the publishing giant.

If the question now running through your mind involves ditching your own blog altogether, our advice is – don’t. You should always have at least one medium you are in complete control of – and Medium isn’t that.

7. Widen Your Influence

Influencer marketing done right can be the best sample social media strategy you choose to adopt. It widens your reach, increases your bottom line, and raises brand awareness. Plus, customers happen to trust influencers more than they trust brands.

However, you need to be very careful when choosing influencers to work with. You don’t want to be working with someone who is liable to endorse anything. Take Emily Faye Miller and Cam Holmes, participants in Netflix’s Too Hot To Handle. Both of them have done very well from their appearance on the show and are now promoting everything from drinks and apps to food delivery services.

While they may be incredibly popular, their influence is unstable. They might find they need to be more careful about the deals they make.

A brand that does influencer marketing super well is, of course, Gymshark. They work with an incredible number of fitness influencers, and they’ve practically written the book on influence in their industry.

social media strategy examples - 10 Killer Social Media Strategy Examples - 4Source: gymshark.com

Having a great product also helps, but their entire philosophy is based on selling a certain lifestyle and mindset, and they choose their influencers to match.

8. Entertain, Don’t Sell

Sure, social media may be increasingly geared towards sales. But the fact we’ve already stated remains: people want to be entertained when they open their social media apps.

A collaboration that has managed to leverage two of the most popular things on the internet – video and cats – is the Dear Kitten series by Friskies and Buzzfeed. A campaign made for entertainment purposes only, it has naturally gone viral, and it has certainly boosted Friskies’ sales.

It all started with A Cat’s Guide to Taking Care of Your Human. The campaign was also created by Buzzfeed, this time working with Tidy Cats, another Purina brand.

In short, if you want to make it on social media, use cats in your videos.

Also, aim to entertain your audience, as opposed to forcing a sale down their throats. If they like the ad, they will likely like the product too.

9. Teach

Another way to leverage the power of social media is to teach your audience – again, as opposed to merely trying to make a sale. They may like your product or service, but if you show them how to use it – or better yet, how to solve a certain problem (incidentally using your product) – you’ll be doing a bit of good and marketing your brand at the same time.

How-to videos are popular on every platform and in every format. Videos that provide hacks and any type of “make your life easier” advice are just as popular. If you’re able to insert your product into this type of content, you can do more than just advertise.

You can stick to the simplest version and show how the product works and how best to use it. Fenty Beauty does this with great success.

social media strategy examples - 10 Killer Social Media Strategy Examples - 5Source: fentybeauty.com

Of course, it helps that Rihanna is their founder. However, the quality and appeal of these tutorials suggest that they’d be quite popular without her in them as well.

10. Be of Use

Finally, tying in with the above point, try to use your strategy to genuinely be of use. Share important and useful information, be helpful, be entertaining. Whatever you set as your goal, make sure it serves a purpose other than “make a sale,” “get new followers,” or “get more shares.”

Social media can be rather a soulless and dark space. It’s also filled with content that is repetitive, offers no actual value, and merely fuels the fire of insecurity and loneliness most social media users experience at least at some point in their lives. Occupying this space as a brand with an honest desire to give its audience something valuable goes a long way.

You can really use the platform with social media plans examples to create something good and even be proud of what you offer on social.

Here’s a very rudimentary example from Barilla. They’ve created Spotify playlists to coincide with the cooking times of each of their pasta products. All a customer has to do is get the pasta cooking, put the playlist on, and return to their pot when the music stops. Super simple, yet honestly useful.

Final Thoughts on These Social Media Strategy Examples

social media strategy examples - 10 Killer Social Media Strategy Examples - 6Source: unsplash.com

Social media strategy examples can help you do practically anything as a brand. Find ideas, find customers, find competitors, spread awareness, and increase sales.

However, if you start considering what it is you can do for social media and the people who spend a portion of their day on these platforms, you’ll notice there’s even more you can achieve.

Hopefully, these ten media strategy example campaigns have sparked at least one idea for your own brand, and you are now well on your way to creating a social media presence that will rock your industry.

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How to Go Viral: 6 Steps to Reach a Massive Audience

Ever thought about why do things go viral? What does it mean to go viral? Going viral: the stuff dreams are made of. Well, at least for tweens and content marketers.

Want to know how to go viral with your content? What does it take? And is it something you can impact? Or is getting millions of views/likes all up to chance?

If you’re thinking about the steps needed to take your content marketing strategy to the ultimate level, here’s everything you need to know about how to go viral.

What Does “Viral” Mean in the World of Content Marketing?

One of the things about ultra-popular social media posts is that most people have their own idea of what “viral” success means.

Ask an Instagram micro-influencer, and they’ll tell you it’s getting 50K views over 12 hours on a random post they put up between purposefully planned pieces of content. Or, search for “most popular YouTube videos” on Statista, and find out that the bar for viral is set just a little bit higher, at 7.9 billion views. Want to know how to make a post go viral? What does it take? And is it something you can impact? Or is getting millions of views/likes all up to chance?

 

Source: youtube.com

But while you should definitely not expect to reach heights of success comparable to the Baby Shark Dance posted by Pinkfong!, you can still do quite a lot to get a large number of eyeballs on your posts in as little time as possible.

Now, before we get to the “how to” part of going viral, let’s talk about benchmarks first.

So How Many Views is Viral?

While there’s no checklist for you to go through to see if your content has gone viral, numbers can be a pretty good indicator of whether what you’ve done is working. Still, keep in mind that not every post has the capability of hitting 8 billion views or 100k engagements.

For example, potential reach exponentially varies by the distribution channel you decide to go with. As you can see from the statistical data below, Facebook boasts over 2.7 billion active users, followed by YouTube at 2.2 billion and Instagram at 1.2 billion. TikTok, however, has almost four times fewer active users than Facebook, while Twitter has a “mere” 350 million.

how to go viral

Source: statista.com

So, as you can imagine, it will take much more engagement for a YouTube video to be considered viral than for a tweet to achieve the same status.

On the whole, you can consider the following numbers to be indicative of whether a post has, indeed, “made it:”

For YouTube, a video can be considered viral if it hits 5 million views during the week of its launch. For example, if you checked out the Trending page on June 5th, 2021, the top five videos on YouTube included a post by Mr. Beast, one Minecraft video, and two music videos, each boasting anywhere between 940K and 10M views over two days. Generally speaking, all of these could be considered viral.

social media strategy examples - How to Go Viral: 6 Steps to Reach a Massive Audience - 8

Source: youtube.com

For Instagram, finding out what’s doing great is a bit trickier. However, a good rule of thumb is to say that a post can be considered viral if it earns over 100k views and likes.

On Facebook, the criteria are much looser. For example, the most shared post in 2020 got just below 2 million engagements. This shows that despite its almost 3 billion users, the network doesn’t lend itself to going viral as easily as other social media apps (like TikTok, where 15 million views make for a common occurrence).

Finally, let’s look at Twitter. Though impactful, it’s a much smaller social network than the ones we’ve just talked about. There, only a very few users have managed to get more than 1 million likes or retweets. Therefore, a post can be considered viral as soon as it hits the 100k mark for engagements. Although, it’s important to remember that exact numbers will vary by region and topic.

How to Go Viral

Now that we have a few guidelines on what viral actually means, here’s a step-by-step guide to content creation that’s likely to result in your business becoming the next best thing.

Learn About Human Psychology

The first step towards getting thousands (or millions) of views and engagements on your content is understanding what drives people to interact with social media posts.

Your initial reaction may be to think that viral posts become such at random. However, if you take a deeper dive, you’ll find that there is an actual pattern. According to Psychology Today, the following are the most common reasons for a post to get on the trending pages:

Social influence

Relying on the fact that all people look up to each other, psychologists distinguish between imperative social influence (“everyone is doing it”) and normative influence (“society says you should be doing it”). Campaigns that managed to go viral due to social influence include the #MeToo movement, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, and Blackout Tuesday.

Moral imperative

Seeing how people have strong beliefs about what’s wrong and what’s right, psychologists believe that content that drives moral action has a greater chance of going viral than that which does not.

Affective reactions

People often act based on their feelings. So, it’s no surprise that content produced to elicit positive (or negative) emotional reactions has a higher chance of being viewed and shared by thousands of social media users.

Translational impact

Finally, some campaigns will go viral because they’ve gained momentum (often due to high support and low requirements for follow-through). But, these will also tend to have the shortest lifespan. In other words, unless a campaign or piece of content connects with people’s values, its effect is going to be timed. Therefore, how you use that limited time will have an enormous impact on the success of your campaign.

Come Up With a Great Idea

First, you will have to brainstorm ideas for content that could go viral. Consider the following to tackle what makes something go viral:

First, you will have to brainstorm ideas for content that could go viral. Consider the following:

What is it that your audience likes seeing?

The best way to give your content a chance of going viral is to make it a must-see for your target potential customers.

It can be anything. A music production business like CoComelon can build on already popular topics by giving them its own twist. Or, a software company such as Ad Badger can choose to create insightful guides on optimizing Amazon PPC bids.

Of course, no one should expect the two topics to perform in comparable ways. (After all, there are much more babies in the world than there are Amazon sellers). Hence, what truly matters aren’t sheer numbers but the overall impact of the content in question.

Try to predict trends.

Knowing what’s going to be the next best thing isn’t exactly an easy feat. But, you can always count on getting some traction around upcoming events like the Super Bowl or the next presidential elections.

For example, if you remember that 2015 Aladdin magic carpet YouTube video (that’s got 33 million views), you’ll quickly see that it’s a simple idea driven forward by great timing. The creators knew that Halloween was coming up, so they created a costume and did something fun with it. That’s it – no secret ingredient.

https://youtu.be/lqlrru1V69E
Source: youtube.com

Follow topics that are currently performing well on social media

Do you remember the #TeamTrees campaign that was almost entirely made possible on Twitter?

Well, if you think back to it, you’ll find that one of the top-performing tweets around it wasn’t posted by the official account. In fact, it was tweeted by Elon Musk. By pledging to give 1 million dollars to the cause, the entrepreneur got almost 60k total retweets and 345k likes. And that’s not all. His tweet became so popular that it inspired people like Tobias LĂĽtke, Marc Benioff, Susan Wojcicki, Jack Dorsey, and the Plants Vs. Zombies brand to pledge well over $2 million to the cause.

social media strategy examples - How to Go Viral: 6 Steps to Reach a Massive Audience - 9
Source: twitter.com

Do your research

Sometimes, the best way to find a viral-worthy idea will be to do some basic keyword research.

Is there a search term that’s got great potential for audience interest? Cover it!

Is there a topic nobody in your niche is talking about? Write a blog post about it!

Is there a keyword that’s performing amazingly well? Do a pillar post like this one by Semrush.

Who knows, if you write something with value and optimize it well enough, you too might find yourself winning position zero on Google.

Choose a Format & Nail the Execution

All right, you know what works with internet audiences and you’ve done your research on topics that are likely to resonate with your target customers. Now, it’s time to start the production process.

Before you go about writing a script for a YouTube video or shooting footage for your next Instagram post, it’s actually quite important to consider the format you’re going to pick.

Yes, your first instinct may be to choose something entirely standard. However, experience has shown that people simply react to visuals better than they do to text. With this in mind, consider whether that blog post you were planning might do better if it was also shot as an instructional video or if an Instagram story might get better traction if you post it as a Reel instead.

The second thing you should decide regarding the execution phase of your content production is whether you’ve got the skills required to make something viral-worthy. Sure, the production quality isn’t the only factor in determining the success of a post. But, it does help if you create something stunning.

If you’re a business owner who can’t afford to hire a full-time content creation team, it’s not a bad idea to look into outsourcing for this part of the job. That way, you can ensure professional-grade results at affordable prices that won’t break the bank.

Keep it Short & Simple

One of the biggest struggles of producing great content is that there’s always something more to say or show to your audience. Especially when you’re an expert on the subject.

But while your initial instinct may be to squeeze everything you can into a single post, that might not be the best way to go viral.

In general, high-performing videos tend to lean towards the short end of the spectrum. Ideally, you’ll want to make them somewhere between 30 and 60 seconds long, though you might see higher engagement rates for videos that are between 2 and 5 minutes in length.

As an example of how much better you can do with shorter formats, check out these two posts from the golf world.

On the one hand, there’s Rain or Shine Golf, a well-established name in the industry. And, with 64k hits on its most popular YouTube video, it has done well for itself. However, when that number of views is compared to other businesses in the same industry, it quickly becomes evident that golf lovers prefer the short and sweet approach.

https://youtu.be/dwcjBRll4hE

Source: youtube.com

On the other hand, there’s Gabriel Sauer, whose TikToks easily reach 100k views, despite taking much less time (and money) to produce.

His secret? The length. Sauer’s videos are perfectly timed to grab attention. But, they always end just before the audience gets a chance to become fatigued from information overload.

@gaberealsauer5

Watch closely #golftips #golf #golftiktok #BeautyReview #golfswing #golfcoach #slomo #slomowalk #fy #fyp #foryou #foryoupage

♬ Tadow – Masego & FKJ

Source: tiktok.com

As for text, it is true that posts with a word count higher than 2000 work best. However, you still want to pay attention to readability and visual presentation, seeing how web users prefer their content to be aesthetically pleasing.

With this in mind, you might find that commissioning illustrations or creating infographics both make for solid strategies when trying to get your content to go viral.

Leverage the Reach of Your Partners

Let’s make something clear: for a piece of content to go viral, it doesn’t have to come from a brand with millions of followers. In fact, even social media accounts with a couple of hundred subscribers can make it to the Trending page with the right post.

Nonetheless, having a big following does not hurt either.

So, if you’re really determined to get your post on the front pages, consider partnering with (or being featured by) someone with an established audience.

Makeup artists, for example, do this on the regular, posting content about brands hoping that their videos and images will get picked up. And, it works.

Check out Allie Glines’ Instagram account, for example. No one could say that having 180k followers wasn’t enough. But, it just turns out that one of her videos was reposted by Bobbi Brown Cosmetics. And, with that brand’s audience of over 3 million followers, it’s no surprise that the same video got more than twice the number of views in just a fraction of the time.

social media strategy examples - How to Go Viral: 6 Steps to Reach a Massive Audience - 10

Source: instagram.com

Of course, producing content and tagging brands is not the only way to find partners for mutually beneficial collaborations. Guest blogging and podcast guest appearances can also be great opportunities to get instant exposure. The same goes for finding guest speaking engagements.

For example, Data Council is a community and conference series that aims to provide networking possibilities for data scientists and mentorship support to data-oriented startups.

So, a newly-founded brand like Mozart Data could reach out to Data Council and see if it can create an exclusive video for the community’s YouTube channel (which has a significant following and several videos with 200k+ views).

Once It’s Out There, Engage!

Finally, the last step towards going viral, with whatever format you’ve decided to try out, is to keep engagement rates high. Especially during the first few hours after posting.

To accomplish this, you’ll need two things:

  • Insight into your audience’s online behavior – you don’t want to upload an amazing piece of content when all your potential readers/viewers are asleep or at work.
  • Sufficient time to reply to the incoming comments and reactions – the more traction your post gets within the first few hours of posting, the higher its chances of going viral.

To maximize your chances of getting those comments, always include a CTA in your posts. Ask questions, invite audience members to share their experiences, or even leave some things unanswered. That way, people will be compelled to engage. Or, they will ask for further explanations, which makes it more likely that you’ll get a high number of views, comments, and likes.

Is Going Viral Always a Good Thing?

Definitely not.

While many marketers want to get the compelling benefits of virality (organic traffic, brand awareness, product hype), they often forget all about the negative consequences.

More often than not, brands are caught off guard when they experience going viral. Just think of what happened when Mr. Beast opened a restaurant that paid customers to eat there (a brilliant idea for a viral video if there ever was one).

Source: youtube.com

First, the police had to shut down roads before the restaurant opened because there were a thousand cars in line. Then, the Mr. Beast Burger app kept crashing as 10s of thousands of people tried to order online. In the end, there was a 20 mile-long traffic jam, and the whole thing was forced to close earlier than planned.

Final Thoughts: How to Go Viral & Succeed

As you can see, there’s no exact science to creating content that makes times go viral. In fact, you can make the world’s most viral-worthy video, and it can still fall flat.

But, some things could increase your chances of getting a huge amount of exposure. Of those, the most important ones include preparation, a clear sense of purpose, a well-executed idea, and authenticity.

And, even if you only get a few thousands of views or shares in the end, don’t despair. After all, on social media, consistency is key. And that means that slow and steady will win the race in the long run.

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10 Ways Social Media Influencer Marketing Can Grow Your Business

Influencer marketing, the lovechild of social media and marketing, is no longer even considered a new avenue to explore.

Several years ago, the word “influencer” itself would have drawn some curious looks. Since then, the synergy between social media influencers and brands from various industries has revamped the way we are being sold to.

Often considered the most organic way to advertise a product or service, social media influencer marketing has slowly grown into its own over the past half a decade. Agencies representing influencers have been established. Different countries have adopted different ad and PR disclosure policies. We are no longer surprised when our favorite YouTuber whips out a product mid-video.

Ultimately, the ones to benefit the most from social media influencer marketing are the end users – the customers. The line between marketing and social media browsing has been blurred, and finding interesting new products has never been easier.

Let’s explore how you can grow your business with the help of influencer marketing, at the same time serving your target audience what it wants to see.

1. Define Clear Goals

First, you will need to determine what it is you want to achieve with your influencer marketing campaign.

Some of the more popular (and useful) goals you can focus on include:

  • Raising brand awareness
  • Capturing leads
  • Promoting a specific product/service/offer
  • Growing your own social media presence

Depending on the goal you have set, you will approach your campaign differently.

For example, if you want to sell more of product A, you won’t want your social media handles made the most prominent part of the post. You will want to focus on Stories where viewers can Swipe Up to shop, as opposed to IGTV videos where converting requires more steps.

You should also attach a specific figure to each goal. If you have run similar campaigns in the past, you can work from them. If not, you can look at industry benchmarks and start with a lower figure, one you can later try to surpass.

2. Know How to Track Your Goals

Defining your goals is, of course, just half of the job. You also need to know how you can track them.

First, there will be the figures you yourself can see. Your Google Analytics (and the analytics of your social media platforms, online store, or any other outlet you are using for the campaign) will be your best friend here.

Social Media Influencer MarketingSource: depositphotos.com

To make it easier to track click-throughs, assign a specific landing page to your campaign. Use a trackable URL too. Make sure to note the figures for each relevant metric before you launch the campaign, so you can compare cold hard numbers afterward.

Also note that you will see spikes where you were not expecting them. Your subscriber count may increase even when you are running a sales-oriented influencer marketing campaign.

The influencer will have some valuable data to share too, so ask them for their end of the information. How do their views, reach, engagement rate, and conversions compare to other campaigns they may have run? What have they concluded? What would they suggest you do better?

Be sure to also share your data with the influencer. Most brands fail to do this, so your partner is left in the dark after your collaboration is concluded. Remedy this and be open about your success rates – it will help them improve their own marketing approach too.

3. Choose the Right Platform

social media strategy examples - 10 Ways Social Media Influencer Marketing Can Grow Your Business - 12Source: depositphotos.com

You also want to ensure you have chosen the best possible social media platform for the campaign.

Make your choice based on your audience, not the influencer’s. Determine where your ideal customer is most likely to be swept off their feet and see your message. Once you’ve done that, you can select influencers accordingly.

Instagram and YouTube seem like the obvious choice, and this is where most influencers choose to do their work. However, there is no saying you can’t run a successful campaign on Twitter, if this is where it will make the most impact.

Let’s take the example of a brand like Finli. They are a software brand targeting small business owners, and the natural home for their influencer campaign is LinkedIn. However, they can also work with YouTubers who cater to their niche. Even Instagram may be a viable option, but instead of spreading themselves too thin, they are best advised to stick to one platform.

4. Look Past the Numbers

Some brands make the mistake of selecting the influencers they work with based on follower counts alone. Sometimes they take engagement into consideration too, yet there is something intangible that is much more important.

Lydia Millen and Ali Gordon, both successful influencers in their own right, speak about this openly. They highlight the fact that it’s always better to work with someone who has 500.000 followers, of which 250.000 are engaged and ready to listen to a recommendation, than someone with 2 million followers with 150.000 engaged subscribers.

Their own follower counts testify to the importance of selecting influencers you click with and whose followers trust their opinions. Millen has nearly hit 1 million followers on both Instagram and Youtube, while Gordon’s numbers are much lower. Yet, they both manage to work with some of the biggest names in the world of fashion, beauty, and luxury.

5. Consider Who Your Audience Would Listen to

social media strategy examples - 10 Ways Social Media Influencer Marketing Can Grow Your Business - 13Source: depositphotos.com

What matters more than numbers is who your followers are likely to take a recommendation from. You might believe that a celebrity has a better chance of swaying someone’s purchasing decision. In reality, most shoppers prefer the recommendations given them by influencers who are just like them.

Whether the influencer works within a specific price range, promotes certain values, or shares certain lifestyle traits, their audience likely follows them because they not only like what they see but want to try a bit of the same.

A good example to take into account is Fantasy Jocks. Their brand is much better aligned with other fantasy gamers than huge names from a certain sport. After all, what do you care about what a jock has to recommend? You want to know what a fellow fantasy fanatic has to say.

6. Look for Influencers Who Already Like You

Once you’ve settled on your goals and the social media platform you want to target, your best first step is to look for people who already like your product.

We often associate the term “influencer” with someone who is followed by hundreds of thousands of people. However, an influencer is actually anyone who can influence a purchasing decision.

Take a look at your mentions. Is there someone who constantly likes your products and shares them online? Have they done reviews already? If they have a following that is a bit wider than their immediate family and friends, why not make their day and send them some PR?

The influencer marketing campaigns that always work best are the ones where the influencer genuinely loves the brand and has perhaps been using them for years. Their zest for the product or service will thus shine through, and they are much more likely to inspire someone else to give it a whirl.

7. Work with Micro-Influencers

In fact, micro-influencers are the next trend in influencer marketing, as a lot of brands have cottoned on to the fact that honesty and integrity matter more than follower counts.

And the connection doesn’t have to work in the “big brand = popular influencer, small brand = micro-influencer” direction either. Incredibly popular brands are working with small influencers as we speak, underlining their personal ethics: we care about the customer.

The most obvious example that comes to mind is Glossier. They have partnerships with YouTubers who’ve been in the business for a decade, as well as new channels that are yet to make a name for themselves.

Here’s Austen Tosone’s video – she has less than 5000 subscribers, yet she’s a part of the #workingwithglossier campaign that has united small channels around their love of the brand.

social media strategy examples - 10 Ways Social Media Influencer Marketing Can Grow Your Business - 14Source: youtube.com

8. Align Your Values

When choosing the influencers you want to work with, try to cast a wider net than is strictly obvious. If you are a beauty brand, you don’t have to work with beauty and lifestyle influencers exclusively. Perhaps there are mom bloggers out there whose audience would love your product just as much?

Always ask yourself the same question: who was this product or service made for? Who can benefit from using it the most? And then, ask the obvious: who are these people and what kinds of people are they most likely to be following on socials?

You want to align the values behind your brand and your product with those of the influencer. If they are vegan, your vegan and cruelty-free products might appeal to them.

For example, a brand like Gourmesso, which plants a tree after every order they receive, would appeal to influencers and audiences who care about sustainability and the eco-friendly lifestyle. They don’t necessarily need only to appeal to coffee aficionados and enthusiasts. After all, a lot of the general population drinks coffee, and they don’t necessarily watch coffee-related videos or Stories.

9. Collaborate, Don’t Delegate

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Source: depositphotos.com

You also want to ensure that you don’t view the influencers you work with as nothing more than hired help. They run their own businesses, and you are essentially partnering with another entrepreneur on promoting something.

They’ve also likely already done similar campaigns. Perhaps they’ve even worked with a brand in your own industry.

Instead of merely handing over the main talking points, coming up with your own list of demands, and asking them to read from a pre-written script, sound out their ideas for the best way to promote your brand. If you’ve chosen your influencers wisely, they will have plenty of ideas to share.

The kind of influencer you actually want to work with is someone who worked hard on establishing a relationship with their audience and who cares more about that than earning money. And an influencer like that will flat-out refuse to work from a script.

Influencers, bloggers, vloggers, and successful social media entrepreneurs Anna Newton and Lily Pebbles speak about this point very eloquently. They stress the importance of brands listening to the influencer’s opinion, as they are, after all, the ones who know their audience best and understand what will work.

10. Learn from the Experience

Finally, make sure you are also learning from each and every influencer marketing campaign you run.

Whether you perfect your choice of influencer, learn how to better track the metrics you have selected as your KPIs, or set better goals, always strive to do something better than the last time around.

As we keep saying, do your very best to also learn from the influencer. After all, they are the ones on the ground, changing the landscape of social media and advertising. They are sure to have tools you have never heard of and understand the platform’s algorithms way better than you do.

Sit down and go over your data after every campaign, determine what has worked well, and define your goals and objectives for the next round.

Final Thoughts on Social Media Influencer Marketing

social media strategy examples - 10 Ways Social Media Influencer Marketing Can Grow Your Business - 16Source: depositphotos.com

Social media influencer marketing is not just popular – it has redefined the relationships end users have with brands big and small.

With the help of our ten insightful pieces of advice, you can craft a campaign that brings results, as opposed to establishing another marketing avenue that does nothing but bleed money.

As with every other marketing tactic, the key is in research and prepping for the campaign well. Make sure you understand what can be achieved and what the collaboration will be like. Learn from the experience as much as you can.

Lastly, don’t forget that your own social media presence during the campaign needs to be amped up. You can’t expect the influencer to do all the work for you.

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How to Humanize Your Brand’s Social Media Voice

What makes a person purchase from a brand? Sure, factors like price or convenience play a role, and quite a significant one at that. But at the end of the day, inspiring long-term customer loyalty takes a bit more than a lucrative discount.

According to a recent survey, consumers want to purchase from brands they feel connected to. They’re looking for authenticity from companies, and they believe that social media plays a role in fostering successful buyer-seller relationships.

With these insights in mind, it’s easy to conclude that perfecting your brand’s voice could be the best way to go forward. And what better way to build strong relationships with your clients than by showing them exactly who your company is through the content distribution channels they feel most comfortable with?

So, if you’re ready to invest in your business in a way that will pay off in the long term, taking steps to humanize your brand’s social media voice might just be the best thing you can do.

Without further ado, here’s everything you need to know about injecting your brand with a recognizable (and relatable) personality.

Why Brand Voice Matters

If you think about the one thing that can make or break a company, it’s branding.

For most entrepreneurs, the concept should equate to core elements like purpose, mission, and values. Moreover, an organization’s success is determined by positioning activities such as identifying the ideal target audience, market research, and objective goal-setting.

But, there’s one thing you mustn’t forget. It’s that, for a branding strategy to come together, it must be driven by a distinctive identity. And the two pillars of that identity include visuals and voice.

On the whole, marketers seem to have a solid grasp of visual branding for social media. There are some proven formulas to stick to, such as:

  • keeping to a predetermined color palette
  • adding your logo to images
  • posting a variety of multimedia formats, etc.

Following these simple rules offers excellent results both online and offline.

However, you might find defining your voice to be slightly more complicated.

The voice of a brand pertains to the personality it builds around itself. It includes the messages it communicates, the type of language it uses to do so, the level of familiarity it assumes with potential customers, the emotional impact it aims for, as well as the intended overall effect.

If you think about some of the world’s leading brands, you’ll find that they all have very distinct voices: Apple, with their “the best iPhone ever” tagline, or Old Spice’s “smell like a man, man” campaign.

And there’s a valuable lesson to learn from these campaigns. It’s that organizations can effectively impact consumers’ brand perception by adopting the right voice.

However, although you may be inspired to take all your resolution and pour it into a self-confident campaign, it might not be a good idea.

Why? It turns out that, most often, people don’t believe advertisements.

social media voice

Source: adage.com

They aren’t interested in impressive promises or flashy marketing campaigns. They want to support companies that are trustworthy, authentic, relatable, and socially responsible.

How Humanization Offers a Solution

According to the Cambridge Dictionary of English, there are three definitions of the term humanization:

  1. The act of “treating something [i.e., a pet] that is not human as if it is a person.”
  2. The “process of making something less unpleasant and more suitable for people.”
  3. The act of “showing that someone has the qualities, weaknesses, etc. that are typical of a human, in a way that makes you more likely to feel sympathy for them.”

And, sure, in the contexts of branding and social media marketing, the aim of voice humanization isn’t to elicit sympathy. But, the process does go a long way in helping brands communicate and connect with followers.

social media strategy examples - How to Humanize Your Brand's Social Media Voice - 18Source: depositphotos.com

The right voice can help professional organizations come off as approachable and casual. Or, it can position them as a no-nonsense proponent of quality service. Moreover, it can help provide a fun structure, which drives engagement. Or even testify to their commitment to authenticity.

So, what makes social media voice humanization such a big part of running a successful business?

Well, it’s that, when done right, it will speak to your target audience. It will make them feel like they know your company. Finally, it will encourage them to do business with you based on mutual trust and shared values.

Are you ready to roll up your sleeves? If the answer’s yes, these are the best strategies for humanizing your brand’s social media voice (along with examples you can look to for some inspiration).

Define Your Personality

If we know that individuality drives brand recognition and consumer relationships, then the first step towards making your brand more human has to be defining its personality.

To come up with the ideal choice, think about the following:

  1. How do you want your audience to perceive your brand? As inspiring? Sophisticated? Funny? Unapologetically committed to being different? Anything that comes to mind is a viable option. The point is that it’s something that’s in line with your products and services.
  2. What’s your competition like? Ideally, you’ll want to make your voice as distinct from theirs as possible. Not just so that you’re easily recognizable, but perhaps even more importantly, so that you’re a viable alternative for their customers still searching for the perfect product for their needs.
  3. What are the messages and language that will communicate your intention? Will you get the best results if you’re completely direct? Or will you do better if you find entertaining and original ways to get your idea across?

For an excellent example of a brand with a unique social media voice, you can take a look at Uber Eats’ Twitter feed. The brand’s messaging is laid back, entertaining, and, most importantly, effective at communicating with followers.

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Source: twitter.com

As you can see, the brand’s voice isn’t sales-y in the slightest. Instead, Uber Eats makes an effort to talk about food delivery in a way that allows its customers to feel connected to each other.

They all enjoy choosing their next meal. It’s convenient, being able to get dinner ready with just a few phone taps. Everyone loves pizza.

When people see these tweets, they don’t feel like they’re being told to buy something. They get the impression of speaking to a good friend, bonding over yet another thing they have in common.

Be Painstakingly Consistent

In addition to having a well-defined brand personality and voice, the second most impactful thing you can do is practice consistency. Don’t go putting in time and effort into making something happen, then undermining it all with a post you haven’t thought through.

A content calendar and social media scheduling tool can be powerful allies in this regard.

By having a visual overview of your present and future feed, you can double-check that your voice is consistent, that you’re staying true to your mission and values, and that you’re creating content that resonates with your audience.

Moreover, you can follow, in real-time, what type of messaging works and ensure that you’re giving your potential clients more of what they love and appreciate.

For a great example of a brand ensuring that their voice is consistent throughout their platforms, you can check out Esthetics Center.

With the brand’s slogan being “Live confidently,” its media marketing team is doing a great job of communicating that message in as many ways as possible.

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Source: instagram.com

From sharing posts explaining facial asymmetry to those encouraging self-love and self-care, Esthetics Center’s voice is perfectly on-brand. And, it’s sending the message: embrace your looks but don’t be afraid to take charge if there’s something you’re not satisfied with.

Be Proud of Your Humans

Did you know that consumers recognize brand employees as some of the main contributors to a positive shopping experience (and the reason to buy again)? Well, if you didn’t, you do now. And not just that, but you can use this piece of information to make your brand’s voice more personal.

For one, there are very few ways to make your brand seem more human than, well, showcasing a human. Whether that’s sharing a message to welcome your latest hire on LinkedIn as HavocShield does or signing a social media response to a customer with the name of the customer service representative who composed it.

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Source: linkedin.com

But that’s not all you can do. If you’ve chosen to create a brand mascot, you can make them a (human-like) spokesperson for your company as well.

Several NHL teams chose to add puppies to their teams in 2019, including Tampa Bay Lightning.

Their mascot, named Bolt, “used” social media to keep hockey fans in the know about what was happening with the team. The pup also “shared” information about the causes the Bolts supported and “posted” wholesome content that hockey fans could enjoy and engage with.

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Source: twitter.com

Practice Transparency

We know that consumers don’t appreciate advertising. And, we have their feedback that they want to support brands that are honest and genuine. Therefore the best way you can humanize your brand is to practice open and honest communication, no matter what.

After all, isn’t imperfection the one universal trait all humans share? So what could make you more relatable than showing your work process, acknowledging both the highs and the lows?

For example, if you’re experiencing production or shipping delays, say so on your feed. Explain why, share what you’re doing about it, and, if applicable, offer a solution to anyone affected.

This simple message from Mr. Beast is an excellent example of how you can go about it.

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Source: twitter.com

Of course, admitting mistakes (however human) is not the only way to humanize your brand’s voice through transparency. You can also employ your social media profiles and original content to share your organization’s chief practices with your users.

In the following video, ISTO found an original way to convey the idea of recycling scrap fabric into environmentally-friendly garments.

By displaying each visual twice and describing exactly how the materials are reused, ISTO managed to explain the process of making a t-shirt out of recycled cotton. And that’s something that the brand’s target audience will definitely want to know more about.

Use Storytelling

When it comes to marketing, there’s one strategy that has been successfully used for decades (if not centuries): storytelling.

Unsurprisingly, creating narratives is a recipe for connection. It allows brands two key things – to achieve an emotional impact and to add a touch of humanity to their story.

To use storytelling for humanizing your brand’s voice, you can share a bit of your history. Describe the circumstances that drew you to go into business. Or you can talk about the consumer problems that inspired you to come up with a product. You can even address market gaps that you recognized as an opportunity to do something you found relevant and impactful.

Storytelling on social media doesn’t have to be elaborate. In fact, it can be almost anything.

You could post a behind-the-scenes look at the production process for your latest product. For example, Italian Shoe Factory uses this storytelling technique to bring their products (and their benefits) closer to potential customers. They explain in detail each procedure its craftsmen use in the creation process.

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Source: instagram.com

The results are not just visually stunning. They also serve as an effective way for the brand to highlight the work that goes into making its product and the value the customer gets.

Or, you can compose a thoughtful caption, like the one used by GetSafe. The brand chose to approach its target audience with empathy, doing its best to provide them with valuable information they would find helpful.

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Source: facebook.com

Whichever of these storytelling methods you decide to choose, make sure that your content provides value – either in the form of advice, information, or entertainment – and use it to make your organization more approachable.

Let Your Audience Drive the Conversation

Last but not least, when trying to make your brand more approachable, don’t allow yourself to shy away from engaging with your social media followers. After all, social networks are spaces people visit to keep up with the current events, find entertaining content, and engage with other users.

So, if you can have a conversation with them within that space, you’re well on your way to graduating from being a faceless company to an organization they feel connected to.

For one, you can let your customers do the talking.

Ultimate Meal Plans has a great way of enriching its feed with valuable content (in the form of recipes) and social proof.

By sharing reviews its customers have left on its website, the brand is positioning itself as trustworthy. All the while, it is ensuring that its followers understand that it offers an excellent solution for anyone interested in healthy eating.

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Source: instagram.com

Alternatively, you can employ social listening tactics and join in on conversations related to your industry.

If people who belong to your target audience are talking about your industry (or competitors), why not reach out? Especially if they were asking for help or advice (and you’re qualified to give it).

Over to You

As you can see, there’s no single way of humanizing your brand’s social media voice. Finding the perfect way to be unique, relatable, and an attractive prospect for your target audience takes planning, creativity, and agility.

However, do it right, and you’ll be golden. Because, in the end, being a brand with a likable personality and rapport with their clients isn’t just a way to boost followers and likes. More importantly, it’s a way to make people believe in you and to build your base of loyal customers.