Building A Brand Name On Social Media

At SOCi, the leading enterprise solution for large-scale social media marketing, we believe a successful social strategy is more than just good content. It’s reaching the right audience at the right time, with your best content. For franchise brands, that means taking your message to Instagram

Instagram is the mobile app that has everyone scrolling and double tapping. Launched in 2010 and acquired two years later by Facebook, the platform has expanded and evolved to become a powerful channel for social media marketing. Instagram is for more than just sharing memories it is a powerful networking engine for business and a vehicle to promote, reach new audiences, and gain a competitive edge for your brand.

Take a look at these stats:

• Over 800 million users on Instagram today.
• 80% of Instagrammers follow a business.
• 71% of U.S. businesses are active on Instagram.
• Fans engage with brands on Instagram four times more than Facebook.

The good news?  Your brand can leverage the power of Instagram—and your other social media platforms—right away with easy-to-digest imagery and video designed to create and captivate fans – i.e. your brand’s audience. It starts with creating a message that relates to your followers.

To do this, brands need to keep an eye on the demographic of their audience, locations, and social analytics to establish a deeper connection. Analytics also allows you to see when your audience is most active online to determine the most effective time to post online content for optimal engagement.

The Importance of Social Listening

Social listening, the act of tracking social media to understand what customers are saying about your brand and industry online, is more than just monitoring interactions on social networks. It is about paying attention to the needs and wants of your audience.  As a brand, you need to understand the tone, emotions, and implications of the conversations that are taking place on social media.

Tuning in can provide invaluable Intel to create useful and unique content that engages customers, rather than just pushing out marketing messages. It also gives you a better idea of who you are speaking to and ways to integrate their questions, concerns, and needs into your social strategy.

While it is important to focus the conversation that takes place between a brand and their customers and clients, it is equally important to take a step back and look at what these conversations are saying about your big picture.

Social listening allows you to understand:

• when your audience changes their sentiment on your brand
• why they are upset or unsatisfied with your company
• what type of media and content your fans love
• client pain points and how to address them
• new ideas for content campaigns and strategies
• ways to improve the customer experience on social media

The Influence of Reviews

Social media is not only the place to go to hear what people are saying about your brand, it is now the go-to choice for consumers to find reviews and testimonials before they make most any buying decision. In today’s social media world, online reviews are just as important as word-of-mouth recommendations.

Reviews have the power to change and influence how others see your brand. One negative viral review could affect how people remember your brand for months or years to come. Don’t let your brand fend for itself.

Alternatively, a good testimonial can inspire someone to give your product or service a try. Clients now also expect prompt replies to their reviews, whether negative or positive. As a matter of fact, 52% of consumers expect a brand to reply to their review and 72% expect a reply in less than an hour if the review is negative.

Here are four ways to collect more client reviews:

• Send a follow up email
• Ask your fans directly on social media
• Reward your reviews with a coupon code or special discount
• Send out a survey to assess their happiness in real time

There is no doubt that Instagram can be a key part of your marketing strategy. Get started with these tips and don’t forget to give us a follow @meetsoci on Instagram, as well.

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