In our last conversation, 5 Keys to Social Media Success – Part 1, we laid out the framework for successful social media marketing. In short, you need to empathize with your audience before you have the ability to create relatable content that is more likely to be received and shared. If you didn’t get a chance to read Part 1 of this series, I highly suggest you click here and do that now before continuing. For those of you who did read Part 1, let’s not waste anymore time! The last three keys to social media success (from which we’ll expand upon today) are the proper use of visual aids, making it easy for the user and continually engaging with your audience.
Visual Aids
Visuals, you know you need them, but sometimes it’s hard to know which ones to use for the biggest impact. The quick infographic, The Power of Visual Content, below denotes the importance of visuals when marketing online, or anywhere really. Two of the biggest challenges facing marketers today is getting people to 1.) See your content, and 2.) Retain the information about your brand or product. No matter which spectrum of the buying cycle your viewers are in, you want them to know and remember you, so that when the need arises you are top of mind. And with 40% of people responding better to visual content, and 80% retaining what they see… the use of visual aids quickly becomes the “clear” choice. But with so many options, which should you use? Some of the top choices include videos, relevant high-quality images sized appropriately for the social media channel being used and infographics.
Make it Easy
With the use of high quality visual aids, you also want to make sure your company is associated with the image. This can be achieved by branding your posts, providing clear calls to action and directing the message to the user. The post below created for one of our clients, Simply Women’s Health, is a great example of a post detailing all three aspects. Do you always have to have all three? No, but for events it works great. In the post below you can see 1.) The image is clearly branded with the use of their logo, 2.) A simple call to action is provided in the image with the details of the event provided in the post portion, and 3.) The message is directed to their valued customers. Let’s say for instance you weren’t promoting an event, but rather a product or service. The first thing you’d want to consider is the post’s intention. Is it to drive sales to the website or to the store? If for instance you wanted to drive web sales, you’d want a link in the post directing the viewer to your site so they can learn more. Once they do get to your website, make sure you have something that grabs their attention instantly (think visual aids). And with conversion rates on websites increasing by 86% with the use of videos, starting there might be your best bet! Moral of the story… make it easy for the consumer!
Engage
We all know engagement is a hot topic in the realm of social media. Engagement refers to how consumers interact with brands and how brands interact with consumers through social media. Increasing consumer engagement can easily be done through empathizing, creating relatable content and the use of visuals. What becomes difficult, as with most things, is the follow through. You’ve just created the content, put it out there for the world to view and now it’s your turn (once again) to interact, or engage, with the audience you tried so desperately to connect with. Some of the ways you can continually engage with your audience include regularly responding to inquiries and comments, and sharing and liking other user’s content (if relevant). This can become overwhelming if you don’t have the time or energy to carry this portion out. You may get to the point where you have to hire a full-time social media manager, or marketing agency, to handle the time consuming job of monitoring the traffic and/or creating the content. Social media managers and marketing agencies both have their pluses though. With the right social media manager on staff you can get help creating the content, scheduling it and monitoring the traffic. This is nice, because they’re in your office everyday. If you choose an agency, you have the use of an entire marketing and creative team at your disposal whenever you need it most. Need a video? Done. Need a clever infographic? Equally done. How about a smashing content calendar? You guessed it… done and done! If you want to learn more? Please feel free to peruse our content marketing packages!
Thanks for joining me on this two part social media journey! Has this blog helped you in any way? If so, would you mind leaving a comment? Your comments and questions help fuel future blog material and are greatly appreciated!
Want to talk further? Shoot me an email at melissa@peppershock.com.
Best,
Melissa Callahan
Social Media Manager at Peppershock Media
