It’s January 2019, people are baffled to find that Burger King is liking their old tweets from 2009-10. And guess the people whose tweet Burger king was liking – they were mostly big-ticket celebrities on Twitter with a LOT of followers and a good engagement rate.
Naturally, these influencers addressed the happenings on Twitter and most were under the impression that there may be a technical error, because why would a food giant suddenly like random old tweets?
But this was far from any technical error. This activity put Burger King in the limelight, with a lot of celebs and influencers tweeting about them. In other words, Burger King gained a lot of free publicity without even spending a buck.
So why did Burger King do this? Because they were bringing back something they had in their menu back in 2009/2010 – Funnel Cake Fries! The reason for the gimmick was explained in a tweet: “some things from 2010 are worth revisiting—like your old tweets. and funnel cake fries. get them now for a limited time”.
The reason we’re mentioning this stunt is to emphasize the need for a divergent thought process to crack the social media game. Such an engrossing approach is what you need to take for your social media.
But that doesn’t mean you go liking old tweets to repeat the result – it probably won’t work. You need to pave a path that is unique to your brand or business.
Let’s discuss the key factors necessary for a dynamic social media marketing.
What are you selling?
Although marketing is about ‘selling benefits’, the importance of having an exceptional product or service cannot be overlooked. The quality and efficiency of your product or service are what will act as a pillar for your marketing strategy and brand awareness. After all, the better your product, the easier it would be to endorse it on social media.
Somewhere on the horizon, there is a true customer need for which there is also a solution. Finding that customer need and then developing the best solution for it in the form of a product or service can be a substantial boon to your business. You need to figure out new methods to improve and refine your core offerings to stand out from the surfeit of competition. If you’re selling a pen, then you need to make the pen prominent – it could have the smoothest nib or it could have a body that appeals to the elite, you decide!
Colgate, a name that is synonym with toothpaste, wanted to give a medicinal touch to their product to further strengthen their customer reach. So they came up with Colgate Active Salt & Neem and an extremely catchy tagline that’s probably in your mind now.
They also added a ‘Made in India’ sentiment to their campaign and touched people’s hearts (as well as teeth). Such an inventive approach is what you need to be able to sustain in the market place for a long time.
Find your voice
To make a long-lasting connection with your customers, you need to establish a strategy that defines your brand personality, buyer persona and tone of voice. More than ever, consumers seek authentic brands with a clear mission, voice, and tone. Strategically developing these features is vital to reaching and connecting with your audience.
Every brand has a unique story and way of communicating, you just need to discover your unique style of communication that can be further developed and honed over time. While consumers appreciate hearing about special deals and new products, they also want to know what your brand represents. Having a unique voice and appropriate tone will help to communicate your values and mission. Essentially, your social media voice will represent your brand’s persona.
Denny’s, a US-based food chain that specializes in burgers have nailed their communication game with the use of dark humor and trending memes that this generation has come to love.
Their distinct and quirky persona has made them the king of Twitter where people look forward to interacting with them. Put yourself in the shoes of your customers and think about what type of voice will influence you the most and proceed accordingly.
Focus on user’s concern
You can further stand out from the competition by focusing on and addressing a concern your users care about. However, this does require a keen understanding of your customers’ needs which can be achieved by intricate social media monitoring.
If there’s one thing customers find annoying, it’s the endless stream of ads that can mess with their entire social experience. Don’t just talk about your products, listen and talk about what your audience wants and cares about and exhibit how you can help them.
There are many speedy things Tesla CEO Elon Musk makes and decisions are definitely one of them. A Twitter user raised his concern to the Tesla Head about the problems he’s facing with his Tesla Car- It wasn’t possible to move back the seat when the car is in park mode (until then).
Within thirty minutes, Elon replied with a promise to make the necessary changes in all the upcoming software releases. If the CEO of a Billion dollar company can work towards a single customer’s concern, you can certainly do your part to stand out!
Let the fans take the wheel
Marketers and advertisers are inherently viewed as untrustworthy by the general public. So it isn’t surprising that 76% of consumers think online ads are “very exaggerated” or “somewhat exaggerated”- it’s simple, people hate ads and no matter how much you package them with emotional values or creative imagery, at the end of the day they’re ads.
But what if a person you trust, say your friend suggests you a product or service? The chances of you going for the said product or service are extremely high. In the same way, what if a fan creates content for you? This is what User Generated Content (UGC) is all about. According to research, two-thirds of consumers say UGC creates a more “authentic” buying experience.
Airbnb is an online marketplace in which homeowners can offer their property, or part of it, for rent. They don’t even have a product to endorse, thus instead of telling the company’s story, they get their customers to tell their stories.
They have a whole section dedicated to “Stories from the Airbnb Community” that includes imagery, short films displaying the lives of the Airbnb host and what a guest might expect a stay with them to be like. Positioning the customer at the center of the brand – in effect, letting the customer take the wheel is essential to make a long-lasting impact on your target audiences’ mind.
Make complete use of Social Media
There needs to be a tight integration between your business and all social media platforms. Brands must establish a straight-forward communication practice with easy to use tools to reach out to customers across various platforms. If you send out regular emails then make sure that you add your social media icons and encourage viewers to “connect”.
Another way to integrate social media into your website and emails is to add a tweetable or shareable message and give the reader the option to “tweet this” or “share this”. It is an easy way to get your message out across all social media platforms and draw new subscribers in. It shouldn’t be difficult for customers to find you or reach out to you. You need to be present wherever your target audience hangs out and offer them various tools and options to connect with you easily.
Casper, a company that sells sleep products online and in retail locations does a great job at integrating social media to reach out to their audience. Apart from using the basic platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, they make clever use of Spotify, YouTube, and IGTV to showcase their brand new Casper Sleep Channel.
Their Sleep Channel is filled with soothing sounds that help their customers drift soundly to sleep. All while promoting the essence of sleeping on their Casper mattress, naturally.
These are some of the key elements you need to focus on to tap into the social media way of life and create a cultural impact that defies plain advertisement. You can achieve this by keeping your ears to the ground and bank on any opportunity that arises. And if an opportunity doesn’t present itself, you must create one for yourself by stepping out of the comfort zone.
