We live in a highly digital age. The internet, smartphones, and other technology have completely changed how we interact with one another. As a result, business owners and digital marketers have to come up with effective ways how to target audiences in different social media platforms to stay ahead of the competition.
The question is ‒ how can you stand out, reach your target audience and increase your conversion rates? Well, with the right strategies of course.
Carry Over What Worked on 2018
When it comes to coming up with marketing strategies, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. The digital marketing landscape is continually changing, that’s why it’s crucial that you learn how to innovate and adjust your strategies to cater to your target market. It’s also an excellent time to carry the existing approach that worked the previous year and focus on it to make it even better.
Learn from both your successes and failures during the previous year and apply them to come up with a better strategy in the long run.
Take Video Content Seriously
Video marketing is big these days. By the end of this year, it is estimated that video will account for 80 percent of all internet traffic. Thus, it remains as one of the most effective forms of content. Video marketing can achieve a 54 percent increase in brand awareness and 66 percent qualified leads each year.
If you haven’t tried video marketing yet in your marketing strategy then, it’s time to take the plunge this year. To know more here’s a useful guide to IGTV.
How you can make the most of video marketing:
- Set specific goals.
- Come up with a storyboard with your team.
- Come up with a 30-60 second video that you can utilize on different social media platforms.
- Repurpose video content.
- When making Stories, come up with 15-second micro-segment videos of your longer ones.
- Make the most out of the first 10 seconds of your clip. Develop it to be as compelling, entertaining, and engaging because your audience will begin to drop within the 10-15 seconds mark.
Partner with an Influencer
Another dominant trend in 2019 is the rise of influencer marketing. So, finding influencers that perfectly fit your niche is an excellent way to drive brand awareness and boost sales. Note that influencers already have built an established audience who trust them, so they’re great in driving awareness to a particular product or service.
You can ask them to be brand ambassadors, making them active spokespersons for your brand and products and even part of your sales team. Aside from that, you can sponsor them in an event.
Influencers can mention and display your products and services, helping you expand your reach. If you can’t afford to hire a celebrity or macro-influencer to promote your brand, you can always seek out micro-influencers. They’re as effective in driving in sales, and even more target- focused as they cater to a particular group of people who are passionate about a specific niche.
Customer’s Service is a Major Priority
92 percent of marketers agree that social media is a vital part of their business. However, only 72 percent are using social media to drive in engagement, and increase brand awareness. However, if you want to create a loyal following, you need to be proactive in looking for your target audience.
Being proactive with your social media marketing efforts will boost your brand awareness and eventually increase your ROI.
Here are ways how you can be proactive:
- Create a better brand experience for your customers.
- Boost prospective customer engagement.
- Turn prospective clients into loyal brand evangelists
- Engage in active conversation with your past, present, and future customers.
- Transform those leads into profitable sales.
Run a Fun Contest
If you’re looking to expand your current customer base, and boost your brand awareness, then it’s time to think about running a social media contest. Chances are, most people will ‘like’ and follow your social media profiles in the hopes of getting discounts or getting a product for free.
It’s incredible how contests can strengthen your marketing efforts, and help you reach your target audience. It allows brands to interact with their followers, and create a strong and loyal following.
So how can you generate leads with social media contests and eventually turn them into sales? Well, it all comes down to the rule of rule of reciprocation. When you give something of value to your followers, in exchange, they will engage with your brand, and share and like your posts to their network.
As a result, you’ll garner plenty of likes and shares, improve your brand awareness, and grow a steady following on social media.
Retarget Your Audience
Retargeting is a marketing tactic wherein you target customers with online ads based on their previous activities. According to the Chicago-Digiday State of the Retargeting Industry Report, 42% of retargeting is utilized to help build brand awareness.
In another study conducted by SeeWhy, 26% of customers who are exposed to retargeting returns to a website. Meanwhile, only 8 percent return without retargeting. If you’re using Facebook as one of your main platforms on social media, here’s a practical guide to Facebook advertising (which includes retargeting also).
In addition, there are ways that you can utilize retargeting to help build brand awareness. Some of these are:
- Retargeting people who already have an existing awareness of your brand.
- Retargeting those who previously visited your site.
- Focusing on the individuals who opened your emails.
- Tracking people who have searched for your products by name.
A/B Test Your Strategy
Aside from your brand’s retargeting efforts, you can also create A/B Split Test. Doing so will help you track and measure your improvements when it comes to maintaining an online brand presence.
For instance, you can run two trial versions of the same piece of content simultaneously with equally sized audiences. Afterward, measure the results, to gain insights on the mindset of your target audience. Knowing what exactly does your audience want helps you create more impactful marketing messages in the long run.
Partnering With Other Brands
A brand partnership is where two or more companies partner, or market together for mutually beneficial reasons. Partnering with other organizations help improve brand exposure, break into new target markets, and even provide extra value to products and services.
Just remember to focus on finding the right organizations to partner with, ones that will make your customers excited about. Partnering with the right brands builds trust among your followers, adds value and generates buzz in the online community.
To Wrap It Up
With 2019 rolling in, and it’s time to start setting a marketing plan. You need to redefine your approach when it comes to increasing brand awareness this year.
Author Bio:
Lili Griffin an e-commerce developer and Adwords specialist by day and a binge Netflix watcher at night. She loves sci-fi movies and laughs at silly YouTube videos.
