The secret to becoming a world class brand? Going beyond social presence. Technology has enhanced the ability for brands to engage consumers anytime, anywhere –but you can’t just rely on the technology alone. In the fast-paced world of GoPro, Netflix, Spotify and Instagram, let’s not forget Pampers, Oreo, Dove and Charmin. And for good reason.
The success of these legacy brands proves that while creating a kick-ass marketing content strategy is vital, maintaining reputation is just as (if not more) crucial to your brand. So how do you keep up?
Here’s a few tips to get you started:
Monitor what people are saying about you
Blog posts, social media, customer comments, reviews, Tweets need to be on your radar. Every time you find a comment about your brand online, remember others can see it all over the world. However, sifting through all your online data can be time consuming. Tools such as, Google Alerts and MonitorThis, are easy to set up and allow you to filter to get the relevant notifications.
In today’s highly competitive world, tracking and listening to social conversations aren’t enough. Brands need to proactively engage with consumers – this includes responding to both positive and negative feedback and reviews. Nobody wants to do it, but to manage your online presence, you must deal with negative feedback head-on.
The best way to protect your brand image is to work to resolve negative criticism. Not all feedback is bad feedback, distinguishing the harmful from the productive is key. If there is feedback that you can work with – it is often useful to keep your response visible, just make sure you are able to identify the difference between trolls and constructive criticism. Stumbling across posts or comments that are less favourable means that your target audience can too, which is why removing negative comments from internet trolls on your website or blogs is vital too.
Create amazing content
Anyone can sit down and write a ‘standard’ blog post, but creating ‘amazing’ content — that takes time, dedication, and effort. That’s what Oreo’s Halloween 2015 campaign demonstrated when the brand created a Vine video series spoofing classic horror movies featuring cookies.
Understand your audience
This always has (and always will be) key to maintaining a relationship with your consumer whether it’s online or offline. One brand that gets it is Netflix. The video streaming company leverages its vast amount of data to dig deeper and understand who its social audience is. Whether it’s a famous quote from one of its available titles, or a GIF that summarises how most of us feel about the video streaming site, Netflix continues to create content that its users can relate to.
Embrace the weird and run with it
Whether it’s fun, silly, quirky, factual or awkward – embrace your target audience’s humour and reflect that in your brand’s personality. The big names in branding don’t just use social to market products. They create a community that can come together to share advise, feelings and memories. This is simply learning to nurture your target market. The iconic nappy brand, Pampers, creates a safe online platform for soon-to-be parents to come together as they embark on the adventure together.
Big bang versus thinking small
When toilet roll company, Charmin, were faced with the difficulty of creating excitement around their loo roll, did they succumb to the challenge of coming up with a killer marketing strategy? Nope, they introduced #TweetFromTheSeat campaign, where consumers could participate in the hilarity of Tweeting while…er, doing their business. Ridiculous but effective.
Satisfy customer cravings
Whether it’s a Galaxy chocolate advert or the latest news on upcoming technology trends for 2017, it’s worth tapping into consumer insights. A great way to pique your target market’s interest is to empower users – user generated content makes the brand more approachable. This also allows you to convert their eagerness into a marketing win. Users get the opportunity to share their own story socially. GoPro not only create great content for social but also amplify user-generated content with zero ad spend. Win, win!
The bottom line is that your online management and reputation is important, now more than ever. Brands need to stay abreast with what is happening with their image online. Once you’ve found your online voice, be mindful of your ongoing image and how you want to be seen to the world. No two brands are the same and neither is their reputation. It is about identifying the right strategy that works for your brand.
If you need help creating your personalised brand strategy, drop us a note at [email protected]