Think Outside The Box: Alternative Methods of Marketing On Social Media
The concept of social media marketing is far from revolutionary at this point. All businesses understand that social media platforms are one of the best ways to reach an audience. With billions of monthly active users, the social media giants are an obvious choice for marketers. If you're looking to diversify your marketing strategy, consider these less-mainstream avenues.
TikTok
TikTok is all the rage right now, particularly with the younger audience. If your business provides products or services targeted to those 18-30 or anywhere around that range, you should consider a company TikTok account! You can take advantage of TikTok ads as well, but when done correctly, organic content can blow up! All it takes is one video to go completely viral on the app. TikTok loves to see things in progress. Cake decorators, ice-cream parlors, nail and hair stylists, etc. can easily get millions of views per video. The more unique and visually appealing the process is, the better off you'll be. You can show off your company's process too! Let's say you own a tattoo parlor. TattooTok as it's known is an enormous mecca of tattoo lovers who will eat your content up. The TikTok algorithm is alarmingly accurate and shows content to the exact audience who will be interested in it. Hashtags are critical here, as are sounds. More often then not, you'll scroll through your TikTok feed and hear the same sound numerous times. This is a viral sound, and videos who jump on the trend are exponentially more likely to reach more viewers. Here are a few tips and tricks for seeing success on TikTok:
- Showcase what you do and how you do it.
- Use trending hashtags and hashtags related to your business/industry.
- Incorporate viral sounds.
- When applicable, duet or stitch with other videos.
- Don't be afraid to ask people to duet or stitch you!
- Create interactive content by making products related to suggestions from the comments, or answer questions that you come across.
- Always include text as closed captioning so that your video can be enjoyed to the fullest even without volume. This also shows that you're inclusive, which is great.
- Don't be afraid to have employees try out TikTok trends or dances! It humanizes the company and makes you seem cool and down to earth.
Snapchat Lenses/Geotags
For many businesses, starting a company Snapchat account isn't a great option. That being said, you can absolutely utilize the app in your social media marketing strategy! Ask your digital marketing agency or graphic design specialist to create a geotag, lens, or filter that customers can use! You can set a radius around your location for geotags, or allow anyone to use your filter. If you're not sure what we're talking about, a geotag is a filter/lens that is available only in particular locations. For example, when you enter New York City, you'll have access to a wide selection of NYC geotags! If you're a local restaurant, you can allow Snapchat users to display your logo if they are within 2 blocks of your location. Filters and lenses are more complex and require more development. Lenses change the appearance of users in real time in photos or videos. Lenses tend to be interactive and many focus on adding apparel, playing games, or creating an "artsy" background. Keep in mind that these services must be paid for. Sponsored lenses are shown to a much wider audience, but they can come with a hefty price tag. Geotags are more popular among smaller businesses as they cost less and can easily be designed by most digital marketing agencies. You may be asking yourself what the point is. Well, for those in the area but not actually in your business, you are exposing them to the fact that you're nearby. Someone might be scrolling through geotag options and see the one for your tattoo parlor and go check you out because they've never noticed your storefront before. BOOM. New customer. Once they're customers, they can take Snaps with your lens or geotag and send them to friends or their story. They're spreading your brand for you! Cities and towns also have their own stories so you could potentially reach the entire area you exist within. Talk about brand awareness!
Giveaways
If you're familiar with social media marketing already, you likely understand that organic posts don't always show great results. Unless you have a huge following, your organic posts won't be seen by many. Of course, you can always use hashtags to increase visibility, but are you creating content worth engaging with? To draw in new followers and potential customers, set up giveaways! We've all seen the posts before, so why not make your own?! Offer participants a great prize and watch the engagements pour in. Generally speaking, social media giveaways follow a similar script:
- Ask the person to like the post and your page
- Ask them to comment or tag someone in the comments
- Ask them to share the post
- Let them know when a winner/winners will be announced
Let's go back to our tattoo shop example. You could offer $200 off a session for a giveaway. You'd ask those interested in entering to like and share the post, follow your page, and tag 3 friends in the comments. By doing this, you are guaranteed that at least their three friends see your post, as well as the participant's followers thanks to the share. In order to be considered to win, they need to follow your page. The cycle continues as more and more people decide to enter! In the old days, giveaways could be a logistical nightmare. Thankfully, there are platforms and sites out there that can confirm that a participant follows all the rules. They'll even pick a winner for you out of the qualified pool! Most digital marketing agencies will run the behind the scenes aspects for you. You can sit back and watch engagements skyrocket knowing that your unpaid post is reaching hundreds or thousands of new viewers!
Create A Challenge
We aren't going to lie, this one is a bit tough to get right. Everyone on social media (individuals and businesses alike) are hoping to go viral. Some of the most successful viral "campaigns" involved some kind of challenge. You had The Mannequin Challenge, The Harlem Shake, The Ice Bucket Challenge, and so many more. While challenges of that scale are few and far between, your business very well could be the next to go viral for a great idea! On a smaller scale, you can try to create trends on social platforms, particularly the aforementioned TikTok. Create a dance, mashup audio into something funny and clever, decide to turn texts from your boss into inspirational posters.... get creative and try to create content that is easy to recreate and super fun or relatable. The best trends can be done by anyone and offer a lot of room for self-expression. How can you go about creating a challenge or a trend? First things first, you need to come up with a plan. Do you have funny/relatable stories to tell? Is there a particular sound bite that makes you giggle? Maybe you're far too familiar with a show and can quote an entire episode at 6x speed. Whatever your business wants to show off, feel free to do it! Of course, there's no guarantee that it'll go viral, but you'd be surprised at how well social media users respond to content. It's a good idea to use a business-related hashtag in the event that it does go viral. Others who try the challenge will likely tag your account and use your hashtag. It's always a good idea to create content that somehow relates back to your business, but if you're looking for brand awareness, there are a million and one ways to get noticed. Make sure whatever you do reflects the values and morals of your business however, or you could ostracize the community you actually support (ie. don't use a very inappropriate song if you're selling children's products).
Find Influencers/Brand Ambassadors
Lastly, you can take social media marketing to the next level with influencers and brand ambassadors. This may not be a revolutionary idea, but very few businesses do it well. A very common theme these days is to find micro-influencers. They have a few thousand followers instead of several million, and they aren't wrapped up in 17 different brand deals and sponsorships. You can find influencers who are followed by members of your target audience and share common interests. That tattoo shop you own? Find an inked micro-influencer, offer them a discounted or free session in exchange for a post or two, and watch as their followers become your followers. Most brand ambassadors or influencers are given codes that their viewers can use online to save on the purchase. This lets you know which influencers are working out, and it also helps you fairly provide compensation. Clothing brands rely on this type of social media marketing very heavily, and some will reach out to accounts with only a few hundred followers! Why not aim for the big fish? Well, they're busy being famous for other things and they support several brands at once. You should also keep in mind that more influencers have bot followers than you may think. These don't really count, and they certainly won't make any purchases from you. There's also the audience to consider. Millions of people may share one or two common interests, but the similarities between them may end at their love of the influencer in question. By fishing in a smaller pond, you're more likely to find "your people" who will be interested in what you do. Plus, there's no need to be greedy. A few hundred people seeing your product or service is much better than what you've been getting! Sure, millions of views are nice, but it doesn't equate to purchases or follows. Micro-influencers are much cheaper to bring on board and your digital marketing agency can help you manage them. Many agencies don't have the capacity to deal with full-fledged celebrities, but micro-influencers are more than managable.
As you can see, there are many alternative methods of marketing on social media. Some are creative organic ways to gain traction while others involve a bit of budget. As frustrating as it can be when social media platforms change all the time, it's a great opportunity for marketers! While users saw the addition of short-form video to all platforms as redundant, digital marketing agencies saw it as more chances to advertise our clients! The changing nature of social media allows us to try new things and forces us to adapt quickly. If you're ready to work with a digital agency who can handle any type of social media marketing you throw at us, contact the BusySeed team! We have helped to grow over 300 businesses and we'd love to work with you. Our Digital Marketing Experts know everything there is to know about organic posts, paid social media advertising, other forms of digital media, content creation, and more. Call us at (888) 353-1484 to get started. We look forward to speaking with you!
