Internet Street Smarts: Skillfully Using Social Media

By now it seems just about everybody you know, even your parents and grandparents, are staying connected through social media, an online playground full of pictures of fun vacations and tasty meals, and endless videos of cats doing cute things.

Social media is BIG now. For example, Instagram has exploded from 100,000 users after it started in 2010 to 1 billion as of June 2018, with 4.2 billion posts a day! Just like Instagram is no longer just an online photo album, social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, has become a lifeline for many, replacing letters and phone calls, and marketing of course has kept up with these developments.

Internet Street Smarts: Skillfully Using Social Media

Are You Using Your Social Media Presence to the Fullest?

A successful online presence is active. For example, provide prompt customer service: dedicate one or more people to giving quick replies to questions by e-mail or Facebook.

One of your marketing goals should be "branding." A "brand relationship" is when your customers like and trust you, knowing and asking for your products by brand name. It's as if the brand is a character with a personality, with human-like qualities, such as comfort, reliability, etc. Social media builds that crucial emotional connection with your customers and prospective sales.

A way to foster that relationship is by sharing free user-generated content. For example, Target retweets customers going on "Target runs."

Hashtags are now everywhere because they're effective if well chosen. By skillfully using them, you can reach out to the millions of Twitter users who don't follow your account - yet! These bump up "engagement" by up to 12.6%. And you don't need legions of followers to be influential through social media. According to a Digiday study, Instagram "influencers" with the most engaged audiences have only between 10,000 and 100,000 followers. A little effort is all it takes, and Renaissance's social-media team is here to make it happen as part of a well-planned marketing strategy. 

The Subtlety of Content Marketing
Social media is a key part of an often-overlooked aspect of marketing, a soft-sales approach such as content marketing. For example, with a blog or Facebook post, you can announce sales, etc., and "share information" that your customers find helpful.

Social-media posts work to improve business. According to one survey, 75% of users look at a business's site after seeing a brand's social-media post. Let us at Renaissance get you started on using this powerful medium to your greatest advantage.

Click here to watch our Social Media Educational Video!