AgVoice | Zafar Rais speaks on 'Social Media Marketing: Doing It Right'

The key to success with social media is to outline a strategy which considers the amount of time you can realistically dedicate each day to your online marketing efforts. Given the time spent in engaging with your customers, it is very important to follow some rules and avoid few mistakes. Building an online reputation for your brand is an on-going process. Understanding factors that influence the adoption and frequency of use of social media services can assist marketers in selecting social media benefiting the brand recognition value. The main aspects while Social Media offers organization with main platforms like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.

But just halt there! The numerous social media platforms provide you features and opportunities hence targeting a particular platform requires 3 deciding questions. They are -does it reach an audience that my other channels do not reach? Do I have the time to effectively support this channel? Does it provide me with functionality not available elsewhere?  Insights on each of the platform once made the decision are as follows.

For a deeper customer based relationship, Twitter is a platform you would have to invest your marketing efforts in. Twitter is about connecting with your fans on a personal level. If you have no execution strategy, your content is likely going to fall through the cracks. Set a limit on how many tweets you have to publish per day. This number can be adjusted as needed, but having a number you have to hit, even something as small as four tweets per day, gives you a benchmark and a goal at the very least. A good display picture, cover photo and a short yet witty description will help you create a good impression to change a user into your Twitter follower.

The key to tackle negative response is quick, witty and informed responses. What is the point in answering a tweep a day later when you are on a medium of instant response? The biggest difference between a personal profile and a brand’s profile is that a brand does not forget what the objective of being on twitter is. Merge topics about discounts, offers, your product’s USPs in an innovative yet subtle manner whilst also covering a larger picture about the industry you’re here to resolve problems for.

To the average user, Facebook can be nearly anything — a way to learn new recipe ideas, play games, check out photos, connect with family, and more. But for those trying to build a customer engagement through Facebook, it might be better for them to find one or two things to accomplish and really zero in on that.The big difference between an ordinary fan page and the fan page of an established brand is how professionally the page is handled.

Using innovative ways to ‘Welcome’ your Fans to your page can count as a brand recall value. The objective to be present on Social Media platforms should be to engage and connect with your fans on a one-to-one basis. A positive response to the first person liking or commenting can make a huge difference to the user, converting them into free brand promoters on Facebook. The insights provided by Facebook with details of when your fans are more active can help in scheduling your post when maximum numbers of your fans are online. Your followers are key to driving word of mouth, recommendations, and referrals to your brand.

Develop a robust follower community on LinkedIn – the more followers you have, easier it becomes to get viral reach and engagement. Make sure your profile summary has the right keywords which can make a search on your name easy. Generate business leads and strengthen current customer relationships by sharing valuable and rich content via company updates. Posting daily company updates is the most effective way to start a conversation and directly engage with your target audience. Share company news, industry articles and also ask followers to weigh in on hot topics.

Instagram is a simple design application that allows captivating visuals to take center stage. Each image or video fills the screen with nothing to clutter the experience. Do not ignore hashtags, because they help people find your images faster. Absence of ‘#’ makes your account and pictures invisible for potential followers. Do not get overwhelmed with hashtags. Imagine a brand using hashtags like “#followback”. Make sure you have a content bank created in advance so that you never run out of good content to post on Instagram. Fans remember when you post something twice, and they might just start finding your profile boring. Don’t miss on connecting the Instagram account to Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare accounts to increase your outreach. It will notify your fans when a new picture on your Instagram timeline is posted. Take advantage of geotagging to make your content searchable and give it a large audience.

Social networks allow us to discover, connect, and engage with the right people. The challenge here is to make a connection clearly and effectively without wasting people's time. Potential consumers are the end result of socially engaging with them hence tapping the right social media platform is the key. Making your presence felt on each and every platform is not necessary but choosing the right medium and going by the simple rules of the network will definitely sustain your brand presence towards creating a mindshift experience.

About the author:

Zafar Rais is the Founder and CEO of MindShift Interactive. He possesses illustrious experience of 15 years in areas of Marketing, Branding, Business Development, Operations, Research and Product Innovation.

He started his career as a ‘Marketing Consultant’ with Oxygen Healthcare Communications where he was accountable for building strategy to achieve the business objectives of Hungama, Bristol-Myers Squib and Glaxo. On studying the Internet usage in India and understanding how consumers are increasingly using Social Media as a platform to engage with businesses, Zafar established a need state for ‘Mindshift Interactive’. Through his entrepreneurial venture he promises to deliver an Insightful Digital Outreach for businesses and create a Social Media presence that is intelligent, impactful, innovative and, most of all, sustained. Under Zafar’s leadership, MindShift Interactive runs three different business verticals, namely, MindShift Digital (Digital Marketing & Influencer Relations), MindShift Metrics (Digital Research Consulting) and MindShift Activate (Events & Promotions) with each working towards achieving a unified goal of providing brands with the ideal outreach backed by ideal insights.

Zafar has also been instrumental in providing clients with Digital Media Planning & Buying, Instagram Influencer Marketing and Social Media-lead Behaviour Analysis programmes. Select key clients of MindShift include Homeshop18,Lancôme, Kiehl’s, JW Mariott, Renaissance, Sula Vineyards, Max Bupa Health Insurance, Reliance 3G, BIG CBS amongst others. MindShift has been instrumental in conceptualizing some of the largest Twitter campaigns, namely, #FeelingBlue for Reliance 3G, #ChappalMaaro for The Bombay Store & the first-ever high outreach Instagram campaign, #GoNoFilter for Lancôme

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not reflect in any way of Adgully.

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