Bark's Guide to Meaningful and Authentic Social Media Interactions
If there was one word that perfectly encompassed everything that mattered with social media marketing, it would be this: engage. If you’re not having conversations with your audience on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter (to only name three), you’re doing something drastically wrong. The stats don’t lie either: a recent study found that 3.8 billion people used social media in 2019, which is just over half the global population. 83% of people say that they are more likely to make a purchase if they have positive social media interaction with a business. Technology and psychology are different branches of the same tree when it comes to social media.
Tone of Voice
Nike have mastered social media marketing through a shrewd, distinctive and classy tone of voice. Even so, they still take the time to interact with customers who have queries or comments, even if those engagements don’t do big numbers. Too many unreplied or ignored queries really aren’t a good look.
Also, adapting your tone when interacting with different types of comments is an important distinction to make. This example from Yorkshire Tea is not only the morally right response, but shows an adaptability when it comes to engagement. While talking and posting is inevitably the centre of the social media universe, listening and being able to read the room is an essential skill.
Engage
While interacting with your own followers is an important element of your social media strategy, some brands have found having conversations with competitors to be extremely fruitful. When the sassy Wendy’s Twitter account mentioned McDonalds, even UNO got involved. This engagement was not only (in our opinion) funny, but garnered thousands of retweets, likes and comments. It’s a perfect example of pushing your outreach by getting involved in conversation with other companies. While it’s obviously beneficial for your image, you can really get creative and have some fun too.
Experiment
You might be thinking that your brand or company wouldn’t suit a volatile, viral environment, such as twitter. But while it’s important to keep your tone in alignment with your goals, don’t be scared to experiment and see which interactions work and which don’t. After all, who would have thought that the Museum of English Rural Life, based in Reading, could reach an unbelievable 31k retweets and 100k likes for a picture of a sheep? Try different types of media such as pictures or videos and see which posts provoke a response (videos on Instagram are seeing a 49% higher interaction rate than images). You could surprise yourself with how much fun you can have when interacting with followers. The benefits can be incalculable when trying to present your brand in an authentic way.
The path to a successful representation of your brand on social media is a tricky one. But if you employ a consistent tone of voice and keep experimenting with your interactions, you’ll surprise yourself with how quickly you can amass a wide following.
The path to a successful representation of your brand on social media is a tricky one. But if you employ a consistent tone of voice and keep experimenting with your interactions, you’ll surprise yourself with how quickly you can amass a wide following.
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