Insights
Social media has become an integral part of any marketing strategy, and creating a social media content calendar is crucial for a successful campaign. A content calendar can save you time, improve your content quality, and ensure that your content is consistently published across your social media channels. In this blog post, we’ll discuss how to create a social media content calendar that works and how it can benefit your social media marketing strategy.
Benefits of a Social Media Content Calendar
A content calendar is an organized way to plan and schedule your social media content. Here are a few of the benefits of using a content calendar:
- Time-saving: A content calendar helps you plan and schedule your content in advance, saving you time in the long run. You won’t have to scramble at the last minute to develop content ideas.
- Consistency: Consistency is key when it comes to social media marketing. A content calendar ensures that you are consistently posting content on your social media channels.
- Quality: Planning your content in advance allows you to create high-quality content that aligns with your brand voice and values.
- Collaboration: A content calendar is an excellent tool for collaborating with your team and ensuring everyone is on the same page.
What should be included in a Social Media Content Calendar?
Whether you’re using an Excel spreadsheet, or more advanced work management tools, your social media content calendar should include at least the following:
- Dates and Time: The dates and times when you plan to post your content.
- Channels/Platforms: The social media channels/platforms where you plan to post your content.
- Content: The type of content you plan to post (image, video, blog post, etc.).
- Copy: The text that accompanies your content.
- Hashtags: The hashtags you plan to use in your posts.
- Links: The links to any relevant websites or landing pages.
- Call to action: The call to action you want to include in your post.
How a Social Media Content Calendar can help in Social Media Marketing Effectiveness
A social media content calendar can help you be more strategic and intentional with your social media marketing. By planning your content in advance, you can ensure that your content aligns with your marketing goals and objectives. It also helps create a cohesive brand voice across your social media channels.
We get it. Social media management is a hectic job. Using a content calendar helps you stay on top of trends, holidays, and national days relevant to your brand.
Push the Content Through the Approval Process
Who should see the content calendar for approvals if you’re an agency, and who should see the content calendar for approval if you have an internal marketing team?
If you’re an agency, the content calendar should be shared with your clients for approval. It’s important to get their feedback and ensure that the content aligns with their brand and marketing goals. If you have an internal marketing team, the content calendar should be shared with all relevant team members for approval, including the marketing manager, social media manager, legal, and any other stakeholders.
Creating a social media content calendar can be a game-changer for your social media marketing strategy. It allows you to be more strategic, save time, and create high-quality content that aligns with your brand voice and values. By including all the necessary elements and sharing it with the relevant stakeholders for approval, you can ensure that your social media content is consistently published and effective in achieving your marketing goals.
As a marketer, you know how important it is for your brand to make a good impression on potential customers. One of the best ways to do this is by collecting positive online reviews. Not only do positive reviews help to boost your brand’s reputation, but they also play a crucial role in your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. In this blog, we’ll explore why positive online reviews are important for your brand and provide ideas on how to get those positive reviews and use them in your marketing.
Why Online Reviews Matter
Firstly, let’s talk about why positive online reviews are so important. The truth is that in today’s digital age, most consumers turn to online reviews before making a purchase decision. According to a survey by BrightLocal, 93% of consumers read online reviews before making a purchase. Furthermore, 68% of consumers say that positive online reviews make them more likely to trust a local business.
But the benefits of positive online reviews go beyond just building trust with potential customers. Google’s search algorithms also take into account the number and quality of reviews when determining search rankings. In other words, the more positive reviews your brand has, the higher it will rank in search results. This means that positive online reviews are important not only for building trust with potential customers but also for increasing your brand’s visibility online.
How to Get Online Reviews
So, how can you get those positive online reviews? Here are a few ideas:
Ask for them: The simplest way to get positive online reviews is to ask for them. Reach out to satisfied customers and ask them to leave a review on your website or on a review platform like Google My Business or Facebook.
Make it easy: Make the process of leaving a review as easy as possible for your customers. Provide direct links to your review profiles, and ensure the process is simple and straightforward.
Monitor your reviews: Keep an eye on your online reviews and respond to any negative feedback in a timely and professional manner. This will show potential customers that you care about their feedback and are committed to providing excellent customer service.
How to Use Positive Online Reviews in Your Marketing
Once you have collected those online reviews, it’s time to use them in your marketing. Here are a few ideas:
Use them on your website: Display your positive reviews prominently on your website, either on your homepage or on a dedicated testimonials page.
Share them on social media: Share positive reviews on your social media channels to show potential customers that others have had a positive experience with your brand.
Use them in advertising: Incorporate positive reviews into your advertising campaigns to add credibility and social proof.
Create case studies: Use positive reviews as the basis for case studies, showing how your brand has helped other customers to achieve their goals.
Online reviews are a crucial component of any successful digital marketing strategy. They help to build trust with potential customers, boost your search engine rankings, and provide valuable social proof for your brand. By following these tips and incorporating positive reviews into your marketing efforts, you can help your brand to stand out in a crowded online marketplace.
Social media has become an essential tool for businesses to reach and engage with their target audience. However, many businesses struggle to keep their social media presence up-to-date and effective. If you feel like your social media efforts are lagging, don’t worry, you’re not alone. Here are five ways to jump-start your social media efforts on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.
- Re-evaluate your Social Media Goals and Strategy
The first step to jump-starting your social media efforts is to re-evaluate your social media goals and strategy. What do you want to achieve with your social media presence? Is it to increase brand awareness, drive traffic to your website, generate leads, or all of the above? Once you have a clear understanding of your goals, you can create a social media strategy that is aligned with them.
Once you have established your goals, it’s time to review your strategy. Are you targeting the right audience? Are your social media posts relevant to your target audience? Are you posting consistently on all social media platforms? Answering these questions will help you understand where you need to make changes to your social media strategy.
- Know and Engage with Your Audience
Knowing your target audience is key to creating content that resonates with them. You should research and understand their demographics, interests, and behaviors. This information will help you tailor your content and messaging to appeal to them.
On Facebook and LinkedIn, you can use audience targeting features to ensure that your content is being shown to the right people. On Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, you can use hashtags and keywords to reach your target audience.
Once established, be sure to engage with them. Engagement is the heart of social media. Engaging with your audience means interacting with them through comments, direct messages, and other social media features.
On Facebook, you can respond to comments on your posts and encourage your audience to leave comments by asking questions. You can also create polls to get your audience’s opinion on a particular topic.
On LinkedIn, you can engage with your audience by joining groups and participating in conversations. You can also share valuable insights and industry news through your LinkedIn posts.
On Twitter, you can respond to mentions and direct messages promptly. You can also join Twitter chats related to your industry and engage with other participants.
On Instagram, you can engage with your audience by responding to comments and direct messages. You can also use Instagram stories to show behind-the-scenes content and give your audience a glimpse of your brand’s personality.
On TikTok, you can engage with your audience by responding to comments and creating interactive content. You can also use popular hashtags to increase your visibility and reach a wider audience.
- Use Social Media Advertising
Organic reach on social media platforms has been declining in recent years. As a result, businesses need to consider using social media advertising to reach their target audience.
On Facebook, you can create ads to promote your page, boost your posts, and drive traffic to your website. You can also target your ads to specific audiences based on demographics, interests, and behaviors.
On LinkedIn, you can create sponsored content, sponsored InMail, and display ads to reach your target audience. You can also target your ads based on job title, company size, and industry.
On Twitter, you can promote your account, tweets, and trends to reach a wider audience. You can also target your ads based on keywords, interests, and demographics.
On Instagram, you can create ads to promote your page, increase engagement, and drive traffic to your website. You can also target your ads based on interests, behaviors, and demographics.
On TikTok, you can create ads to promote your brand, products, or services. You can also target your ads based on interests, behaviors, and demographics.
- Consistency is Key
Consistency is crucial in social media. You should have a consistent posting schedule and ensure that your content is consistent with your brand voice and messaging. Using third-party scheduling tools, or even the native scheduling tools offered on Facebook and LinkedIn, can help keep track of posts and assist with scheduling them in advance, taking the burden of having to be in front of a computer or your phone at the exact moment a post needs to be released.
- Embrace Video Content
Video content is becoming increasingly popular on social media. Platforms like TikTok and Instagram are heavily focused on short-form video content. You should consider incorporating video content into your social media strategy.
On Facebook and LinkedIn, you can use live video to engage with your audience in real-time.
On Twitter and Instagram, you can use the video feature to share short-form video content.
And on TikTok, you can create short, engaging videos that are tailored to your target audience.
Social media can be a powerful tool for businesses to reach and engage with their target audience, but sometimes it can start to lag. By defining your goals, knowing your audience, being consistent, engaging with your audience, and embracing video content, you can jump-start your social media efforts and create a strong social media presence. So, don’t be afraid to try new things and experiment with different types of content to find what works best for your business.
Brand salience refers to the degree to which a brand is thought about or noticed when a customer is in a buying situation. It is the mental availability of a brand in the consumer’s mind impacting purchasing decisions and loyalty. In a highly competitive market, establishing strong brand salience is crucial for success and long-term growth.
Factors Contributing to Brand Salience
- Distinctive Brand Assets
Having unique and recognizable brand assets, such as a logo, color scheme, and typography, is essential for creating brand salience. These elements serve as visual cues that enable customers to identify your brand easily, setting you apart from competitors.
- Consistent Messaging
Crafting a consistent and clear brand message across all touchpoints is vital. This approach ensures that customers understand your brand’s value proposition and perceive it as dependable and trustworthy.
- Emotional Connection
Establishing an emotional connection with customers is also important. By resonating with consumers on an emotional level, you create lasting impressions and encourage loyalty.
- Customer Experience
Providing an exceptional customer experience at every touchpoint contributes to brand salience. This includes pre-purchase interactions, post-purchase support, and user experience on digital platforms.
Benefits of High Brand Salience
- Increased Customer Loyalty
With strong brand salience, customers are more likely to choose your brand over competitors, leading to increased loyalty and repeat purchases.
- Higher Conversion Rates
A salient brand is more likely to be considered during the decision-making process, resulting in higher conversion rates and sales.
- Enhanced Brand Equity
High brand salience contributes to overall brand equity, improving your brand’s perceived value and desirability in the market.
- Competitive Advantage
In a saturated market, strong brand salience provides a competitive edge by capturing consumers’ attention and influencing their purchase decisions.
Strategies for Building Brand Salience
- Leverage Social Media
Utilizing social media platforms to engage with customers and share valuable content allows you to reach a wider audience and build a robust online presence.
- Content Marketing
Creating and distributing high-quality, relevant content targeted at your audience strategy positions your brand as an authority in your industry and keeps your brand top-of-mind for consumers.
- Influencer Marketing
Partnering with influencers who share your brand values and have a strong following allows you to tap into their audience and increase your brand’s visibility.
- Sponsorships and Partnerships
Engaging in sponsorships and partnerships with other brands or events exposes your brand to new audiences and creates associations that improve brand recognition.
- Monitor and Adapt
Regularly monitoring your brand’s performance and adapting your strategies based on feedback and market trends is crucial for maintaining and increasing brand salience.
Measurement
To assess the effectiveness of your efforts, you can use various quantitative and qualitative methods, including:
- Surveys and questionnaires to gather customer feedback
- Social media analytics to track engagement and sentiment
- Sales and conversion data to evaluate purchasing behavior
- Brand tracking studies to measure awareness and recall
Establishing strong brand salience is a critical component of success in today’s competitive market landscape, and it is one of the areas where Clearbridge Branding excels. Are you ready to move your brand forward? Contact us here.
Surviving A Recession With A Strong Marketing Strategy was originally published on Forbes.com.
In the uncertain times of economic decline, many business owners ask themselves, “Can we afford to keep advertising?” At Clearbridge Branding Agency, we ask, “Can you afford to stop?”On the downswing, many things can change in business. Budgets are slashed, roles are reduced, and even amenities like free company coffee are discontinued. Moral of the story: shift happens. But it’s how you shift that matters.
Too often, recession-reactive companies pump the brakes on their marketing and advertising spending—but is this the right path forward in the name of self-preservation?
The Cost Of Cutting Corners
At a surface glance, cutting advertising dollars may appear the logical reflex to an economic downturn. Consumers spend less—therefore, businesses reap less. Marketing expenditures should follow suit, yes? Not if you want to maintain your position in the market as the economy shapeshifts around you.
In a recession, it can be expectedly onerous to look beyond the now and strain the eyes at the bigger picture peeking over the horizon. That bigger picture contains the long-term return on investment (ROI) and your business’s competitive position when the tide of a recession recedes (and it always does). What is done now will determine your position later. By pulling the purse strings and decreasing or even halting marketing efforts, that tide could sweep you out to sea. Contrarily, keeping up or even increasing marketing efforts helps to position the company for advantage later and can further magnetize the brand in the open space left behind by competitors who have halted their efforts.
Take the classic Post vs. Kellogg’s example from the Great Depression. While Post pulled back considerably on advertising, Kellogg’s doubled down, pushing its spending heavily on radio and introducing a new cereal: the beloved Rice Krispies. Their profits flourished, and the company took over as the category leader.
Economic downturns often free up the field of marketing and allow companies that continue to spend on advertising to attract more business. This creates an opportunity for brands to capture new customers and convert them from competitors.
During a recession, marketing investments and self-preservation aren’t the only things brands should have top of mind. Consumer awareness is paramount—especially in times of economic decline. Behaviors, attitudes, and perceptions all shift among consumers as they become more cost-conscious. Your strategy and messaging should reflect that in your media plan.
Consider the customers. How might they perceive your brand’s current messaging, given a sizable shift in economic activity? Does the messaging contain a veil of empathy consistent with the current climate? Does it underscore the immediate value of your product or service for the customer?
This kind of questioning will help you examine messaging through the lens of your customers—who, coincidentally, are the ones who can help your company climb out of recession successfully. However, in order to reach them, marketing is a must.
By crafting messaging that is sensitive to these shifts in consumers and the current economic status, your brand stands to gain more loyalty and overall value. Doing so will also help maximize your ROI in advertising by sending the right message to the right people.
For The Love Of Loyalty
Loyalty programs bolster a brand’s connection to its core consumers and, in a downswing, can be a pivotal tool to generate business and strengthen consumer relationships. There may be no greater test of your customers’ fealty to your brand than in a downturn, and those who remain true may be more willing to keep their wallets open—especially if there’s something beneficial in it for them.
Nurturing loyalty programs can drive additional business from existing customers, encouraging them to continue spending with your brand through rewards, points, and benefits. This can help maintain your core base while you continue efforts in new customer acquisition. Boomers are among the most engaged in loyalty programs. And younger generations are more willing to try new products and brands. An attractive loyalty program can help cement older generations already loyal to your brand while baiting younger generations who value reward systems.
If you haven’t already, consider adopting a simple rewards system that promotes value and convenience. You can offer sign-up incentives for new customers and incentivize existing customers with additional rewards for referring others, helping to cater to your core base while giving newcomers another reason to take an interest in your brand.
The Power To Pivot
The Great Recession from 2007 to 2009 left many markets at a standstill, leaving business owners to wonder if or how they should shift their strategies. The endurance of any business is reliant on demand—but when demand is frozen, how do you sustain it?
You may need to pivot. There is no greater example of the importance of this than the Covid-19 pandemic that shook nearly every form of business to the core. By adapting your business model to new market opportunities, you can optimize revenue streams. Reexamine the changing needs of your target market. How have they changed? How can you fill new demand? You may even need to shift your target market altogether.
It’s also a time to ramp up your digital strategy to further reach your customer base and boost brand awareness. Analyze your current digital efforts and utilize your social presence to target customers and push your refreshed messaging.
The long and short of it is: If what you’ve been doing isn’t working, you can’t afford to idle. Your marketing and advertising spending may appear to be the quickest way to cut costs, but it can also be the fastest way to collapse. Think critically, not reactively. Audit, reflect, and make every decision informed. In times of economic uncertainty, it pays to keep on keeping on. And no matter how the tides turn, always remember growth is possible in a down economy.
In today’s digital world, businesses of all sizes and industries need a strong brand identity to stand out from the competition. Branding is more than a logo or tagline; it’s about creating a unique and consistent visual and emotional experience for your customers. Here are four reasons why investing in branding and design is critical to your business:
- Differentiation
A strong brand identity sets you apart from the competition. It helps you stand out in a crowded marketplace and makes it easier for customers to remember and recognize your business. Investing in high-quality design and branding can create a unique identity that reflects your business’s values, mission, and personality.
- Trust and Credibility
A well-designed brand identity can help establish trust and credibility with your target audience. Customers who see a professional and consistent visual identity across all your marketing materials are more likely to view your business as trustworthy and credible. This can lead to increased customer loyalty and repeat business.
- Increased Visibility
Branding and design can also help increase your visibility and reach. Having a consistent visual identity across all your marketing materials creates a sense of familiarity and recognition with your target audience. This can lead to more brand awareness and exposure, ultimately leading to more sales and revenue.
- Consistency
A strong brand identity helps ensure consistency across all your marketing materials. This means that your business is always presented in a professional and cohesive manner, which can help improve customer perception and trust. Consistency also helps establish brand recognition and familiarity, which can lead to increased customer loyalty and repeat business.
Investing in high-quality branding and design is critical to the success of your business. It helps differentiate your business from the competition, establish trust and credibility with your target audience, increase visibility and reach, and ensure consistency across all your marketing materials. At Clearbridge Branding Agency, we provide comprehensive branding and design services that can help you create a strong and memorable brand identity. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you achieve your business goals.
Getting customers to opt into an email list is tough, but trying to keep email subscribers engaged can be even harder. A large list isn’t worth much if the emails being sent aren’t opened or clicked on.
In this blog, our email experts provide four tips to keep email subscribers engaged.
1. Publish high-quality content.
Although this is perhaps the most basic step, it is arguably the most important.
Poor quality content could not only limit new subscribers but deter existing customers from opening emails and even possibly driving them to unsubscribe. Targeted, insightful, and informative content will make your audience truly care about what you have to say while boosting your brand’s image and increasing your audience’s loyalty.
Make their subscription feel valuable by including blog posts about a relevant topic, how-to guides, informative case studies, testimonials, industry news, coupons, or even specials for email subscribers only.
Crafting a compelling and incentivized offer is beneficial in increasing subscribers and sustaining existing customers. Users typically sign up for newsletters in hopes of receiving offers and insights into new products before everyone else.
2. Personalization.
Personalizing emails is a proven way of increasing open and click-through rates. Studies show emails with personalized subject lines are opened 26% more often than those without.
Basic tactics include using a subscriber’s name in the subject line, but more advanced methods include crafting content segmented around a subscriber’s gender, location, interests, previous purchases, and more. For example, “Hey Jeff, we’ve got a deal on size 9 shoes!” not only addresses the customer by name but also provides a level of personalization that will resonate (and drive clicks).
Additional examples include sending a thank you email if they recently made a purchase, reminder emails if a cart abandonment occurred, or an email providing tips or insights on the product they just purchased. Here’s an example of the latter: If the customer purchased a decorated scarf, send an email with five different ways that scarf can be tied and worn.
3. Hook them in the subject line.
Make your subject line appealing and creative. Once subscribers have opened your email, be sure to get to the point. Most people don’t sit around reading lengthy messages, which will lose their attention—fast.
Avoid clickbait tactics such as phrases like “100% free” or “The best offer of all time,” and instead write in a conversational style, even if your brand is more serious. Make your subject lines catchy, and let your audience feel like they’re engaging with an authentic and personable brand. This can be accomplished by using contractions, emojis, GIFs, and direct callouts with “you” and “your” to speak comfortably with readers. Even asking a simple question such as “Do you want to save 50%?” will draw intrigue and begin a dialog.
4. Give your subscribers more power.
Noticing more unsubscribes than usual? Give users more power by offering them the option to choose how many emails they receive, whether it be a daily special offer or a monthly sum-up of your best deals. Remember that it’s much more valuable to have one subscriber who fully reads their monthly email as opposed to somebody who gets newsletters daily but never opens them.
Tired of email unsubscribes?
There’s a lot that goes into the entire email sign-up process, from first getting subscribers all the way to keeping them happy and engaged. Is your business struggling to get the conversions you need? Clearbridge Branding will make sure the money is truly in the list. Call now to begin: (856) 327-4141.
A content strategy not only helps increase leads, but provides your audience with insightful information, educates prospects, and enhances brand awareness. But developing a content strategy that works takes, well, a bit of work.
Perhaps you don’t have a content strategy at all, or the one your business is using now isn’t driving the anticipated results. In this blog, we’ll look at why your organization needs a content strategy and how to develop a content strategy that works.
First off: why?
High-quality content that grabs attention, fosters engagement, and encourages actions like clicks, helps to build trust and awareness with consumers. This means more potential customers can find your products and services. Being easier to find is always a good thing, right?
How to get started.
Start with considering goals. Ask, what is the goal of the content strategy? Is it conversions, increased brand awareness, improved SEO rankings, new leads, or something else? Determining goals should be the first step in developing a content strategy that works.
For example, if one of the goals is to increase website visitors, consider a series of routinely scheduled, quality blog posts. Not only does this help to drive website clicks, but it also provides content to engage customers. When tracking is installed, such as Google Analytics, important user data can also be obtained from the blog efforts (and any campaign efforts driving users to your website). This leads us to…
Know your audience.
A content strategy becomes effective when you understand who your audience is and what they’re looking for. In addition to sales data, there are platform-provided and third-party tools that can help.
Keep in mind that when developing a content strategy, tools like Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, and other platform analytical dashboards are great ways to learn more about what your prospects are engaging with, what pages they’ve visited, and how often. In addition, understanding your audience regarding their gender, age, and interests allows you to understand the kinds of content you need to publish and the types of audiences you need to develop for marketing campaigns.
Measure your results.
Once goals are set, determine key performance indicators (KPIs) and set benchmarks. For example, if the sales and marketing team has created a white paper and released it on LinkedIn, a goal of 100 downloads in two weeks is simple to track. Even a 25% increase in phone calls from a series of promoted posts are solid goals to track. While the ultimate goal is usually conversions and sales, KPIs can even be as simple as time spent on the website, a decrease in bounce rates, getting customer reviews, or higher engagement with a social media post. Metrics will determine what’s working and what could be better.
Setting goals, determining KPIs, and reviewing them often can help refine the content strategy.
Listen.
In addition to quality content that people want to engage with, such as white papers, infographics, gamification, and even memes, be sure to weave customer feedback into the content strategy. Listen to what customers are saying online and in reviews. Don’t be afraid to ask for honest opinions from them. This shows them that their opinion matters while helping you better your marketing tactics. Win-win, right? Even better, if they have posted their reviews publicly, those reviews can be used in marketing materials such as social posts and case studies. Listening also helps to refine products and services by understanding how customers feel about the brand.
A good content strategy matters and works.
It takes time, preparation, and creativity to mold a successful content marketing strategy, but Clearbridge Branding is up for the task. We’ll ensure you get the clicks you need and that no content goes wasted. Call now to learn more: (856) 327-4141
Social media has become an essential part of any business’s marketing strategy. It’s a cost-effective way to reach a large audience and engage with customers. However, managing your brand’s social media can be a daunting task, especially if you’re not familiar with the latest trends and best practices. Is hiring a social media agency worth the cost?
Throughout years of discussing social media with potential new clients, we still find companies who do not realize the value of paying for agency social media services, rather opting to find a friend, a small and unknowledgeable one-person company, or even an intern who handles it at a fraction of the cost. They acknowledge its importance to brand awareness, customer retention, community building, and sales but do not associate the value of investing the spend with all of the benefits (and the work) it brings. Let’s break down a few reasons why it’s worth the cost to invest in a social media agency for one of the most visible aspects of your company.
An agency brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to your brand’s social media. They stay up-to-date on the latest trends and best practices, so content can be created that resonates with your target audience. Agencies that focus on social media also have a team of experts who specialize in different areas, such as content creation, community management, and analytics. This means creating a comprehensive strategy that addresses all aspects of your brand’s social media presence.
Beyond those benefits, hiring a social media agency is worth the cost because they have access to what are usually cost-prohibitive tools and resources that can help you achieve your social media goals. For example, by using analytics tools to track your social media performance, agencies like Clearbridge Branding can analyze the results and make data-driven decisions.
It’s also important to note that when it comes to social media, you get what you pay for. We’ve heard from so many potential clients that they’re paying $300, maybe $500 a month, for their social media management. And upon auditing the social efforts, that spend shows. Not only do these clients get subpar results, but they’re not benefiting from a fully-fleshed out strategy, reporting, and the experts ready to answer any questions that you may have. An agency may cost more upfront, but the knowledge and expertise they bring to your brand’s social media are priceless. Agencies can help you achieve your goals and increase your ROI, which ultimately makes the investment worth it.
If you’re ready to take social media seriously, here are five questions to ask an agency to help you determine if they’re the right fit for your organization:
- What is the agency’s experience and track record in managing social media for companies in our industry?
- Can the agency provide case studies or references of successful social media campaigns they have managed in the past?
- How does the agency stay current with changes and updates to social media platforms?
- What is the agency’s approach to creating and implementing a social media strategy?
- What is the agency’s process for measuring and reporting on social media performance?
If hiring a social media agency is worth the investment to your organization, let’s talk. Our team of experts has over 15 years of experience managing brands on social media. Let’s connect. Reach out to Clearbridge Branding Agency by calling 856.327.4141 or by filling out the form here.
The terms social-led or social-first brand refer to an organization that puts social media at the forefront of its operations.
As consumers expect honest, transparent, and personal interactions on social media, companies should consider the social-first approach. But what social-first brand advantages can a business or organization benefit from if they go that route?
Be in the know.
We’ve moved on from “photos, or it didn’t happen” to “if it’s not on social media, it didn’t happen.” Being a social-first brand allows you to tune into what people are discussing, what prospects want, what is trending, and what is driving valuable clicks and engagement.
Social-first brands have direct insights on topics that can be integrated into their own social media and marketing strategy. Whether brands choose to use memes or fold their products into the hottest trends (anyone remember the butter charcuterie board trend of 2022?), knowing what is viral and grabbing consumers’ attention is important and can help shape your social efforts. It also helps to shape your efforts by understanding each of the various social media platforms and their core audiences, so your brand knows where to dedicate time spent.
But how is this done? Outside of a social media manager “living” on every social platform at all times, simplify the process through social listening. Social listening is a method of researching and discovering more about your audience and their interests by monitoring not just your own social channels but topics relevant to your niche, overall trends in your area of service or sales, and, of course, your competitors.
Customer Feedback.
Brands also have the opportunity to receive direct feedback from consumers. Using social media, brands can listen to what customers say about their products, learn more about pain points, and take that valuable data back to the team for product or marketing enhancements. In addition, through a social-first approach, brands can listen to what consumers are saying that they want and identify key pain points that they may be able to address.
Drive Sales.
Social media is a fantastic medium for telling your brand’s story, educating your audience, and building meaningful community connections. Think of it like this: while your website or phone line can convey all your organization’s information, products, or services, social media can be the icebreaker that drives users there. By listening, gathering data, and building a social media community, customers are usually more inclined to trust a brand and spend their ad dollars with them versus competitors who may be more hands-off or singularly focused on selling.
Is it time to become a social-first brand?
Social-first brands help shift the focus from the company to the customer, offering an experience that feels much more personalized and catered to the consumer. Studies show that 80% of businesses that lead with customer-centric strategies outperform businesses
that don’t.
If moving into a social-first approach sounds right for your company, Clearbridge Branding can help. From strategy to implementation, guidance to maintenance, our team of social media experts can get your brand started. Call us to learn more: (856) 327-4141.