Leveraging Conversations on Social Media to Benefit Your Brand
Social media has become an integral component in the world of marketing, providing businesses with an affordable and highly effective way to reach their intended audiences. Keeping up with the ever-evolving trends and intricacies of social media can be overwhelming, but one excellent approach to strengthening your social media presence is by engaging in conversations with your target audience.
By leveraging conversations, businesses can gain insights into the needs and wants of their customers, improve brand awareness, and create a sense of community around their brand. This article will outline some tactics businesses can use to engage their communities and incorporate their brand into existing conversations.
Importance of Engaging Communities
Engaging communities on social media is an excellent way for brands to stay relevant and connect with their audience. By participating in conversations with their target audience, businesses can establish themselves as an authority, deepen existing customer relationships, and foster brand loyalty.
As with any form of marketing, it is vital to ensure that your branding and messaging aligns with the community you are engaging with to avoid any miscommunications that may harm your reputation. To gain trust and credibility, businesses can use conversational social media tactics to humanize their brand, demonstrating that there are people behind the corporate faade who genuinely care about their customers’ needs.
Easy Conversation Starters
Starting conversations can be intimidating, but with the proper approach and some easy conversation starters, businesses can initiate and participate in conversations that benefit their brand. Here are some easy conversation starters that businesses can use to spark conversations related to their brand:
Holidays
Holidays provide an excellent opportunity for businesses to incorporate their brand into conversations during a festive period. Since everyone has some association with holidays, social media users are more likely to engage in conversations related to holidays.
Primary Keyword(s): holiday-themed hashtags, dedicated hashtag
One way for businesses to start a conversation around holidays is by using holiday-themed hashtags alongside their branding. For instance, if a fashion retailer wanted to participate in the conversation around Christmas, they could use the hashtag #ChristmasFashion alongside their branding to draw attention to their holiday-inspired outfits.
Alternatively, businesses can create their hashtag explicitly for a particular holiday, like #SummerFiesta for a summer-themed event or promotion.
Current Events
Global conversations related to current events offer businesses an opportunity to engage with their audience. By participating in these conversations, businesses can demonstrate their knowledge of the issues affecting their customers and create brand awareness.
Primary Keyword(s): global conversation, humor
Using humor to start a conversation can be an effective approach to participate in conversations related to current events while avoiding taking sides. By sticking to lighter topics and using humor, businesses can demonstrate their understanding of current events without alienating any of their customers.
National Months and Days
There is a national day or month for just about everything, providing businesses with a wealth of opportunities to showcase their brand. For instance, a vegan skincare brand might participate in conversations relating to National Vegan Month in November, using this time to feature their vegan-friendly products.
Primary Keyword(s): National Day Calendar, promotional element
Keeping track of national days or months relevant to your brand can be tasking. There are various websites that provide a calendar of national days like the National Day Calendar, saving you time and resources.
By creating promotions based on specific themes, businesses can participate in the conversation surrounding the national day and draw attention to their brand. Benefits of Adding Brand’s Voice to Existing Conversations
Businesses that get involved in existing conversations can benefit from timeliness and relevance, a humanizing effect on their brand, and ease of starting a conversation.
Timeliness and Relevance of Content
By participating in existing conversations related to your brand, you can capitalize on existing traffic, increasing brand visibility. Social media users who engage in conversations related to your brand are likely considering purchasing your products, making this an excellent opportunity to interact with them.
Participating in conversations that are relevant to your brand can help to position your business as an authority in your industry, thereby promoting brand awareness.
Humanizing Effect on Brand
Social media is an excellent avenue for businesses to humanize their brand. By engaging in conversational social media tactics, businesses can present their brand as more personable, nurturing existing relationships with their customers.
Ease of Starting a Conversation
It can be challenging to create fresh and engaging content for social media, but when businesses leverage existing conversations, they can save time and resources. By participating in existing conversations, businesses can easily create content that aligns with their branding, thereby saving time and having a higher potential for engendering engagement.
Conclusion
Leveraging existing conversations is an excellent way for businesses to strengthen their social media presence. By engaging communities and adding their voice alongside their branding, businesses can take advantage of timeliness and relevance, humanize their brand, and easily initiate conversations with their target audience.
By following the tips outlined in this article, businesses can participate in conversations that will benefit their brand, creating a sense of community and promoting loyalty.
Examples of Brands Successfully Leveraging Conversations
Engaging with your audience on social media is essential, but it’s crucial to remember that the success of your campaign largely depends on the effectiveness of your messaging and the social media platforms you use. Here are three examples of how brands have successfully leveraged existing conversations to promote their products and services:
Halloween-themed Campaigns
Every year, Halloween presents businesses with an excellent opportunity to showcase their creativity in marketing their products and services. In 2019, Skittles took advantage of the Halloween season to promote their brand through a witty campaign.
The brand partnered with actor David Harbour to star in a commercial where he trick-or-treats and receives different flavors of Skittles instead of candy, asking people on social media to tweet at David asking him to trade Skittles for their worst Halloween experiences. Through this campaign, Skittles was able to leverage the Halloween atmosphere to promote their brand.
Not only did they receive a wave of tweets in response, but they also managed to keep their audience engaged in a witty and memorable way. Participation in
Current Events
Engaging in current events is an excellent way for brands to raise awareness and promote their products and services.
Nike did this exceptionally well in their campaign featuring former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick. In 2018, Nike ran an ad campaign featuring Kaepernick with the caption “Believe in something.
Even if it means sacrificing everything.” The message was timely as Kaepernick was in the midst of a lawsuit against the NFL regarding his decision to kneel during the playing of the national anthem in protest of police brutality against minorities. Despite the backlash they received from some audiences, Nike’s campaign was widely successful as it aligned their brand with current events while underscoring their commitment to social responsibility.
Promotions for National Days and Months
Engaging in national days and months that are relevant to your brand is beneficial. In 2020, Starbucks offered a promotion for National Coffee Day where customers who purchased their Grande or larger coffee were rewarded with a free pastry.
By participating in a promotion that aligns with their brand, Starbucks not only drew attention to their brand but also gave their customers an extra incentive to purchase their products.
Benefits of Leveraging Conversations on Social Media
Engaging in existing conversations on social media isn’t just about creating buzz around your brand. It’s a strategic approach that can be genuinely beneficial to businesses.
Here are some of the benefits of leveraging conversations on social media:
Increased Brand Consolidation
Engaging in ongoing conversations related to your brand can help you establish your presence on social media and consolidate your brand’s image. The more conversations you participate in, the more likely it is that your target market will consider your brand as an authority in your industry.
Significance of Hashtags on Instagram
Hashtags can make or break conversations, particularly on Instagram. A well-crafted hashtag not only makes it easier for people to find content related to a specific topic but also consolidates conversations around a specific theme.
To ensure your brand is included in conversations on Instagram, ensure that your posts contain hashtags that are relevant to your brand. For instance, if you are a restaurant, use food-related hashtags like #Foodie or #Foodgram to increase the chances of your posts appearing in conversations related to food.
Staying True to Brand
Although leveraging conversations on social media is beneficial, it’s important to remember to stay true to your brand. Remember that not all conversations will align with your messaging, and it’s essential to avoid controversial topics that might harm your reputation.
By ensuring that your participation in conversations aligns with your brand’s values and messaging, you create an environment that enables your target audience to trust your brand and feel authentic to them.
Conclusion
Leveraging existing conversations on social media is an excellent way for businesses to market their products or services, establish their brand’s image, and create buzz around their brand. Each of the examples that we’ve covered shows how brands can integrate conversations around events and current issues.
The benefits of leveraging conversations on social media are numerous, including increased brand consolidation and building an extensive following of loyal fans. Finally, the importance of hashtags on Instagram can’t be underestimated, and it’s crucial to stay true to your brand and avoid controversial topics to safeguard your brand’s image.
By following these tips, businesses can successfully leverage existing conversations to promote their brand on social media, creating a sense of community and a loyal following. In conclusion, leveraging conversations on social media is crucial for businesses to stay relevant and engage their audience.
Engaging communities through social media promotes brand awareness and establishes themselves as an authority in their industry, while also fostering brand loyalty. To do this, brands can use easy conversation starters such as holiday-themed hashtags, participation in current events, and promotions for national days and months.
Brands can amplify success further by ensuring their messaging aligns with their brand values and utilizes trending hashtags on Instagram. The key takeaway from this article is that businesses that prioritize social media engagement by leveraging conversations will ultimately put themselves in a favorable position to succeed.