What To Do with Your Social Media: Does it Help Your Reputation?

SOCIAL media, as you know it, is a prominent aspect of your business, especially if you are doing an E-commerce aka online business. Setting up an account may only take about one to three day(s), depends on how prepared you are. However, being able to represent your brand positively through social networking is not a simple task. One thing that you have to keep in mind is: how can my social media boost my brand reputation? I dare myself to say that if your social media does not contribute anything good to your brand reputation, then it is nothing but a useless piece of information. Of course, we don’t want this to happen… NEVER!

If your social media does not contribute anything good to your brand reputation, then it is nothing but a useless piece of information.

Have you realised how important and powerful the social media is? It can make your brand excessively popular within a night, but it can also turn it into the worst nightmare within a blink of an eye. In saying that, I have decided to write down some useful simple tips for managing and controlling your social media (Facebook page in particular) to protect and boost your online brand reputation.

PS: The points below are not based on my own knowledge, instead, they are combinations of the experiences + studies + research findings that I have been doing for the last 2 years J

Before I reveal those tips, you have to get two things done first:

Set your e-marketing objectives. It does not have to be long or complicated. Just be SMART! When I first started an Instagram for my cake shop, I set a goal to reach 300 followers within two months. Note: I started my ‘little tiny’ business from nothing, so I know that it was indeed realistic and achievable. And I got it~ hooray!

Remember the 80/20 rule of social media marketing because this is the basic. Now, you shall continue reading…

Manage your posts. It is important that you know exactly what and what NOT to post based on your business profile. Keep the message short (longer ones will most likely not be read). When is the RIGHT time to share your post? You can find the answer through a little experiment. For the first few weeks you may start posting at different hours. Observe the time when most people read and respond to your posts. Once you know the estimation, you can use it as a time guide of when to share a post. For me, it’s 7 pm on weekdays and 1 pm on weekends.
Add appealing visual content, such as photos and videos to your posts. Humans are visual creatures. Our eyes are most attracted by colours and pictures than texts. Posting a good picture with a short ‘straight-to-the-point’ statement can be very effective. Once you get a better understanding of your audiences, you will know what kind of visual content they anticipate.
Engage your fans with compelling activities, such as polling, challenges, games, events announcement, and contest.
Give, give, and give… The best way to pamper your existing customers and to get more and more customers is giving them what they want. Discounts, vouchers, free giveaways, and other promotional events.
Last yet most important, give your attention! Social media is there for you to be social and to communicate with your customers. When they post questions, compliments, and critics, try to give a respond back within 24 to 48 hours. Believe me, when they post negative reviews and no one answering them, they will go around their social networks and share their disappointment. When this happens, your brand image will be hurt.

After you do all these tips of managing your business social network, you have to keep monitoring the engagement level and ask yourself whether or not the social page has added positive values to your brand. There are some free and paid apps that can help you with the information about the progress of your Facebook page, Instagram, and other platforms.

Any thoughts? 🙂

References:

Glordano, N. 2013. How To Create the Perfect Posts on Social Media – Infographic.

Available: http://startupfashion.com/perfect-posts (accessed 7 March 2015).

Mayer-Gossner, M. 2013. Spot On – How to write the perfect post.

Available: http://www.thestrategyweb.com/spot-on-how-to-write-the-perfect-post-infographic (accessed 7 March 2015).

Demers, J. 2015. 8 Social Media Mistakes That Are Killing Your Brand.

Available: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/242847 (accessed 6 March 2015).

Bennett, S. 2013. How Brands Can Use Social Media To Manage Their Online Reputation.

Available: http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/online-reputation/484682 (accessed 13 March 2015).

Lokitis, S. 2012. 3 Tips to Manage Your Social Media Reputation.

Available: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/social-media-reputation/#more-20724 (accessed 13 March 2015).

Citroen, L. n. d. A Flu Shot for Your Online Brand.

Available: http://www.smmmagazine.com/magazine/issue03/smm-for-corporate-branding.html (accessed 7 March 2015).

The Social Media Abuse vs The 80/20 Rule

Social Media Post

EVERYBODY agrees that social media is one FREE beneficial marketing tool to boost your brand further. From clothing lines to food producers, from least attractive to highly favored brands; they are all over Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, even Pinterest! Whether it is accidentally or intentionally, many of them have been abusing their social media power to an excessive degree that makes their customers sick of their online presence harms their own image.

Social media exists to help you to reach new customers, enter new markets, identify new opportunities and trends, communicate with and retain the existing “fans” by spreading out your brand values and increasing the level of engagement. In short, it is there to build positive ‘relationships’ between you and your customers. But today, many brand managers put too much focus on ‘getting more followers’ than ‘adding real values’. This is quantity-wise vs quality-wise. If you base your business upon the numbers of followers that you have (which is true in terms of helping you to identify your brand recognition), but neglect the importance of creating meaningful interactions and impressions, then you are likely to have over-exposed your brand through social media.

I want to share a basic, easy-to-remember principle that will help you to stay true to your primary objectives (remember: your goal is not just about quantity, but quality!). It is called “The 80/20 Rule”— more of you, less of me.

The 80% aka “More of You”

‘You’ here refers to your audiences (followers). 80% of your posts on your social media page should be non-self promotional content. Your posts can convey any relevant information that is able to leave a strong impression, and boost that relationship and engagement level that you desire. It may includes entertaining content (such as funny photos and fun facts), emotional content or ‘today’s issues’ faced by your industry, useful tips, reviews, and other personal content (such as photos of your employees, staff party or production processes).

The 20% aka “Less of Me”

Only 20% of your posts can include brand-centric content. It can be in a form of advertisement, contest, or any promotional activities. This is how much you can freely express your brand to customers!

Last month, the high-end American fashion brand Michael Kors declared that they would join Snapchat. MK has already been greatly active through Facebook, Instagram, Vine, Twitter and Pinterest, with over 25 million followers across the platforms! In 2013, MK signed up to launch the first Instagram ads, which stimulated lots of negative reactions from users (check out the comments below!). Despite the challenges that MK faces due to its overly distributed products that lead to sales decline, MK has decided to continue their existence on platforms ‘in which their fans are involved’.

Do you think MK’s strategy on getting highly social will boost their value? Or, will it kill its own luxury image?

Well, I guess we have to wait and see 🙂

**Read more about the 80/20 rule and its history here!

References:

Arantes, B. 2014. The 80-20 rule for content – origins and how to apply it.

Available: http://www.business2community.com/content-marketing/80-20-rule-content-origins-apply-0855447 (accessed 6 March 2011).

Demers, J. 2015. 8 social media mistakes that are killing your brand.

Available: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/242847 (accessed 6 March 2015).

Fortunato, J. 2014. The social median: balancing aggressive and passive online marketing.

Available: http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/the-social-median-balancing-aggressive-and-passive-online-marketing/ (accessed 6 March 2011).

Joneson, R. n. d. The 80/20 rule of social media marketing.

Available: http://nettramarketing.com/digital-marketing-insights-blog/61-the-80-20-rule-of-social-media-marketing.html (accessed 6 March 2011).

Lopez, L. 2011. Is your brand over-exposed?

Available: http://fashionscollective.com/FashionAndLuxury/07/is-your-brand-over-exposed/ (accessed 6 March 2015).

McDermott, J. 2013. Instagram’s first ads draw haters but lots of likes.

Available: http://digiday.com/platforms/instagram-ads-michael-kors/ (accessed 6 March 2015).

Mobile Media Xchange. 2015. Luxury brand Michael Kors takes on Snapchat.

Available: http://www.mobilemediaxchange.com/social/luxury-brand-michael-kors-takes-on-snapchat/ (accessed 6 March 2015).

Myatt, M. 2011. Brand exposure.

Available: http://www.n2growth.com/blog/brand-exposure/ (accessed 6 March 2015).

Pathak, S. 2015. Luxury brands on Snapchat? Why Michael Kors is taking the plunge.

Available: http://digiday.com/brands/michael-kors-snapchat/ (accessed 6 March 2015).

Choosing The Right Social Media for Your New Business

brand building, social media

SOCIAL media has become a prominent tool that businesses use for marketing purposes. Many high-end brands have reaped success through social media campaigns, yet not a few have suffered by using the wrong platform. Then, how can we choose the right social media site for our freshly startup business? There are unlimited numbers of factors you can consider when choosing the best site. But first, let’s ask yourself three basic questions: ‘what kind of business is my business?’, ‘who are my customers?’ and ‘what products or services does my business offer?’. Take your time answering those questions, while we are looking into the characteristics of some of the most popular social media platforms in 2014−perhaps you will find the right one as soon as you read this while keeping the answers on your mind!

Facebook

Facebook has changed its primary purpose from a mere communication platform into an online marketing site that targets businesses. Facebook has eventually broadened its target markets from younger into older users. For this reason, some people think that selling their business on Facebook is not efficient, however Facebook is still the most popular social networking platform with more than 1.3 million monthly active users−according to Statista. Setting up a business page on Facebook is easy peasy. Once people ‘like’ your page, they can share your post and their friends can see this activity. It enables you to introduce your brand to new audiences instantly! Amazing facts:

According to Quick Sprout, 93% of the most engaging posts of Facebook come from ‘Photos’ (so, you might want to consider Facebook if your business deals with visually driven products.)
77% of B2C Businesses have obtained new customers through Facebook (There are many creative ways to attract more people to ‘like’ your page, such as giveaway, photo contest, lucky draw, and many more!)

Instagram

Instagram is the perfect site if your business works within food, photography, and fashion industry. Through Instagram, you can promote the visual of your products more effectively−through photos and short videos− than Facebook. If you are particularly seeking a more prestigious and younger target markets, Instagram is the one! According to Business Insider Australia, 83% of US teens from wealthy households are on Instagram. **Check out Nike’s success through Instagram here. Tips & tricks:

You need to observe your follower in terms of what time they access their Instagram and what kind of post they like.
Limit yourself to one post each day. Too much posting can bore your followers! They only like something ‘cool’ and unusual. The less you post, the more they anticipate!

Twitter

Different from the others, Twitter is more useful when you have to connect with your customers constantly. Twitter promotes a two-way communications between you and your target markets, especially if you are targeting people who are information junkies. Twitter is also a great platform to create channels with other businesses and follow what your competitors are doing, for instance, any events or tending topics that are related to your field. The downside of Twitter is that you have to intensely engage with your followers if you do not want to lose them.

So, which one out of the three is most suited for your business? 🙂

References:

Chitwood, L. 2014. Which social media platform is best for your business?

Available: http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2014/03/05/social-media-platform-best-business/ (accessed 1 March 2015).

EBizMBA. 2015. Top 15 Most Popular Social Networking Sites – March 2015.

Available: http://www.ebizmba.com/articles/social-networking-websites (accessed 1 March 2015).

Guimaraes, T. 2015. The top demographic trends for every major social network

.Available: http://www.businessinsider.com.au/2015-social-network-demographic-trends-2015-2 (accessed 1 March 2015).

Manafy, M. 2014. How to Choose the Best Social Media Site for Your Business.

Available: http://www.inc.com/michelle-manafy/how-to-choose-the-best-social-media-sites-to-market-your-business.html (accessed 3 March 2015).

Patel, N. 2014. Which Social Media Platforms Are Best Suited for Your Business?

Available: http://www.quicksprout.com/2014/09/05/what-social-media-platforms-are-best-suited-for-your-business/?display=wide (accessed 3 March 2015).