How to Create a Global Brand using Social Media

March 21, 2017 | Sakshi Sharma

On August 1st, 2003, MySpace was launched. And in 14 years, Social Media has not only become a multibillion dollar industry, but has revolutionized how the world works. No one could have predicted that it would become the force for change that it has become. It has become the single most effective tool for the modern marketer.

With almost 2 billion people on some sort of Social Media platform, the industry represents the largest market in the world – by a good margin. One of the best examples of Social Media’s power lies in the Arab Spring. Twitter and Facebook helped change the world simply by existing. This power was again see in the US 2016 Presidential Election, where Facebook News played a huge, and greatly discussed role.

However, Social Media can also have an impact of a smaller sort. Namely, Social Media, when leveraged properly, can make your brand a global sensation. From 13 year old girls to the infamous PewDiePie, Social Media makes dreams come true.

And not just of idiot children and Swedish jackanapes: Chiara Ferragni turned her amatuer blogging hobby into one of the most visited blog sites on the web – and then into her own fashion line. And now she makes about $8 million annually.

But wandering into the jungle that is Social Media Marketing all willy nilly is ill advised. There is a path to follow and steps one must take in order to turn their brand into a global success. Let’s take a look at the first two steps now.

Content is [Still] King

Immortalized by Bill Gates over 20 years ago, this phrase is as true as it ever was. If you want to create a brand using Social Media, the Web, or even traditional tools, the content is what matters. As Mr. Gates argued all those years ago, creating unique, effective content that people want to read is the best way to get consumers, whether they’re shoppers or people interested in the advice you’re offering.

But just having good content isn’t enough; you need something to snag the attention of a reader. And more often than not, you’ve got about 5 seconds or 100 words to do it. There are several tried and true methods to snagging someone’s attention with good content. One of the most popular and probably the most effective is humor. Naturally though, humor is also the hardest to get right.

Humor is a double edged sword because what’s considered funny to some is quite often considered offensive to another. So while our team always recommends something of a humorous approach, we also recommend treading lightly.

There are three other common approaches as well:

Shock Value

Pros: Shock sticks out in the memory and makes people want to talk about it. Even if some don’t care for shock value, they will still talk about your brand.

Cons: Everything after the shocking reveal is often forgotten. Additionally, shock is only okay for so long. People will eventually come to expect it (and will thus not be shocked).

Information overload

Pros: It can convey effectively what your business does. This is an excellent way for people who are actively seeking out a service like yours.

Cons: Too much information can overwhelm users and turn them off. It’s also not the best way to capture traffic just surfing a Social Media site.

Emotional Bereavement

Pros: Like shock value, people talk about campaigns that evoke intense emotions like sadness.

Cons: For most industries, Emotional Bereavement is not effective. Plus, if not done perfectly, you’re just upsetting people.

The Platform

There’s a famous axiom known by many names: The Pareto Principle, The Law of the Vital Few, and, most popularly, the 80/20 Rule. This rule essentially states that 80% of income comes from 20% of your consumers. It’s been extended to cover all sorts of things, like time management and even tech investment.

As a time management principle, this will also help you in selecting a social media platform. Basically what we’re saying is that you should not be spending 80% of your time marketing on a platform that has less that 20% of your potential market. A necessary step to creating a successful Social Media campaign is researching where your target market hangs out.

Additionally, you want to make sure your platform has a number of what we like to refer to as “Key Influencers,” or people who already have a significant social media following. These people are worth their weight in marketing gold because when they’re used properly, their followers become yours. Key influencers are the best way to growth hack your brand.

But which platforms are best? Let’s take a look:

• Twitter is the haven of the one-liners. Marketers, comedians, entrepreneurs, every day folks, and recently politicians all love Twitter. This is one of the two platforms on the list in which you should definitely investing a significant amount of your effort.

• Facebook is another must for any social media campaign. About 75% to 80% of American adults are on this platform, making it the single largest marketing source in the world (about 1.5 billion people are on Facebook). Perhaps more importantly, Facebook has an evenly distributed userbase; in other words Facebook is representative almost any group of consumer.

• Pinterest is the platform for designers. It’s largest demographic are women who are interested in Fashion and design. Brands that focus on design (wedding businesses are an excellent example) should certainly invest a lot of time here.

• For B2B services, LinkedIn is indispensable. It maintains one of (if not the) largest group of professionals in the world. It is the choice for businesses targeting corporate influencers.

• Instagram, which recently IPO’d for $24 billion or so, is similar to Pinterest in that it’s an effective way to reach people who are interested in design and especially clothing fashions. This is a key platform if your target demographic is the 18-30 year old Millennial groups.

Want to know more? Give us a call at 408.805.0495/408.621.8481 – or click to contact us!

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