Brand-Building: 5 Creative Uses For Social Media

September 11, 2014 - 4 minutes read - Blog, Business Branding, Social Media

For businesses, social media sites are not just about vanity. Customers expect major brands to have a presence on social media, but even small unknown businesses can have a big social media presence too. You’ll often hear social networks described as “the great leveraging tool.” Of course, you need to know how to use these sites to your best advantage. It’s not enough to simply make a site and leave it. Here are five creative opportunities you can’t afford to miss…

5 Creative Social Media Ideas

1. Listen.

What problems do your customers have? What are they looking for? Use brand monitoring tools to keep a pulse on what people are saying — both good and bad. Discover the top 10 social monitoring tools that we published recently on our blog. Post something funny or interesting that directly responds to another post. We love how Taco Bell responded to a post from Old Spice with a bit of attitude that got us laughing. Check out more examples of sassy brands here.

2. Share fan content.

Pick a theme and make it simple. Skittles created a page where fans post their creative submissions for the Skittles BFF of the week. Creating another sub-page for the Skittles brand is great for SEO. Generously feature a fan whose post you enjoy by re-posting, re-tweeting, or favoriting — and you may just find they do the same for you.

3. Cross-Pollinate.

Let fans know your brand is literally everywhere. Tweet your Instagram photos. Share your most popular tweets on Facebook. Brands like Natural Life have built promos for their other social media pages right into their design. Mod Girl Marketing can help you design a page like this… or you can choose to mention activity from another social network once a week. Here are a few good tips if you’re stumped on what to say. Naturally, you don’t want to blatantly say, “Follow us on Facebook” or “Follow us on Twitter” every week.

4. Use hashtags appropriately.

Hashtags can be funny and a catchy way to direct a conversation to your brand. Digiorno Pizza had a great #DiGiorNOYOUDIDNT promotion during football season, where they trash-talked throughout the games using their signature hashtag — culminating with this Super Bowl post. As you can see, it had a lot of re-tweets and favorites! Here are more examples of hashtag hits and misses.

5. Poll your fans for feedback.

Fans are a great source of information. Get their preferences by asking a question. Most people love to give their feedback and make their opinions known. Check out how Zillow posted a multiple choice question to conduct FREE market research! These posts also look nice on your page and tend to get a lot of shares.

Mod Girl Marketing Covers All Your Social Media Needs!

It can be difficult to gain enough traction on social media to get your brand noticed, especially at first. Mod Girl Marketing helps businesses create a consistent posting schedule, share the kind of posts that interest readers, and develop a compelling voice on social media networks. We’ll get your brand cross-pollinating, sharing original content, and getting “likes” and “shares” and “retweets” and “pins” and everything in between! In no time, you’ll be ready for these next-level strategies aimed at driving interaction and engagement. Contact us for info on our social media services.

Tags: Brand Presence, Branding, business branding, Business Marketing, creative social media, Social Media, Social Networking