As our modern digital world expands and grows, social media becomes increasingly more prevalent. Each year, social media usage increases. Globally, the number of social media users in 2019 is 3.484 billion. That’s 9% more users than last year.
If your company hasn’t jumped on board with social media for B2C marketing, now is the time. Maybe you only use one platform, like Facebook. It’s time to branch out and use various platforms for different purposes. It doesn’t take an army of people or large chunks of time to see the benefits of using social media. 69% of marketers who spend just 6 hours a week working on social media see lead generation benefits.
You don’t want to use social media just because every other B2C company does. You want to be effective and make the most of each platform and each individual post. Let’s find out how to be effective and make your company as visible as possible.
General Concepts for B2C Social Media Marketing
1. Focus on the consumer.
Center your content around the consumer, not your company. Show them how your product or service can provide them with something of value. You want your posts to be engaging, and making it all about the consumer will do just that. Also respond to comments to show that you’re available and interested in individual needs.
2. Think about content type.
The days of written words alone are long gone for digital marketing. Now, it’s all about visual, audio, and interactive content. Why? Social media. Your content has to naturally flow with which social media platform you are using. For example, you want visual content for Instagram and Pinterest, so use very few words.
Above all, video content is key for B2C marketing. Consumers are 85% more likely to buy a product after watching a video advertisement. It’s all about imagery! While videos are the obvious choice for YouTube and similar platforms, you should consider using them on as many platforms as possible. Users find videos engaging and are more likely to stop scrolling and watch.
3. Loosen up!
Picture-perfect professionalism is not the point of social media. Don’t be afraid to use humor and pop culture references. This shows consumers that you’re relevant and interesting. Think about the viral nature of the Wendy’s Twitter account!
4.Use paid social advertising.
Social media advertising is a great way to increase brand awareness. It allows you to find new customers through targeted ads. You can even send ads to your competitors’ consumers!
5. Make it shareable.
Even for marketing content on your website and blog, you have to include social media in order to be relevant. Include share buttons for all social media channels. This way, users can share your content to the platform of their choice.
6. Go viral!
What’s the best way to get maximum visibility? Make your posts go viral! You might think that you have no control over this, but there are ways to get in on what’s trending. Increase your awareness of social media “current events.” Follow trending hashtags, posts associated with recent news, and any content that has a lot of likes and/or shares. Tweak your content to relate to these trends, and you might just go viral!
How to Make the Most of Each Social Media Platform
This is the #1 B2C social media marketing platform, so use it above all else! You should use Facebook to engage the community, provide customer support, and promote your products or services. You can post pictures, videos, links to blog articles, and more!
Written content is great on Facebook, too. Just make sure that if your post uses written content, include a picture or some other form of visual content. Posts with a photo or video are 2.3 times more likely to get views and engagement.
You want your tweets to get as much visibility as possible. The best way to do this is to research hashtags. You don’t want your set of hashtags to remain the same. Trending hashtags are key. You can also show that you are engaging with individual consumers by retweeting audience comments. Remember that the expectation for Twitter is to post frequently, unlike other social media platforms.
While Instagram is like Twitter in the use of hashtags, the set-up is different. With Instagram, you can see the number of posts that use a hashtag. You’ll want to use the hashtags that have the largest number of posts for maximum visibility. While you definitely want a designated set of hashtags, leave two or three that you can change based on the content of your post.
Since Instagram focuses on visual content, use it to give your company a face. You can take pictures in the office, and don’t shy away from selfies. Remember, you want to be relevant. Be careful not to post too often though. You don’t want your followers to get annoyed with your content taking over their feed!
YouTube
This tends to be the forgotten social media platform for B2C marketers, but YouTube has so much to offer! Remember the importance of engaging videos? While the expectation for other social media platforms is to use time-limited videos, YouTube gives you the opportunity to create longer videos with more immersive content. Just make sure your videos are fun and will keep consumers’ attention.
Pinterest is unique because it allows you to create content libraries. You can create boards of varying categories to interest different groups of consumers. A great way to increase visibility is to create pins with links to your website. Because of the easy accessibility and organization of Pinterest boards, even pins that are years old can still attract attention.
The Final Point
Making your social media pages unique to your company is more important than anything else. Maybe your company doesn’t need a Pinterest account, but maybe Twitter could grow your consumer base immensely. Inevitably, your company has something unique to offer. Make the most of that, and you’re sure to increase brand awareness and benefit from social media for b2c marketing.
