In a few days, we bid the 2010 a warm farewell. And as most of us ready our resolutions for the coming 2011, it’s great to look back at the highs and the lows this year brought us. And what a year it has been, proving to be quite fruitful for social media and the Internet in general. Only by doing so can we map out a better 2011 with regard to our brands and how we deal with our demographic online. And it’s also time to face the facts we’ve learned with the marketing campaigns we have unleashed in the past 12 months and those we have yet to churn out. Here are a few of them.
Focus on Engagements Rather Than Promotions
 Image by Wild_Child_HC |
Your followers will pay attention if they notice that you’re listening to them, sharing your personal thoughts on interesting topics, and maybe laughing along to some spreading meme. Spending a few minutes responding to comments and tweets, retweeting, using the platform as an extension of your customer service hotline/s, and maybe even socializing with people offline on events can really go a long, long way.
Loyalty Goes Both Ways
 Image by dtcchc |
Consider this: loyal fans satisfied with the treatment and the services they receive serve as brands’ social media ambassadors as they spread the word and put the kibosh on negative feedback. Some even create heaps of content around brands; like podcasts, Wiki pages, fan sites, unofficial physical items. These will definitely help you rank higher on the search engines and are awesome crowdsourcing materials.
Be Innovative and Stand Out
 Image by DieselDemon |
In traditional marketing, brands compete against their competitors on which detergent to buy or which phone service to opt for; but in social media, we all compete with everything else online for our demographic’s attention. So yes, those pictures of cute, fluffy animals, autotuned videos, and your usual dose of spam—all these and more are clogging the tubes and it’ll be up to your marketing know-how to get you measurable results. The best way to do this is by being original and avoiding the following:
Reusing the Formulaic
A formula may have helped your previous campaign succeed, but if you keep on churning out the same strategies, people will eventually get tired of them. Yes, even if you candy-coat the newer ones with different marketing elements.
A formula may have helped your previous campaign succeed, but if you keep on churning out the same strategies, people will eventually get tired of them. Yes, even if you candy-coat the newer ones with different marketing elements.
Swiping Successful Tactics
Even if a marketing strategy has worked with some other brand, there’s no guarantee it’ll work for yours. There are a lot of components to a strategy that is meant to be mapped out carefully to tailor to a brand’s identity, ideals and products. Also, don’t underestimate your audience’s intelligence by hoping they won’t notice your copied tactic because they will find out, and it can be very detrimental to your reputation.
Even if a marketing strategy has worked with some other brand, there’s no guarantee it’ll work for yours. There are a lot of components to a strategy that is meant to be mapped out carefully to tailor to a brand’s identity, ideals and products. Also, don’t underestimate your audience’s intelligence by hoping they won’t notice your copied tactic because they will find out, and it can be very detrimental to your reputation.
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