Become a Social Butterfly with the Right Digital Marketing Strategy

Ignore the media part for now, but social media is SOCIAL - well obviously, the clue's in the name. If your business doesn't include these channels in its digital marketing strategy, well I hate to use the overused phrase "social media is the conversation happening without you." But seriously, you're missing out on a whole sphere of customer interaction.

We live in a rapidly evolving digital world, where politicians showing a little cleavage can result in a Twitter account being set up for said cleavage (cough Theresa May) or where Ed Miliband struggling to eat a sandwich makes it into the top three Ed Miliband google search suggestions. Ridiculous, we know.

Although ridiculous, this does highlight the importance of being online and being social. As cliche and annoying as it sounds, your company needs to have a social media presence. If not, you could be missing out on a whole audience that your competitors will be getting their mitts on.

Talking's fun but it's good to listen

The success of your business shouldn't solely be measured on the amount of sales you generate. It should also be about your business's reputation and the relationships it maintains with consumers and potential clients. These relationships can start online and through social media, there's a whole audience out there that you may not be accessing.

I'm going to hit you with another social media cliche, "you've got two ears and one mouth." Social media is a good way to make yourself heard, but also a great way to find out what people think about you. A simple keyword search on Twitter may bring up a whole host of tweets related to your company. Good or bad, it's important to know what people are saying about your company.

Get creative with your digital marketing strategy

Social media allows you to have a little fun too. You may be an insurance company, but that doesn't mean your social media marketing can't be fun. Twitter allows you to run polls, Facebook can host competitions and Instagram is incredibly visual, with certain apps allowing you to split and resize images or even create collages. All of these platforms are actively encouraging you to make your content as engaging as possible.

Burger King ran a really cool campaign in New Zealand a couple of years ago. The fast food chain realised that no one was really buying its chicken burgers, so the brand took to social media. Apparently Kiwis are a big fan of the whopper, which made it very hard for Burger King to launch its new product. To counteract this, Burger King came up with an incredibly clever digital marketing strategy.

Consumers were invited to the BK Motel - a real motel in Auckland - to "Cheat on the Whopper." Visitors were encouraged to "check in" (on Facebook) upon arrival and use the hashtag #MotelBK on Twitter to spread the news. This resulted in the campaign reaching more than 2 million social media users, which according to We Are Social Media, is half of the New Zealand population.

Make your marketing strategy socially responsible

With a title like that, you're probably going to think this section is a little boring. Well, you're WRONG. This is a case study that has stuck with me since I first saw it pop up on Twitter a couple of years ago.

According to beer brand Antarctica, fatal accidents caused by drink driving increase by 50% during Carnival in Rio De Janeiro. In 2013, Antarctica sponsored Carnival, and decided to run a digital marketing campaign that delivered an anti-drink driving message in an innovative way. A campaign that reduced the number of drunk drivers caught by the authorities by 43%.

How did they do this? Turnstiles were modified at subway stations during the event, and an empty can of Antarctica got carnival goers a free ride on the subway. Pretty cool right? Antarctica posted the activity in real-time across their social media platforms and reached over three million users.

Not only did this campaign promote the brand's social responsibility, but it also showcased Antarctica's creative side, resulting in increased awareness of the brand and a growth in its social following.

Find a growth marketing strategy to fit your budget

Obviously, both of the above examples had massive budgets, but that doesn't mean you can't create a killer digital marketing campaign to attract social media fans. Ikea managed to create a whole website through Instagram for the launch of a new range in 2014. Although time-consuming, you could recreate something very similar for free.

It takes 20 years to build a reputation and 5 minutes to ruin it. Make sure your social media management is helping not damaging your brand by reading our post "How to boost your brand reputation with social media management"