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As brand social media continues to evolve, the trope of “the intern runs the account” is in the past. Now brands are looking for ways to manufacture a tone that seems like an intern is running the account. Sometimes this results in massive success, and other times this is a beautiful disaster.
Below are three steps that you can take to create meaningful engagement on your organic social media channels.
Become a fan
Many brands get caught up in the messaging. They think that every single organic post needs to include your specific product matched with a call to action. However, your engagement and followers can grow exponentially by simply becoming a fan.
That means not limiting yourself to your own product but in fact admiring your competitors. Most consumers are not a fan of one single brand and one single brand only, nor are you the only brand that they follow (of course, there are exceptions). Instead, your followers are likely fans of the industry as a whole, including your direct competition.
Expanding beyond your specific product and showcasing your love for the industry is not going to result in an immediate loss of market share. Admiring the entire industry proves that there is a real human behind the account and that human is a fan of being a fan.
Create authenticity
Your passion can show in every single move you make online. Whether it’s the copy you’re writing, the assets you’re making or even your overall posting cadence, your audience can easily decipher your true intentions. Therefore, you should be using social media like your fans are using social media.
That doesn’t mean becoming a trend follower, but rather becoming a trendsetter. That also doesn’t mean creating questionable memes or using trendy language to relate to the youth, but rather using social listening to determine how your audience authentically speaks. Sometimes that means avoiding the overly produced 60-second video and instead using Microsoft Paint to create a low-fi piece of art. Using social media like your fans use social media can also mean avoiding proper grammar and capitalization and instead typing in all lowercase with extra exclamation marks.
Lastly, my hot take is that fans rarely use hashtags authentically so you shouldn’t be using hashtags either. (Note: Surely there are some cases where hashtags are appropriate and I can be proven wrong, but keyword searches on apps like Twitter have made hashtags seemingly useless.)
Every brand’s audience is different, but all audiences have one thing in common: They appreciate being heard.
Shock and awe
Everyone is hoping for that one viral tweet that will launch their channel to epic success. However, that’s extremely rare and should not be the basis for an entire social strategy.
On platforms like TikTok, many brands try to hop on the latest trend, which often results in videos that can only be described as cringey. Instead, your brand should be trying to produce something inherently different than everyone else. You may find the most success when you create content off the beaten path and truly shock your audiences.
On TikTok, try creating a piece that starts normally for the first 10 seconds then gives your fans a shocking twist ending that is completely unexpected. Your fans will have much more respect for your account if you don’t follow the traditional rules.
Those are just a few tips that I have found are helpful to set yourself out among the crowded competition. May the odds be ever in your favor, and happy tweeting.
