9 unusual social media tactics

Nine Unusual Social Media Marketing Strategies To Promote Your Small Business

NINE UNUSUAL SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING STRATEGIES TO PROMOTE YOUR SMALL BUSINESS

Updated: 6/03/2020

Getting noticed on social media is a constant challenge for any small business, especially with so much competition from other brands. If you have limited resources, it’s also difficult to maintain a consistent social media presence.

Fortunately, there are several things you can do to build your social profile if you’re willing to try a different approach. Here are nine unusual social media marketing ideas you can try to help you be more creative and boost your social media impact.

TALK ABOUT YOUR COMPETITORS 

If you think your product or service is better than everything else out there, explain to your followers why you think so and refer to some of the competition. This is called “building selective demand” and toilet paper brands love to do it. It’s a good way to get people thinking about the benefits of what you offer and where your product or service has more value than competitors. If a competitor responds, it’s good entertainment for your followers and can benefit both parties. Obviously, don’t make claims that you can’t back up. And keep it fun (and respectful) by using a little clean humor.

SHOW YOUR UNIQUENESS 

A brand’s personality is a key part of any social media strategy, but many businesses fail to embrace their individuality. Social media is the perfect channel to show how unique you are and build a following of like-minded people. Being unique is more memorable and helps to differentiate you from the competition. So think about what makes you unique and boldly show your true personality – people will feel a stronger personal connection with your brand and are more likely to remain loyal customers.

ASK INTERESTING QUESTIONS 

Post questions that will make your followers think about your product or business in a different way. Many big brands use this technique. For example, if you sell ties, you could ask: “Who is your favorite tie-wearer of all time?” It sparks a conversation around your brand and people stop thinking about you as just another business trying to sell them something. What interesting questions could you ask your audience? Don’t forget to use an image alongside your question to make it more eye-catching (bonus points if it’s contextually relevant).

SHARE YOUR NEGATIVE FEEDBACK 

Most businesses understand that ignoring negative feedback is counterproductive, and the best way to deal with it is to respond directly, offering to resolve the issue. But you can go one step further by reposting the negative feedback alongside your response so that all your followers can see it. While you need to get the execution right – and clearly show how you can fix the problem – it’s a great way to build trust in your brand. Tackling negative feedback head-on will earn the respect of a lot of people.

BE UNASHAMEDLY RESPONSIVE 

Many brands only reply to a handful of questions on social media. Just look at any feed and you’ll see plenty of unanswered questions. According to one social media study, brands only respond to 11 percent of people (1). What if you were different? You probably can’t reply to every comment, but you could try to reply to 50 percent of people, or even more. It’s a great opportunity to build relationships and show you listen to your audience.

GET EMOTIONAL 

Professionalism is important in business, but this doesn’t mean that you have to be serious all of the time. Showing your emotional side from time to time is a simple way to humanize your brand and make more people notice you. If there’s a positive news story that makes you happy, share it with everyone. If something makes you angry, why not tell your followers? Also, don’t be afraid to use emojis to express yourself.

SPARK A DEBATE 

Do you have an unconventional opinion about something? Say something controversial that relates to your business to get people talking. Using the tie-selling business example, they could post this: “We think more women should wear ties. Do you agree?” It’s not too controversial, but it’s enough to spark a debate among followers. As long as you don’t say something too divisive, it’s a great way to get more attention on social media.

BE REFRESHINGLY HONEST 

Understandably, most companies don’t want to come across as too promotional. But ultimately, every consumer knows you’re a business trying to sell them something. From time to time, clearly tell them why you think your product or service is great, and why you think they should buy it. You might annoy a few people, but the majority will appreciate your honesty. When done properly, it can be refreshing and many of your followers will like you for it.

INTERVIEW A FOLLOWER 

Pick out an interesting comment from one of your followers and reach out to them, asking for a brief “interview” via direct message. Ask them about their experiences with your products and services, or what they would like to see from your business in the future. Then create a short blog post revolving around the results of the “interview” and post a link to social media.

IT’S ALL UP TO YOU 

If you’re struggling to engage your social media audience, remember that social media is a tool that you choose how to use. There aren’t any “rules” you have to stick to. By being a bit more creative than your competitors, you can stand out from the crowd, build a loyal following, and make sure your social media strategy isn’t a marketing dead-end, but a powerful tool for business growth.

Well+Played+Board+Game+Cafe+-+Grid+Lock+Traffic

That Time Our Giveaway Caused Downtown Gridlock Traffic

SIMPLE MARKETING TACTICS THAT TURNED A GIVEAWAY INTO A BONANZA

When the COVID-19 National Emergency was announced in mid-March, it was an obvious decision for Well Played Board Game Cafe to temporarily close their doors. Regardless, as their marketing agency we were still tasked to quickly come up with a plan of action to answer the daunting question: How do we maintain the momentum of awareness and engagement when our client is essentially out of business? All of our 2020 planning needed to be thrown out the window.

We dialed in on a revised communication and content strategy to best navigate our way through an unprecedented time, the best way we knew how. Ultimately, our goal was to focus on genuinely helping the community make the best of their time while under the #stayhome orders.

After conducting a thorough cleaning of their board game library (which I might add is quite impressive, being the largest board game library in North Carolina with over 650 games), staff identified close to 100 games that weren’t useful – either being duplicates or titles considered “NSFW.” The thought that came up was rather than letting the games collect dust in storage, why not give them to a good home? Especially at a point in history when people have extra time on their hands, and quite frankly, could probably use a little entertainment.

THE STRATEGY

We knew leading with a PR strategy would be the best way to get the word out as quickly as possible, while utilizing social media as a support mechanism. Keeping it simple, we whipped up and distributed a press release and created a Facebook event along with a few posts early Friday afternoon.

Later that evening, ABC News 13 (WLOS) picked up the press release with a featured article and published the story to their social accounts. Jason Sanford of Ashvegas also published the story and AVLToday followed suit the following Monday afternoon.

By Tuesday evening, our Facebook event had received more than 1,000 attendance responses – all without a single dollar spent on advertising.

THE RESULT

Even people who weren’t going to the giveaway became aware of the event and engaged across all social platform while (and after) it was happening.

In addition to the overwhelming turnout, we were also grateful to earn a 60 second spot on WLOS ABC13 Morning News:

Overall, the impact was significant and far reaching, from both marketing and philanthropic standpoints. By the numbers, our performance was remarkable:

  • 300 games & care packages donated
  • Total Potential Reach: 195K
    • WLOS – 89K
    • AVLToday – 78k
    • Ashvegas – 28K
  • 500% spike in website traffic
  • 300 new social media followers in 24 hours

However, in our opinion the greatest gain comes from doing something good for our community – the best marketing happens when business can impact peoples’ lives for the better.

At the end of the day, this is exactly the reason why we do what we do.

successful-pretty-businesswoman-writing-sticker-with-marker-thoughtful-confident-curly-female-manager-sharing-idea-project-making-note-brainstorming-business-training-concept

How To Develop A Content Strategy Plan

How to Develop a Content Strategy Plan for Your Small Business: A Start-to-Finish Guide

Content strategy involves a lot more than writing blogs and articles and posting them somewhere online. It takes more than just a grammar checker and some cursory research to create content that will help make your company more successful.

Instead, you need to develop a complete content strategy that addresses all aspects of what it takes for content to generate traffic and revenue for your business. We’ve created a brief start to finish guide so you can create a killer content strategy that will help your business flourish.

DEFINE YOUR GOALS

If you’re going to reach your goals, you will first need to understand exactly what your goals are. Before you begin any content strategy plan, you should always clearly define what you aim to achieve from your campaign. For example, if you’re a financial services company looking to get more people enquiring about a particular product, defining that goal will help you craft your content in a way that helps you to reach your desired objectives.

If you don’t clearly define your goals then you could easily find yourself aimlessly creating content without a specific purpose in mind. Clearly defining your goals will also make it easier for you to identify when your goals are not being achieved, and what you need to do to get your campaign headed in the right direction. With a goal clearly defined, you will know just what metrics you need to be following to see whether or not your campaign is going well.

DEFINE YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE

Whenever you are creating content, it’s important to keep your target in mind. In order to tailor your content to a particular audience, you first need to determine who the audience is:

  • Which age group does your audience belong to?
  • What are their income groups and their professional backgrounds?
  • What are their pain points, their objections, and what are their wants and needs?

All these questions and more are important in helping you define just who your audience is, and how to create content aimed at them.

Defining your audience will also help you to know which type of language you should use. Should it be fun and outgoing, or maybe more reserved and formal? Using the right words at the right time can make all the difference and help you push the right buttons and resonate with your audience.

DEFINE WHICH PROBLEMS YOU ARE SOLVING

Your content should be created with solving your potential customers’ problems in mind. To do this, you first need to define what their problems are. With your audiences’ problems defined, it is then easier for you to make sure your content gets the attention of people who may be interested in what you are selling.

Not only do you need to define which problems you’re solving but also how you’re solving them. You need to be able to explain to potential customers how you have the solution that makes their life easier. This gives you a focus on value selling that makes it a lot easier for your potential customers to see that your product is a good deal for them.

DO YOUR KEYWORD RESEARCH

You need to make sure your content reaches the right people, and this means keyword research. Find out what search terms your audience is using to find solutions to their problems. Not only will keyword research help ensure your content is seen, but it will also give you more insights into what your audience is looking for, and why.

Fortunately, keyword research is very easy to do, and free tools like Google Keyword Planner will allow you to see what people are looking for. These keywords will also help you create your search engine optimization (SEO) strategy as well as your other marketing strategies.

CHECK OUT THE COMPETITION

Have a look at what your competitors are doing.

  • What types of content are they creating that get a lot of traffic, and what hasn’t been so successful for them?
  • What keywords are they using?
  • Where and how are they advertising?

There is a wide selection of tools available that will give you insights into your competitors’ campaigns that could help you steer your own campaign.

Not only should you look at what they are doing, but also look for what they are not doing. You may be able to identify a gap that is open to be exploited, helping you fill that gap with little or no competition.

CHOOSE YOUR PUBLISHING CHANNELS

Decide where you are going to publish your content, and how people will find it. Two of the most likely options are SEO and pay-per-click (PPC). SEO can be very powerful at driving large volumes of high-quality traffic your way, but it can take months before you begin to see results. Can you wait that long?

Another option is PPC marketing, which can help you get results quickly, but it doesn’t have the longevity that SEO does. Which one works best for you depends on your requirements, and you could consider using both.

CREATE AN EDITORIAL CALENDAR

It’s important to make sure that your content is published at a consistent and steady pace. With this in mind, you should create an editorial calendar. An editorial calendar will help you plan out your content publishing in advance so you know you are publishing at the right rate and in the right places.

Even better – content publishing software is available that helps you schedule the automatic publication of your content at given times and over a variety of channels.

THE BOTTOM LINE

The above guide is just a brief outline of what it takes to create a winning content strategy, but it covers the basics that will help set you in the right direction. Remember that you need your content to be created with a purpose in mind, and it should be aimed toward the right people. Define who your audience is, what their problems are, and how your solution will solve their problems. Also, do your research into the competition and plan out how and when you are going to publish your content.

A well-planned content strategy could make a considerable positive difference to your bottom line, so it’s good to invest time and effort in getting yours just right.