EXECUTIVE REPORT
Social media masterclass
Social media marketing agencies aim to make your content stand out by making it more engaging. In the last article in our short series, Dan Jenkins explains how you can increase sales and brand awareness yourself or by using specialists.
When social media experts talk about engagement, they really mean the eternal challenge faced by any form of marketing: attracting attention from the right people. Let’s look at some of the tools used by specialists in this field, which you can also utilise yourself.
Almost anyone who spends time online will have been exposed to memes. Part and parcel of the daily social media experience, they are typically images with some overlaid text and used to make a humorous point. One of the reasons that they are so common is that they are easy to make yourself.
Canva is a free design and photo editor with easy drag ‘n’ drop functionality. It includes a library of tutorials ranging from getting started to much more sophisticated image production. It is available as a web-based program, meaning you can use it both on a computer, as well as on a mobile app for iOS and Android devices.
Have a little fun
If you want to really capture the zeitgeist, and have a little fun with your memes, then some mobile apps can be really useful. A Popular free one is Meme Generator by Zombodroid, and you can pay to upgrade to a more sophisticated version. It holds a library of popular images, so you can simply select the one you want, add your own text, save it and upload the image. The entire process can take just a couple of minutes.
… and inject a little fun.
However, be aware that some of the meme creator apps play fast and loose with image rights. From a legal perspective, you should avoid using images of celebrities or stills from movies and TV shows in your memes. There are plenty of other generic images you can safely use. Alternatively, you can upload your own photos and add text - but again, be aware that if you upload pictures to some meme creator apps, they will make your photos available to other users.
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‘Native video’ is the marketing industry term for video content you create yourself, rather than sharing a link to an existing video on Vimeo or YouTube. There are two ways to use it. Firstly, Facebook has a ‘go live’ feature which, as the name suggests, is designed for sharing live events. Live filming, of course, comes with its own dangers, but a great application would be if you or a colleague were giving a presentation at a seminar or conference.
Memes can help promote your business…
Social media platforms use algorithms to assess your posts and decide how many of your followers get to see them. Facebook Live is a sure-fire way to maximise your reach, as Facebook’s algorithms are designed to favour it.
Sharing video posts
You can also upload pre-recorded video to Facebook and all other major social media platforms, and undoubtedly the best platform for native video is LinkedIn. Recent studies have shown that people are 20 times more likely to share a video post on LinkedIn than any other type of content.
As with memes, there are now many web and mobile apps to help edit your video. All you need is the app, a selfie stick, a presentable appearance and
something to say. Video works best when you pick a strong topic, talk honestly about it, and keep the content concise. Draft a few notes about what you want to say before you start, and be prepared to do multiple takes to nail it.
LinkedIn also includes the option to submit articles, which provides a platform to post more in-depth pieces on key topics and industry trends. This is certainly not a place for the hard sell: it is much more about giving advice or highlighting an issue. Known in marketing terms as ‘thought leadership’, this is essentially about demonstrating your company as an expert in its field.
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