We all know that big brands and businesses have oodles of money to spend on fancy social media marketing campaigns. But many of the tactics they use are just as easy for small businesses to implement. Here are a few of my favorite social media tactics from larger brands. I include these in my book “The Social Media Cookbook” which is coming out in early November.
Change up Your Cover Photo on Facebook
Many of us post our cover photo and then forget about it. However, every time you change the photo all your followers are alerted. Since Facebook normally shares your news with just a fraction of your followers in normal timeline posts, this type of reach is rare. Plan a seasonal cover photo or switch out your cover photo to highlight a product or service.
Sharpie has been known to update their cover photo in coordination with some of their marketing campaigns.
Get Creative with Fun Holidays
Take advantage of the many celebrational holidays and have some fun with your brand. Sure holidays like Valentine’s Day and 4th of July can be fun to observe. But there are hundreds of other “holidays” that you can center your posts and images around. Do a quick internet search and find a couple holidays each month that you can observe in your social media post.
GEICO uses its entertaining and humorous Gecko to make the topic of insurance fun. This post attracts attention with a captivating image, and throws in a little “holiday” humor.
Run a Promotion Using a Branded Hashtag
Want to increase engagement from your followers on social media? Create a promotion around a specific branded hashtag. Share the hashtag across all of your social media channels and ask your customers to use it to get a deal or discount.
Domino’s Pizza UK used a #LetsDoLunch promotion in which it gave Twitter followers a discount when they shared their hashtag.
Humanize your Company on LinkedIn
It’s true that LinkedIn has a more professoinal tone and tends to have a slower pace than other social media platforms, but you can still share your business’s personality. Give LinkedIn connections and followers a glimpse of your company culture by sharing clips from company picnics, happy hours, volunteering events, or just a day in the office.
The Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts shared the highlights from the year by running a series of updates with photos and descriptions of their favorite moments throughout the year. It was a great way to keep their brand in mind on LinkedIn during the holiday (travel) season and also humanize their brand.
Embrace the Selfie for Social Proof
Want to let your customers know how popular your product is? Show – don’t tell – with images. Give your customers an incentive to share a selfie photo with your product and tag your business when they share on social media.
NASA went an extra step by showing an “Earth Selfie” on Earth Day. They asked followers to share their own selfies and then integrated the photos into a collage that depicted the earth for the ultimate Earth Day Selfie. Over 40,000 photos were submitted.
So when you are looking for social media marketing inspiration, you need to look no further than the brand advertising that we see every day. For more ideas on how your small business can stand out with social media check out my soon-to-be released book “The Social Media Cookbook” and get a sneak peek of it here: http://www.marketingstaircase.com/cookbooksneakpeek
