When to Consider Alternative” Approaches to Your Social Media”

Businesses are generally comfortable using the basic features of common social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Though these kinds of tools are typically beneficial, switching up the way you present content and utilizing less popular social media features can keep your audience interested.

Facebook Live

Facebook’s live feature gives users the opportunity to watch and experience an event as it’s going on.

So for example, if your business is hosting a big, public event, broadcasting this event on Facebook allows those who couldn’t attend to experience it. This also provides a cheaper, easier alternative to broadcasting the event on TV.

This tool is great for doing Q & A’s. One of your staff members can host a video where they answer questions that customers are asking in the comments of a Facebook post. This gives customers a personalized answer to their question and helps foster close, open relationships between them and your company.

Finally, this is a great way to show customers an inside look at your business. Do a tour of the office on a typical day, introduce viewers to staff members, and show them a taste of office culture.

Although this is an excellent tool, businesses should be careful not to utilize it excessively because customers will eventually get bored and your content will get old and repetitive.

Instagram and Snapchat Stories

Both of these features work in very similar ways:  They let users post a photo or video on their “story” that their followers can view for 24 hours, after which it disappears.

Yet they still differ in tone. Snapchat stories should be more “gritty and raw”, while Instagram stories should be more polished.

Both are great resource for businesses, but again, in moderation. Avoid setting lengthy stories and setting them too often. Your followers may start to get sick of them, and will stop watching them altogether.

These stories can be used to show off your office’s creative efforts. Show a picture of a team meeting or of your product being constructed.

Stories can also be used to give an informal look at your business. Do a quick video tour around the office, take a picture of your company lunch, or highlight a co-worker.

Geotags

Geotags can be used on multiple social media platforms, primarily Instagram and Snapchat. Instagram defines a geotag as “storing the latitude and longitude of your current location with your photo.”

On Instagram, users can add their location to pop up above your posted photo. By clicking on this location, users will be able to see all other photos that were taken there. This feature can be very valuable for a business.

If your business is a brick-and-mortar business, tag the location of your business often,. Followers can click on that location and see all photos taken at your company, whether by employers, clients, customers, etc. If they want to visit, they’ll also know where your shop is located.

Geotags are also available in Snapchat. For Snapchat, a geotag is a sticker or banner available to put on top of your photo after you take it. Many times, big cities, establishments or events will have these geotags available for use. For example, New York City offers visitors multiple geotags for use. Each names neighborhoods in the city in a different style and personalizes the photo.

You should strongly consider making a custom geotag for your company, so that whenever a customer is using your product/service or visiting your store, they can advertise it with a geotag.  This will instantly recommend your offerings to their followers, and gives your company free advertising.

This also creates a sense of community and closeness for all those who are using this geotag.

Conclusion

Used in moderation, all of the listed tools can serve as great marketing assets for your business by really spicing up your social media.

Let us know in the comments which tool you found most successful for your business!

 

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