How Brand Awareness Increases Purchasing on Social Media

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The underlying purpose of the internet has not changed at all. Today, many users of the internet and social media continue to share information and make connections. The platform in the past has now evolved with the advances in digital technology, becoming a vital tool for businesses. In fact, according to a survey hosted by Sprout Social, 65% out of 1,000 US consumers have participated in purchasing goods and services directly through social media. As the survey also shows, 80% are more likely to buy from brands they are familiar with in social media, expressing great encouragement for brand awareness. 

Familiar Brands

It is a given that the survey results for “buying from a familiar brand” will be in the majority. Since the consumers have already made a previous purchase and received satisfactory results, they will continue to shop there due to the trust they have for the brand. In most cases, a familiar brand gives a consumer peace of mind from worrying about the quality, the shipping, or any other possible issues that could derive from the purchase. They will continue to be loyal until they undergo a negative experience. In other situations, a consumer purchases from a recognizable brand for a number of reasons. They either want to make an impression on other people, to feel included in a group, or perhaps to shop for the quality. 

All in all, each time a consumer purchases from the same brand, their impression and familiarity of the brand becomes more positive each time. Therefore, the probability that consumers can recognize a brand and its goods and services through brand awareness, follows with an increase in purchases. 

Advertisements

Another way for businesses to increase their brand awareness on social media is through advertisements or paid media. Whether it may be in-feed ads, story ads, or ads on the discovery page, consumers are responsive to advertisements that are catered towards them based on their algorithm. As such, if a business wants to get noticed and increase their ROI (Return on Investment), they will need to create a hybrid paid and organic advertisement strategy to increase their brand discoverability. 

It is also important for a business to market a unique feature of their brand to stand out from the other competitors and increase their purchases. This can lead to a multitude of options. A business can promote its unique product or service to the market and start an advertising campaign around it. They can also redesign a unique feature into their logo or digital image. Other businesses have also created unique signatures and personalities to attract their targeted audience. For some guidance on how to market a unique feature of a brand, it pays to consult with a digital marketing agency like Bright Age. This extra step could possibly take a business further and help the audience recognize the brand more easily. 

Collaborations 

Since influencers have a strong relationship with their audiences and community, it is highly encouraged for businesses to collaborate with these creators. It is similar to how consumers will continue to buy products and services from familiar brands. Consumers who have a level of trust with an influencer they follow will listen to the words of the creator. This is also known as word-of-mouth marketing strategy, and for influencer marketing, it works like a charm. 

At the very least, the consumer will now be aware of and know the brand. That is what most businesses want to achieve at the minimum level: to be on the radar of new possible consumers. Though a purchase from these new consumers may not be guaranteed, brand awareness will be. The more the brand is discoverable and recognizable, the more familiar consumers will be seeing and hearing its name. This will eventually lead to a higher probability of a consumer buying from the brand.

Brand awareness, evidently, is the key to unlocking these purchases on social media. With over 4 billion (and counting) people online, businesses should take the opportunity to join the competitive market now and build their awareness if they haven’t yet. If some assistance is needed, request a consultation with Bright Age today, and you will fall in the good hands of our digital marketers, designers, and advertisers. 

The Difference between Digital Creators and Influencers

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Social media content has grown exponentially over the past decade. Likewise, the need for content coming from businesses demands to be fulfilled. Businesses can normally reach out to advertising and marketing agencies to help promote products and services. Nowadays, however, the more convenient choice is to get in direct contact with digital creators or influencers. A digital marketing agency is also a possible choice to get both sides of the spectrum. Not only is the agency working with the business, but they also share strategies from both viewpoints as digital creators and influencers.

If you’ve been on social media for the past decade, you most likely have heard of these two job positions. The terms “digital creator” and “influencer” are the general titles of those who work digitally on social platforms. Although the two terms may be used interchangeably, there is a fine line between them. Learning more about these two types of creators and how businesses can collaborate with them can be beneficial to achieving goals and bringing social media pages to life.

Digital Creators: Who Are They?

Digital creators are artistic souls who love to make content. They push the limits creatively by using a variety of media that are specific to their interest. Photographers post photos, videographers release films, and graphic designers upload visual concepts. The main focus as a digital creator is not to grow in followers, but to simply create art that educates their audience.

A digital creator known for his visual storytelling skills is Josef Adamu, a Creative Director and the founder of Sunday School. Working with digital creators like Josef offers a wide range of skills to promote your product. Depending on the digital creator, not only can they make content about your product or service, but they can also offer videos, photos, graphics, and resources to provide a high-quality content piece for you.

Zach King is another digital creator well-known on social media for the illusions and magic he presents in his short video clips. With the combined work of filmography and editing, he makes videos that intrigue audiences of all ages. As described, most content creators are amazing storytellers. This is beneficial to many businesses because digital creators will be able to improve your business’ story. Additionally, digital creators are known to save time and money while still serving the quality you need.

Influencers: What Are They?

Influencers are like the media. They are the people who share their lives with the public while influencing their audience by promoting the products and services they use. Their focus is to not create art but to test their impact as a self-made brand through the clicks, the swipe-ups, and the number of brands they are working with. For that reason, influencers have a great connection to their audience.

Soy Nguyen is a foodie influencer who gained popularity during quarantine through her kind act of promoting small restaurants throughout Los Angeles County and sharing the different types of cuisines they served. With each short video she uploads, she talks to her audience as if she is talking to a friend over lunch. She encourages her audience to try new cuisines and, most importantly, to take care of their physical and mental health.

Nikkie de Jager, or “NikkieTutorials” as she is known online, is a popular beauty influencer and changemaker in the industry. Though she joined YouTube in 2008, she first gained popularity in 2015 and is still uploading makeup tutorials to this day. With her strong interest in beauty products, many beauty brands have worked along with influencers like Nikkie to promote their products.

Influencers are another option to collaborate with when businesses want to increase their brand’s awareness. Because of their strong relationships with their community and followers, influencers can lay a foundation of trust between old and new audiences. Influencers also work within different interests, such as Soy with food and Nikkie with beauty. It would be advisable to reach out to influencers that share similar interests with your business’ particular brand.

How To Choose Which One To Work With

There are many similarities between content creators and influencers. Working and collaborating with both can benefit businesses, but choosing which one to work with will depend on your goals as a business. There are some influencers who are content creators, and content creators who are influencers, but this is not always promised. Instead, work with a digital creator when you need high-quality content surrounding your brand’s products and story. On the other hand, reach out to an influencer to improve trust within your brand and increase your brand’s awareness.

Consider a Digital Marketing Agency

A digital marketing agency can work on both sides of the spectrum as digital creators, influencers, and partners. Bright Age works with all sorts of brands. Our main focus is to work with businesses and present our insights and strategies as to what content creators and influencers can do. We can work along with you to encapture what you want your Instagram business page to look like. Bright Age has also worked with clients to grow their social media platforms and gain awareness. Reach out to Bright Age to have your goals met this year.

How to Increase Your Social Media Reach

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In 2021, using social media for business is crucial to helping you reach new customers and expand your audience. If you’re managing a business’s social media account and are hoping to watch it grow, it’s important to understand the concept of social media reach, how it can be tracked, and tactics to increase your reach. 

instagram social media reach

What is reach? 

Reach measures how far your business’s message has spread on social media. In short, reach is the amount of unique accounts that have seen a post or your account in a given period of time. When trying to understand your social media reach, it’s also helpful to look at different KPIs for reach such as impressions, follower count, and share of voice. These will help give you a more comprehensive understanding of how far your message has spread.

3 Ways to Increase Your Social Media Reach

When most people refer to reach, they’re talking about organic reach. This refers to the people that have seen your profile or post without the use of ads or other paid content. This type of reach is the most difficult to earn, but can be increased through a few best practices: 

  1. Optimize Your Content for the Platform You’re Posting on
    Tailoring your posts to each platform is worth the extra effort, but is a step that can be overlooked by businesses that post their content to multiple platforms. Here are some areas you should review with each post: 
  • Make sure that the dimensions of your content are optimized for each platform. This will prevent your photos from being cut off in your feed or when posting. For example, Instagram posts are best as a 1080 x 1080 square, while Twitter posts are best as a 1200 x 675 rectangle if sharing a single image. 
  • Be mindful using external links. While they can be useful on sites like Pinterest and Twitter to direct users to your website, Facebook has an algorithm that favors content that keeps users on Facebook. Additionally, platforms such as Instagram do not allow external links within posts, so it’s important to have a link in your bio for potential customers to access more information about your product or service. 
  • Tailor your captions to each platform you are posting to. You can change the length or tone of your caption depending on the nature and audience of each platform. 
Woodland Hills Magazine Instagram Social Media Reach
Woodland Hills Magazine Twitter Social Media Reach
  1. Encourage Engagement

Creating content that encourages engagement will build more interest for your posts and helps your business connect with its audience. This can be done through many ways, like creating conversation-starting captions, posting videos, and doing live streams. 

Having a more engaged following will help create a more positive word-of-mouth surrounding your business and in turn draw more people to your profile.

Starbucks Instagram Engagement Comments to Increase Social Media Reach
  1. Schedule and Time Your Posts

This can be done in advance using a social media management platform that best fits your needs. Maintaining consistency is crucial for growing your presence and following in social media. Posting consistently also helps the algorithm on your social media platform know that your account is active.

Another excellent thing about scheduling your posts in advance is that you are able to choose what time you push your content out to your audience. All social media platforms have a time during the day where they see the most engagement, which can be a good rule of thumb for when to post.

However, the best thing to do is to post when your audience is most active. Some social platforms have business features that allow you to access this information so you can find the best time to post and reach your followers. 

Fine-Tuning Your Social Media Strategy 

Finding a strategy that works in increasing your social media reach organically can be a tricky task. If your posts aren’t getting the results you want to see, investing in your business through ads can be a great way to increase your social media reach. You may consider getting the help of a social media agency that specializes in marketing and targeting ads to reach the right audience. 

At Bright Age, we’re experts at helping brands increase their reach so that the right people can find your brand. Contact us today to learn how we can help your business thrive! 

How Social Media Marketing Integrates with the Olympic Games

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The 2020 Olympics have come around during an unprecedented time. And due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, these Olympic Games look different than previous ones. Masks, social distancing, and no spectators are among the safety protocols that were implemented to carry out a safe global event. So now more than ever it was important to find ways to connect Olympians in the Tokyo bubble to their families and fans. As a social media marketing agency, we have been taking note of campaigns used by the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and their sponsors to connect athletes and fans. In this blog post, we will break down the most notable strategies and their significance. 

Social Media’s Relevance to Tokyo 2020

For many years now social networks have increasingly become an important part of sports discourse, being that television is not the only way to follow sports. In fact, Christopher Carroll, the Director of Digital Marketing for the International Olympic Committee, stated that “These games are expected to be the most digitally engaged games ever.” This statement has proven to be true with the @olympic social platforms generating 3.7 billion engagements this year. 

Additionally, the Tokyo 2020 Games offered 20 official networks and platforms through which the public could follow their favorite events. This gave the numerous social media accounts covering the Olympics many ways to encourage fans to tune in.  

Tokyo 2020 Olympic rings to show strategies of social media marketing agency

Brand Marketing during The Olympics 

The Olympics are one of the most popular televised events in the world, giving Olympic sponsors a global stage to promote their products and services. This year’s games got brands working very creatively as the success of a social campaign is not dependent on an on-site audience. No fans in the stands mean businesses have to find ways to make spectators still feel included overseas. Additionally, such big audiences signify that brands must take great care in organizing their campaigns as they want to spread the right message in a positive and respectful way.   

When it comes to partnering with world-class athletes, brands select people who align with their values. Once selected, businesses use their social platforms to amplify athlete voices. For example, the activewear brand Athleta partnered with Allyson Felix and the Women’s Sports Foundation to start a one-of-a-kind grant program that covers childcare costs for athletes. The “She Fund”, as it’s called, empowers women to continue their sports careers while being able to take care of their families. 

Photo of Allyson Felix and daughter representing the She Fund to show strategies of social media marketing agency

Global audiences can be a delicate consumer base to market to. There are various cultural nuances that brands must pay attention to if they want to effectively connect with these audiences. Sprout Social comments that, “…it’s imperative that brands take a moment to evaluate how their content will be interpreted by a diverse audience.” Businesses don’t want to be accused of being culturally insensitive or ignorant, so they must take extra care in thoroughly researching and understanding the country and culture they are trying to advertise to. 

Olympian Vloggers   

Another social media strategy for the Olympics that came about organically was the emergence of Olympian vloggers. While many athletes began documenting their lives on the internet before this year’s games (Britain’s Tom Daley and USA’s Mykayla Skinner), there has been a new wave of Olympians giving fans a behind-the-scenes look at their life in Tokyo.

Erik Shoji (USA Men’s Volleyball), Ilona Maher (USA Women’s Rugby), and JaVale McGee (USA Men’s Basketball) have been some of the notable athletes showcasing their journeys. Taking to TikTok or YouTube these Olympians share everything from what their rooms looked like to the food served in the cafeteria. 

JaVale McGee Youtube Channel Screenshot to show strategies of social media marketing agency

These athlete vloggers have proven to be highly popular with many of their videos gaining millions of views and thousands of likes. Giving fans a direct look into the lives of an Olympian was another way to make spectators involved even though they physically couldn’t be there. 

Ilona Maher TikTok profile to show strategies of social media marketing agency
Ilona Maher TikTok videos to show strategies of social media marketing agency

These videos also allow the athletes’ personalities to shine through, as fans weren’t able to see Olympians outside their events or official interviews in previous games. 

Overall, this year’s summer Olympics took a very creative turn in marketing to accommodate for COVID-19 protocols and serves as an example of how future large-scale events can market to their audiences in the midst of the pandemic. To that end, a social media marketing agency is constantly adapting its strategies to serve the ever-changing situation just as the Olympics did and will continue to provide the expertise needed to keep your business relevant during this time. Contact Bright Age today for more information. 

How to Identify Your Consistent Style of Branding

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Hoping to take your business to the next level by building your social media presence? One of the first steps in creating a memorable profile is identifying a consistent style of branding. Building a brand presence that is strong and recognizable can seem like a daunting task. Many companies enlist the help of a digital marketing agency. If you’re looking to improve your social media game or are not sure where to start, we’ve rounded up a few tips for you to ensure that your branding is at its best.

Identify Your Goals

Above all else, your branding should align with your company’s mission and vision. After identifying your business’s core objectives and approach to reach your audience, figure out how to convey this into the story you want to tell with your brand. It’s also helpful to identify your goals as a business. These goals, whether it be to increase awareness, generate new leads, or increase loyalty, will help you build a fuller understanding of your brand. Additionally, understanding your goals as you begin your journey can help you understand what metrics to use in measuring your success.

Understand Your Audience

When you’re beginning to identify your consistent style of branding, it’s also important to understand the audience that you’re marketing to. Different industries have different audiences that they cater to. Even further within an industry’s audience, you can cater towards a specific age or interest group. Once you’ve nailed down who your audience is, think about the type of content that this audience would like to see and interact with. 

digital marketing agency EZ Plans screenshot to show branding

For example, as a business that serves to connect homeowners, designers, and contractors with architecture services, the EZ Plans Instagram page caters to their audience through sharing high-quality photos of their projects and before-and-after shots of spaces. These photos help potential customers understand the quality and type of work that can be achieved through their architectural services. 

digital marketing agency Golden Girls Instagram screenshot to show branding

Similarly, the Golden Girls Instagram page caters towards their entertainment audience by posting nostalgic content from previous episodes, connecting them to current events, and posting prompts for the audience to interact with the account. This keeps content fresh and relevant for The Golden Girls’ dedicated fan base.  

Creating a Strong Brand Identity 

Once you have a strong understanding of your brand’s objectives and audience, you establish guidelines for creating a consistent logo, color palette, handle, and other features that can be used across different platforms. However, it’s important to understand that social media platforms are not built equally. For example, different platforms have different posting features, optimal image sizes, and maximum lengths for video content. Facebook and Twitter have a feature to add a banner photo while Instagram does not. The most effective brands cater their content to the platform while still maintaining consistency. 

Let’s use Woodland Hills Magazine as an example. Though their Twitter and Facebook pages are not identical, they maintain the same logo and color scheme.

digital marketing agency screenshot of Woodland Hills Magazine Facebook for branding
digital marketing agency screenshot of Woodland Hills Magazine Twitter for branding

Taking a deeper dive into their content, they post the same content in different formats optimized for each platform. The accounts post at the same frequency. They also maintain the same tone throughout the two platforms. 

At the end of the day, your brand’s profiles across different platforms should align with your brand identity and maintain a sense of cohesiveness. As a rule of thumb, try to maintain consistency in your colors, graphics, language, and post frequency. 

Building an Effective Branding Strategy

Overall, creating strong, consistent branding across platforms will increase your brand recognition. If your social media channels aren’t performing, it may be helpful to get outside assistance in building an effective brand strategy.  As a digital marketing agency, we can help your business find a consistent style of branding, create content that connects with your audience, and foster your business’s growth. Maintaining consistency from your visual identity down to the way you interact with your audience in the comments will strengthen your audience’s trust and build a memorable brand. 

How to Take Advantage of Short Length Social Media Content

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social media browsing illustration to describe a Social media content creation agency

Social media has become a very dynamic platform for businesses and consumers to interact on. Because social media is frequented so often, companies now have specific strategies used to promote their products and services. These strategies look at what is doing well on various platforms to decide what type of content to create.

Social media as a whole has evolved a lot since its creation, and videos are maintaining a growth rate of 11% per year. In particular, there has been an explosion in the popularity of short-length videos. This is due, in part, to the popularity of TikTok and its one-minute videos and other platforms’ dedicated short-length features such as Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts. With these videos being only 1 minute long and in very high demand, it’s clear that short-length videos should be used in your marketing strategy. As a social media content creation agency, we understand the importance of this and will break down why short videos are doing well and how you can begin to implement them into your content creation. 

Cutting to the chase – Why shorter is better

As we’ve stated previously, the rise of TikTok has gotten consumers very comfortable with short and fast-paced content. In fact, the most shared videos are between 30 seconds and 1 minute. This length makes people able to consume a lot more content in a very short amount of time and it has grown to be the preferred way of consuming content. Additionally, people’s attention spans have shortened very significantly. Social media is all about instant gratification and many give a video only about 10 seconds until they decide to move on to the next piece of content. 

Shorter content is also easier to distribute and repurpose. With a well-designed short video, you don’t have to worry about any time limits different platforms may have and you can easily repurpose the content at a later date. Users’ feeds are constantly changing, which makes repurposing content easier to do.

Short-length videos are also pushing creators to make their content memorable, which is very important when it comes to promoting a product or service. The obstacle of time pushes creativity as you want to figure out how you can effectively engage your audience in a short amount of time (The goal is to engage the viewer enough to motivate action such as buying your product or visiting your website). 

social media content creation agency showing Instagram reels logo on a mobile device

Many of the short-length platforms are more accessible than traditional video-sharing apps, as it is very user friendly. Additionally, Instagram Reels and TikTok have made it very easy for creators to attach auto-generated captions to their videos so that anyone is able to consume their content. 

Short Form in Action

Houston Rockets reels to show how a social media content creation agency increases engagement

To get a better understanding of the impact of short videos, particularly on Instagram Reels, here is how the National Basketball Association has begun to use the feature.  

20 out of 30 NBA teams are now using Reels and have seen a 22% increase in engagement compared to their standard Instagram posts or stories. In particular, the Houston Rockets have gained 11.7 million plays across 5 videos. 

How to implement

people recreating a TikTok trend to show a social media content creation agency

You’ve seen why short-form content is doing so well, but how do you start to implement it? Creating short content that will be successful for your business has to depend on what message you want to convey and how you can effectively engage consumers. One of the easiest ways to gain visibility is by participating in a trend. Whether that be a popular dance or specific audio, people like seeing how others put their own spin on a very well-liked style. You can also seek guidance from a social media content creation agency. They will be able to create a personalized social media strategy that integrates short-form videos into your feeds. 

The bottom line. People are looking to be satisfied in a very short amount of time at a very high frequency so it’s imperative that you capture your target audiences’ attention quickly and get your point across. Users can be very easily distracted on social media while browsing so you don’t want to waste any time while a user is consuming your content. 

How to Market to Gen Z

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Copywriting for your business’s blog, email, or social media post is a tricky process that requires practice and openness to feedback. If you’re writing copy for your business, here are 10 common copywriting mistakes to avoid.

Picture of telephone to visualize call-to-action in posts with a content marketing agencyForgetting Your Audience

Writing without an audience in mind makes your advertising less effective. You must understand what motivates and intrigues your audience, so you can write from their perspective instead of your own. A content marketing agency like Bright Age can help you define your audience and fine-tune your copy to make it relevant, eye-catching, and successful.

 

  1. No Call-to-Action

Your social media copywriting should include a short call-to-action, such as subscribe or learn more, that directs viewers to your website or products. Without this, your copy becomes passive and may see a lower conversion rate. If there is a discount or reward to incentivize the call-to-action, include it in your copy to grab attention quickly.

 

 

  1. Overwhelming Jargon

Don’t assume that everyday consumers understand the technical terms that are common for your company. Consumers don’t want to read long-winded paragraphs about the product’s design and details, as this kind of information overwhelms them and prompts them to skim your writing. Focus on quality over quantity by keeping your content simple and digestible.

 

  1. Too Wordy

Simplifying your writing makes your copy more eye-catching. Eliminate unnecessary phrases such as It is important to know this because…and instead jump right into the explanation. Also cut out words that don’t add much value, such as very and really. Succinct writing is especially essential for social media copywriting to keep people engaged with your content. As a general rule of thumb, delete any words that don’t serve a clear purpose.

 

  1. Too Choppy

Alternatively, many writers use short, choppy sentences that sound unnatural. While you should keep wording simple and succinct, you should also maintain a natural flow. Use commas to combine short sentences, and add transition phrases to guide readers through your blog or caption.

 

  1. Typos Abound

Though spellcheck wards off many common spelling errors, you should proofread your finished copy at least once before posting it. Typos can be as simple as a missing comma or the wrong form of “there.” Still, they make your writing look sloppy and turn away readers from your brand. Send your work to your peers for a new set of eyes.

 

 

  1. Lacking Keywords and Hashtags

Keywords and hashtags attract viewers to your social media post or blog. When you write a blog, choose a couple relevant phrases to incorporate into your article. A content marketing agency can help you integrate them into the URL, title, and alternative text to maximize SEO. Similarly, don’t be afraid to use hashtags in social media copywriting to reach additional viewers.

 

  1. Trying Too Hard

Some companies try too hard to make their writing relatable and lose their authenticity. For instance, a brand reaching out to young people might go overboard on pop culture references and slang in order to seem trendy. A touch of relatability adds shine to your marketing strategy, but be careful not to come across as desperate. Additionally, try not to imitate successful competitors in an effort to remain relevant. Copying content from other companies will likely make your brand seem unoriginal.

 

  1. Inconsistency

Strong brands keep their content consistent across platforms. While it is okay to slightly alter your technique based on the social media platform, your basic tone and content should remain the same. This will make your brand appear cohesive and reliable to your entire audience.

 

  1. Mobile Unfriendly

In a time where mobile devices are a top way to consume information, be sure your website copy is optimized for mobile devices. Use a large font and keep paragraphs relatively short in order to make your words readable on a smart phone. Since people use their phones for quick, digestible information, make sure your headline is strong and your writing is not too long-winded.

 

 

A content marketing agency like Bright Age can help you avoid these common mistakes by creating interesting, clean, and relevant copy. These copywriting tips are a simple way to enhance your marketing strategy and increase your sales!

How to Use Social Media to Establish Your Brand’s Presence

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Social media is one of the main ways in which people communicate, interact, and research. There is an endless amount of information on social media, whether it be pictures of family and friends or business updates regarding sales, giveaways, or new products. A business can use social media strategy to increase their brand awareness due to the amount of their audience that are already on social media. By using these social platforms, your brand is more likely to grow due to follower engagement and activity.

Applications open and showing the different platforms of social media

According to Sprout Social, 56% of marketers’ social media strategy is used to understand their target audience. This connects to the fact that identifying and researching your target audience is the greatest challenge for social markets. Connecting and finding your target audience is something that all companies struggle with, yet it is imperative that the connection between company and customer happens. Without the knowledge of your target audience, how else are you supposed to market and sell products that they are going to like? Using social media is a great tool to see who your audience is and what they like to see. 

 

Building a brand on social media takes time and strategy. When creating an account, whether it is on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, one must realize that suddenly gaining millions of followers does not always happen. If you have an established brand outside of social media that is known, people will recognize you on their platform of choice and start to follow. This creates a domino affect. Once someone follows you, your account may pop up in their followers’ recommended accounts. By gaining followers, you reach a bigger community that your followers are connected in. However, when creating a brand to start a new business, one must be very patient in the process. The most important social media strategy to remember when establishing your brand is to interact, engage, and observe. 

Person with an iphone showing the data coming out of the phone

Interacting with followers on social media will create a connection. The more your followers feel as though your brand will listen to them and care about how they feel about your products, the more they will want to buy your products. These can be little tasks such as liking their comments on Instagram or responding to their complaints in Facebook Messenger. 

 

Engaging followers is the next step. Having a post with a good amount of likes, comments, and shares will make others want to follow you, therefore expanding your brand. For instance, high levels of engagement could occur if your brand does a giveaway that includes rules of tagging friends in comments or posting the giveaway on their story. This would engage your followers in your post and expand your account to many others at the same time. 

Visual representation of the data you can get displayed on a table

Observing the data from each post as well as follower activity will show you what to post and what not to post. Successful businesses know what kind of posts their followers like and how to use that knowledge to expand their brand. For example, a company posts a photo that does not have much to do with the company, maybe it is a holiday or a motivational post, and the post does not get much activity. Then the company posts explaining a new product and that post is flooded with likes, comments, and shares. By gathering information on the two different posts, companies can see what their audience likes and how to grow from that. 

 

Using social media to establish your brand may be one of the best ways to do so. A social media strategy not only creates a community with your followers but gives you important data from their responses. This way, your brand is able to grow in size and quality. If you are struggling to expand your brand, Bright Age Digital Creative Agency can guide your company toward brand success through multiple social media platforms.  

clip art of data coming out of an iphone

 

How to Leverage the Difference Between Owned, Paid, and Earned Media

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Whether you realize it or not, your digital strategy is likely comprised of three main types of media: owned, paid, and earned. Understanding what each of these are will allow you to leverage their differences and create an effective digital strategy. Here are a few tips on how you can use owned, paid, and earned media to your brand’s advantage.

 

Image of people working on laptop to visualize a social media advertising agency

Owned Media

Owned media refers to any media that your business owns and fully controls. The clearest examples of owned media include a brand’s website and owned social media profiles. Owned media is where your company pushes its message using branding and content marketing. The goal of owned media is to educate the leads you have generated. It is important to know how well your owned media is performing and how to boost its success. Using analytics helps you can track this success and better understand the traffic viewing your owned media. These analytics help determine if your content matches your target audience. You can boost your website’s performance once you are confident that your content is a good fit. You can do this organically through Search Engine Optimized (SEO) blog posts relating to your brand.

Picture of blog post to visualize what a social media advertising agency can do with owned media

Above is an example of a blog post from The OCI Group, a company that helps you build your financial department. The blog features information relevant to their brand and appeals to their clients. As a result, these blogs increase organic search performance. You may consider using a social media advertising agency, like Bright Age, to ensure you get the most from your owned platforms.

Paid Media

Paid media is any content your business pays to promote your brand and gain exposure. This includes both traditional forms of advertising and digital strategies like promoting posts on social media, Pay Per Click (PPC) ads, and more. The goal of paid media is to generate leads and drive consumers to your owned media. It is also a strong means of sparking earned media, which will be explained later. Your business should consider a variety of options when paying for media space. This is why it is common to consult a social media advertising agency for help when determining which paid platforms will best reach your target audience. Agencies can also help decide what content will engage your target audience and help you put this strategy into action.

Social media analytics reflecting how a social media advertising agency uses paid media

Earned Media

Earned media is the most unique of this trio. It includes any conversation regarding your brand, product, or service created by someone outside of your organization. This conversation must take place on an account not owned by your business. Earned media includes social media mentions, shares, reviews, press, and more. Conversation surrounding your brand implies credibility and increases social media engagement. As opposed to the previous two, earned media is entirely out of your control. However, this means it is extremely important to monitor and respond to. Paid media is a great way to spark earned media, or to get consumers talking about your brand.

Image of GoodRX's twitter feed to show how a social media advertising agency can use earned media

Above is an example of GoodRx’s earned media and how they responded to it. A consumer responded to someone’s tweet promoting GoodRx because of her positive experience. Social media advertising agencies offer services that monitor the conversation around your business, respond to consumers, and manage your brand’s reputation.

Overall, it is essential to understand the difference between these media types to effectively distribute your company’s resources. It’s a great idea to utilize a social media advertising agency, like Bright Age. This would be a smart means of ensuring that you get the most of each media form.

Demographics vs Psychographics

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Marketing on social media is no longer a linear path due to the saturation of advertising in the market. How many times have you seen similar advertisements on your social media feed and found them interesting, but never took the extra step to join or buy?

The answer is probably a lot.

This is partly because of a wide cast net for specifically targeted ads where you might fall into the categories set such as location, age and gender. The aspect that is being denied in this situation, however, is that you might not be the target audience for the product.Social media agency Blog photo for Demographics vs Psychographics blog post

Identifying a target audience is one of the first steps to growing your business online. Read any social media blog and they will tell you “find your audience.” However, finding your audience and understanding your audience are two very different aspects.

The two aspects that are involved in identifying this audience are demographics and psychographics. Though extremely similar, each have unique attributes that can make or break your social media strategy.

Social media agencies stress the practice of qualitative marketing through psychographics while including the quantitative measures of demographics.

So, what’s the difference?

Psychographics explain buying habits, interests, values, lifestyle factors, and personality traits. They may not be instantly observable, but through the increase of tracking online behavior and understanding of the qualitative aspects of marketing, psychographics are pretty easily attainable.

Demographics, though quantitative, help define the broader aspects of a buyer. These include, age, gender, race, family size, income, and education.

It is important to understand that you can’t have one without the other without potentially risking or blowing an advertising budget from not taking the time to really identify the core of your buyer persona.

So, what exactly is a buyer persona?

Let’s create a fake product for a fake company for a second. Say we are trying to find the ideal customer for a new pair of running shoes from a lesser known company.

Demographics vs Psychographics

The demographics for this buyer could be seen as follows:

  • Male
  • Aged 21-37
  • Single
  • Household income of $50K+
  • Dealing with knee pain

Now the Psychographic profile is a little more specific:

  • Dealing with knee pain
  • Enjoys a healthy lifestyle Single
  • Values time in the outdoors
  • Wants a healthy lifestyle and enjoys going to the gym
  • Concerned with health and appearanceSocial media marketing agency iPad photo for demographics vs psychographics blog

Now imagine trying to target your audience online without one of these profiles. It would be nearly impossible to reach your intended “buyer” without half of this information. This is how some businesses are advertising and it makes sense why it’s not working.

At this point you’re probably wondering, so how do I find this information about my intended buyer. It’s one thing to know what you need, but it’s another thing to know how to get what you need.

Learning your Audience

Some of the best ways to get down to the nitty-gritty of what your customer actually likes on the inside, beyond their general demographic profile are: Focus groups, customer surveys and questionnaires, and market research teams through a social media agency.

Social media agencies are one of your best bets to make sure that everything is thoroughly vetted, and a comprehensive understanding of the psychographics of your audience is achieved. You and your business can count on the fact that your budgetary considerations for marketing tactics are being utilized properly, and your markets won’t stay un-tapped for long.