Extending the effect of your marketing with social media amplification.
When you sit by a lake on a lazy afternoon looking at the still water, you find the smoothest round and relatively flat stone about the size of a fifty-cent piece and, with a powerful spin, toss it and watch it bounce across the lake one, two, three, possibly four or five times before it sinks. The visual effect is amazing — you literally bounced this object across the water creating circular ripples that expanded from each bounce, having a massive effect on this once still pool of water. This is how the strategic use of social media marketing can have a magnified effect on reaching larger and larger audiences.
Strategic use of social media in marketing is not just repeating what’s already out there but adding more.
How and what you post must take into account followers that can like and add to your value and your message. You have to get the message out in a way that draws attention, adds real value and continues the story. Your best brand voice is that of your customers and it’s extended by those on social media.
Campaigns need to shape the conversation and extend it.
Keep in mind that what you demonstrate has power in personalization. Instagram and Facebook allow for amazing changes and influences by the viewers and can extend and grow your message with a much broader reach. This engagement takes time and requires brands to shape a consistent voice and really engage with followers.
In 2021, 43% of consumers used social media to discover new brands and 36% used social media to purchase products or services.
The key is USG: User Generated Content that extends your campaign
User-generated marketing strategy is a key to leveraging campaigns and creating ownership for the consumer or buyer over the content. This sets social media marketing campaigns apart from others.
Today’s smartphone cameras have far surpassed the point-and-shoots that some of us might still have stashed away in the back of the closet. Using their smartphones for selfies and food photos gives people easy ways to create quick real-life nuggets of content that can amplify and extend your brand story.
Apple’s #shotOniPhone campaign, a brilliant focus on user engagement.
Both amateur and professional photographers know the importance of a good camera. Each year, smartphone cameras get fresh updates on resolution, lenses, sensors, and more. The Apple Shot on iPhone campaign began as a simple engagement campaign challenge that shared iPhone users’ photos on the brand’s social media feeds and on some key billboards and outdoor advertising venues worldwide.
The iPhone campaign generated 20 million posts on Instagram alone and is still ongoing.
When incredible photos and videos were produced by real users, the resulting content made the iPhone’s camera quality much more convincing to others. This campaign currently has 20 million posts on Instagram alone and is still ongoing.
So remember, the key to amplifying your campaigns is not you, it’s your audience, your customers, your market. Their engagement brings the campaign to life as it becomes their campaign every time they share it.